After finishing his doctorate in Yoga, Naturopathy and a course in Spa Management, Dr Neeraj Chauhan, Spa Manager, ITC Hotels in Banaglore, today juggles three spas located in three hotels at the same time – the ITC Windsor, ITC Gardenia and the newly launched, My Fortune Elixir Spa. Dr Chauhan shares with Salon India, the whys and wherefores of handling spas in a chain of hotels
The initial years
I did a doctorate in Naturapathy and Yoga, after which I continued my Spa Management course with the ITC Spa Academy. During this time, I also had an opportunity to get my hands into different modules of field trips like F&B and Front Office, which was an add-on to my skills. All the spa training happens at the 99,000 sq ft, ITC flagship spa which is based in Kolkata. Students are trained to understand the branding of the spa, which is called Kaya Kalp. Following this, I was given responsibility of the ITC Flagship Spa in Kolkata, where I worked as Spa Manager for a year. Then I was posted to ITC Gardenia to assist the Regional Spa Manager and then ITC Windsor. Today I look after the spa at ITC Windsor, ITC Gardenia and the newly opened My Fortune Elixir Spa – all in Bangalore.
Selecting therapists
People in the spa industry do not come with a lot of education, so we check if they have a minimum educational qualification even if it is a diploma or a certified course on any alternative therapies from recognised spas and institutes backed up with a minimum two years experience for entry level. We also do a trade test to understand the kind of practices and skills the candidates may have, such as checking the pressure points of the masseurs. Following this, we give a thorough training for three months depending on the skill level of the person. We also have a Thai professional who comes to train the other therapists and at the same time, they also get to learn our technique.
Products and brands used
At My Fortune Elixir Spa, we use Forest Essentials and Vanya which is supplied from a Himalaya-based NGO that makes exclusive products for ITC. We also keep stock of Iraya and Pevonia Botanica products.
Interiors and eco-consciousness
As the ITC spas are conceptualised around Kaya Kalp where we have incorporated the pomegranate theme all around the interiors as well as in the treatments. At the flagship spa, we have taken the story of the Moghul era, so one can see the Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri as well as the Tree of Life engraved with pomegranates. The spas have an earthy touch with vertical gardens being a part of the ambience.
We use LED lights and the energy that we consume is produced through the windmill. We have the 15 minute timers in all our spas, for the safety of the guests and to save electricity. We also have emergency switches in the steam rooms, in case if there is nobody around and if the guest feels too weak, the alarm goes off to the front desk, also to the engineering room and to the welcome systems near the lobby. We also try to follow eco-friendly house-keeping practices at our spa and offer our guests the experience of a responsible luxury spa. We use CFCs and CO2 monitoring in our air systems and we can control the temperatures within the spa space. We have rain water harvesting for irrigation of the hotel landscape.
Next 10 years
Our spas are doing well in terms of products, procedures, therapies and academy. Every year we see a growth of 12 per cent to 14 per cent year on year. I upgrade myself through in-house management training, business development modules, six sigma methodologies on a day-to-day basis.
Trends
We get around 30 to 50 members at one of the ITC hotels who are mostly celebrities, politicians and the elite. At My Fortune Spa, at this moment, we are targeting the in-house guests only. We do have loyalty programmes in the ITC branches, where a customer can visit us whenever they want to. In India, people are slowly becoming more aware of spa industry. We can see the trends of spas coming up, but there is a shortage of people in this trade, mainly because of the narrow mindedness in the culture. In terms of consumer trends, a lot of people opt for yoga sessions as well as aerobics. We also accommodate requests in terms of yoga, meditation and more, at the spa.
Challenges
Attrition is very high, but this really depends on how you manage the spa and the people working ther. We give priority on planning the time offs for the masseurs and we try to be flexible in terms of their requests. We also try to reward our employees on their performances. Product availability is another challenge and requires a lot planning. We have customers who have a preference for a particular product and we try to make sure that the product is always in stock. There is an internal process that can be time consuming and so we take care to deliver them on time. Recruitment processes are also a challenge in terms of availability of people in a particular locality, as there are so many spas coming up everywhere. There is also very limited information on spas which is another thing that we struggle with in terms of updates and training of staff. Otherwise, we follow our standard procedures on how to move or handle emergencies in the sauna or steam rooms or handling of any allergies in the body, including the anatomy and physiology which is all taught to the staff once they join. We also invest a lot on sending our employees for training or seminars that often come up.
Advice to newcomers
The spa industry is still a new concept in the country. It is just about 10 years old. In the West, people think that a spa was just about offering water treatments, like steams and saunas, as for the Indians, it is mostly massages. Since this is a small industry, the growth has been tremendous in the past few years. My advice to new-comers is better to start right from the beginning as some people tend to climb up too fast and reach bottle-necks. I suggest it is better to take your growth slowly as this is a sensitive industry. A spa professional must explore the opportunities in the industry before selecting it. They have to be passionate enough to learn the necessary skills. The industry has seen an increase in global adoption and will give you returns on investment.
