Spa experience comparison
I will be doing a comparison between my experiences
at Chinois spa(Fort Canning) and Kaki-Kaki
Reflexology(Johor Bahru) respectively.
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| Kaki Kaki |
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| Chinois Spa |
Pricing
In terms of pricing, both spas are considered
mid-range brands with affordable spa menu. Due to the currency rate, the
pricing for an hour spa treatment in Chinois (SGD$150) is more costly compared
to a 2 hour spa treatment at Kaki kaki (MYR$138).
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| Kaki-Kaki spa menu |
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| Chinois spa menu |
Spa ambience
Chinois spa has a relaxing ambience and atmosphere.
supported by nice fragrance and soothing music. However, the colour scheme of
the spa was a bit dull and gloomy.
Overall, Kaki kaki has a good ambience and
atmosphere as well. In addition to the furnishing and lightings, there was a
lingering fragrance accompanied with soothing music. However, due to its
popularity, the place is often filled with rowdy customers and families, which
affects the other guests’ experiences.
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| Kaki-Kaki |
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| Chinois |
Spa facilities
For Chinois spa, there was only a treatment room with
jacuzzi and a common relaxation. Being complimentary, I did not get to use
those facilities.
Kaki-kaki spa is a 2-level spa establishment and
offers a variety of spa facilities such as personal lockers, 2 jacuzzi pool (1
for male, 1 for female),2 saunas (1 for male, 1 for female), tv in each of the
treatment room, free WIFI connection throughout the spa. Similar to Chinois,
they also offer a shared relaxation and dining area.
Chinois spa
Kaki-Kaki spa
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Chinois spa
Kaki-Kaki spa
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Masseuse skills
Being a frequent spa-goer, both spa outlets’
masseuse were skilful as they relieved my soreness. The pressure exerted from
both masseuse was comfortable, and during intervals the masseuse would ask for
feedback.
Masseuse product knowledge
Both of the masseuse does have ample product
knowledge, especially when answering my query on the essential oils used. They
also identified my backbone issue, pointing out my slanted spine and sitting
posture.
At Kaki-kaki, the receptionist attempted to upsell
their lavender essential oils by listing down the benefits as compared to the
normal oil used for the treatment. Following the treatment, she recommended the
Thai massage at the same pricing for my return visit which is much more
suitable for my back problems.
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Post treatment
For Chinois, I was offered a ginger tea only
for my post treatment. As for kaki-kaki, i was offered to soak in the jacuzzi
and sauna facility, in addition to the light refreshment available at the
relaxation and dining room.
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| Kaki Kaki Relaxation and dining area |
Summary of spa experience
Between both spa experiences, I prefer the
kaki-kaki spa experience as spa offered a more comprehensive experience, with
facilities such as jacuzzi for pre or post treatment. Accommodating guests’
needs, WIFI was also available at the treatment room and multiple facilities so
as to kill boredom.
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Components contributing to wellness economy
Some of the wellness components include Wellness tourism,
spa industry, workplace wellness and fitness & mind-body.
Wellness tourism
In an article posted by Thepeakmagazine on 19
January 2017, it was revealed that Auriga Spa at The Capella Singapore have
seen a steady increase of 10 percent in their annual revenue on their detox and
wellness programmes. Also, ESPA at Resort World Sentosa have seen a demand for
their spa, fitness, detox and nutritional cuisine products.
Despite the lack in natural springs and tranquil
surrounding, there is still a market for wellness tourism in Singapore,
focusing on having wellness programs like yoga, healthy eating and etc.
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| ESPA programs |
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| Auriga spa programs |
Spa industry
There are different kinds of Spa in Singapore like
day spa, boutique spa, club spa, medical spa and etc. According to Ms Josephine
Teo, Second Minister for Home affairs said in Parliament on Monday 6 November
2017, there are about 1200 licensed massage outlet island wide and about 300 outlets
are in HDB estates. This shows that massage treatments are inexpensive and
remain affordable for the masses.
Fitness & mind body
In an article by Welltodoglobal on 24 April 2017,
it was stated that the Singapore government statistics show that there was an
increase in annual gym visit from 1.8 million in 2010 to 2.5 million in
2015.This can be supported by the rise in numbers of 24-hours gyms operators
like Anytimefitness,gymmboxx which are located in prime locations.
Also, according to an article by TheNewPaper on 8
Jan 2018, some of the upcoming fitness trends in 2018 would be group exercise
class(CrossFit) and yoga. This would also mean that there is a potential market
in this segment within the wellness industry.
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| Anytime Fitness (Ang Mo Kio) |
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Suggested operation framework
Currently for both Cat 1 & cat 2 massage
establishment, the law require 80% of the masseuses/therapist to have the
required certification recognized by the police licensing & regulatory
department.
In my opinion, the spa operator can send their
masseuses for WSQ Certification courses and in return, the masseuses would have
to sign a 2-year working contract with the spa establishment. Even though this
might incur a big expense for the owner, however in the long run, it would be
beneficial for the owner and need not be concerned about staff turnover after
receiving their certificate.
By ensuring that all of their staffs have the
necessary skills, the masseuses having undergone the training would understand
the service delivery and hence provide quality assurance. This would also
ensure that people would feel confident about the branding and products of the
spa, reducing the probability of guests complains as well.
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| WSQ Certification Intro |
By going to those training course, the masseuses
can also have a chance to also learn from other people who are also in the same
training program as well.
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Spa & wellness trend that will impact industry
In Singapore, our fast-paced society is known to be 1 of the fastest in
the world. In normal circumstances, people going for a spa treatment would
pre-plan and make bookings first. However, with the advancement of technology,
there might be a demand for the trend of “on-demand spa services” or
“uber-izing spa” where people can just use an app or go to a website and book
their spa treatment. This provides flexibility, as customers can arrange for a
masseuse to come over for the treatment rather than having to visit the outlet.
As of now, the concept of “uber-izing spa” remains foreign to spa
operators in Singapore, mainly due to the fact that there are also many areas
of concern for customers such as safety issues, laws and regulation and the
skills of those masseuse who might only be freelance and not professional.
One such operator in Singapore would be www.theoutcallspa.com
, which claims to be the number 1 home & hotel spa services.
If those areas of concerns can be solved, we can have spa treatments
conducted at our home or office instead of heading down to the spa outlet,
providing convenience for customers. Also, people can opt to have their
treatment at wee hours, which would be appealing to office workers that work
overtime.
