‘Traditional treatments from the bygone era are seeing a comeback’

With a career spanning over 12 years, Dr Jazzy E Nepram, Director of Spa, Shangri La Bengaluru, has worked at many hotels including The Taj and The Oberoi in different roles. She holds a Bachelors’ degree in Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences focussed in medicine from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences. At Shangri La Bengaluru, her role includes supervising the wellness segment along with bookings and training. Excerpts from an interview: 

Quotidian life at the spa

I lead the wellness portfolio at Shangri La Bengaluru. My day-to-day work includes inspecting the wellness floor, supervising bookings, meeting guests to personalise their experiences, weekly training, auditing the wellness floor to check if the elevated safety and hygiene procedures of Shangri La Cares are implemented and organising daily briefings with the team and more. I try to interact with every guest who comes to the Health Club and the Spa to ensure their wellness and health requirements are aptly met. Curating special treatments as per guests’ needs is what keeps me on my toes. Being a people’s person, I love to strategise with my team about upcoming training, product launches, seasonal menus or just a casual tête-à-tête to keep their morale high. I ensure daily team briefings incorporate guest feedbacks and discuss measures to always enhance the guest experience at Chi, The Spa.  

Keeping abreast with spa trends

The wellness industry is ever-evolving with latest technologies, methodologies and science. Keeping abreast of the latest trends, wellness experiences and sustainable beneficial ingredients help us in curating the menu and in introducing seasonal experiences at Chi, The Spa. Apart from spa treatments, wellness journeys, facials, Ayurveda treatments, immune booster therapy, prenatal massage and enhancements, we provide holistic offerings like sound healing, guided meditation, card reading and Reiki services on request.  

Maintaining a safe atmosphere

The caring spirit of our brand guides and our unrelenting efforts ensure the well-being and comfort of guests and colleagues. To create a trusted and nurturing environment, we have embraced numerous safety standards across the leisure and wellness spaces. Guests are required to complete health and travel declarations and wear protective face masks when visiting the health club and spa. Safety amenities including hand-sanitising gels are available at convenient locations and disinfecting wipes are offered near gym equipment and water stations. Safe distancing practices are enabled in non-treatment spaces by reducing allowable capacities, increasing distance between furniture and equipment and maintaining safe physical distance. Contactless payment options are also available. 

Key strategies to increase profitability

Researching the market, spa audience and wellness trends are key to achieving good business results. Modest strategies like simplifying the spa menu including enhancements, add-ons and introducing seasonal and latest treatments increase revenue. Incentivising the team, upselling and memberships are tried and tested methods to increase sales. Marketing initiatives and partnerships help generate awareness, increase inquiries and garner more conversions. A strong focus on guest experience ensures a happy and loyal guest thereby increasing patronage and referrals.  

Opportunities for future

With increased awareness on well-being, people have started focussing more on health and safety. Guests are more mindful about fitness, eating habits, mental and spiritual health. With enhanced focus on wellness, guests want to indulge in healthy food, immune-boosting super-foods, new-age exercise regimes, alternative wellbeing practices like sound healing, relaxing spa treatments and meditation. Traditional treatments from the bygone are seeing a comeback. Asian therapies, acupuncture, acupressure, shiatsu, Ayurveda, fasting techniques and chakra healing are witnessing a rise in popularity. Holistic wellness that balances the body, mind and spirit are in trend and are here to stay.