RESORT SPA
Employees are excited to be in such a beautiful setting, but Daoud ensures they’re focused on work fi rst and foremost
I’m very straightforward with them, but they prefer it that way. They can be like that with me too
As spa manager, Daoud sees it as her
responsibility to give therapists the tools and opportunity to grow. “Empowerment is a key aspect,” she says. “They must feel able to be themselves with guests and know that they can make a difference.” And this all comes down to training. Resense sets an official education
programme for the year, covering treatment standards, guest experience/ services, ‘conscious connections’ and specific receptionist/therapist/attendant training. Once a year it also delivers a 10-day intensive course onsite. Daoud supplements this with her own treatment spot checks and additional guidance where needed. In addition, product houses Elemental Herbology and Charme d’Orient offer training and the hotel has its own weekly or monthly updates on Kempinski brand/guest standards. “If a therapist is new, then the first one
or two weeks are dedicated to training depending on their level,” she says. Staff at the spa are employed on a
one-year contract and according to Daoud turnover is low with “many renewing most of the time”. And while it would be forgivable to want to keep employees which are up to speed, she recognises that a good manager also encourages career development – which sometimes means fledglings fly the nest. “[Career development] is very important for motivation. There are many spas in the
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spabusiness.com issue 3 2015 ©CYBERTREK 2015
USEFUL WEBSITES Resense:
www.resensespas.com Softouch:
www.softouchspa.com Kempinski:
www.kempinski.com For information about Gozo:
www.visitmalta.com For flights:
www.airmalta.com
Resense portfolio and new ones are opening all the time so it’s important to identify talents early on and to help them grow. It gives them an opportunity to develop their careers, to transfer to a new property to discover something different and travel the world.”
Management style Although Daoud won’t take much credit for her role in the employee satisfaction award, her own management style has undoubtedly helped. She’s clearly a driven individual who has tight control over what happens in the spa, closely watching the average customer spend to make sure the spa’s on budget, as well as scrutinising therapist utilisation. “I don’t want my therapists to burn
out and it’s the weekends and holidays, especially Christmas, that you have to pay attention to,” she says. “We do around 150-200 treatments a month and therapist utilisation is 68 per cent on average. If it goes beyond 75 per cent then I step in.
I have some local therapists on-call if I need, or, if it’s really busy I can perform treatments myself too.” Firm but fair is another way to describe
her approach. “When therapists join, they’re excited to be in Gozo near the beaches and of course they get to go to them, but they need to know what the hotel expects from them first. It’s important that they have an understanding of this and are on board with it because we have high standards. “I’m very straightforward with them,
but they prefer it that way. They can be like that with me too. From the beginning, I tell them to come to me with anything they need, or with any problem and that we’ll always find a way to work around it. I’m very fair. Of course, staff can be challenging, but we have no drama and we all get on well and want to help each other. She concludes: “It’s important that
they’re happy. Because if they’re happy, then so am I and, ultimately, so it the guest. I love my job with a passion and to hear guests come out and say ‘oh that was wonderful’ is what it’s all about.” ●
Katie Barnes is the managing editor of Spa Business magazine Email: katiebarnes@
spabusiness.com Twitter: @SpaBusinessKB
ALEX011973/
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
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