Press | Blu Spas Inc. | Spa Industry Consultants

press | american spa | april 2004

Spa Tiki
An island-inspired day spa in downtown San Diego offers locals and convention-goers a passport to paradise.

LOCATED IN THE HEART OF DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO, Spa Tiki provides a taste of the islands with its tropical-themed treatments and decor. The brainchild of co-owner Katheline Stuart, the spa features a blend of authentic healing therapies and rituals of ancient lsland cultures. Situated in the Harbor Club. a high-end condominium complex with (approximately 400 residents, the spa is ideally located across from the city's convention center. With no prior spa experience, Stuart, owner of an event-planning company, decided to open Spa Tiki after being approached repeatedly by various meeting planners asking why there wasn't a spa in the area. "I finally decided that if no one else was going to do it, I'd build one," says Stuart,

Working with her partner and business consultant Jerry Dressel, Stuart began doing the research. "1 was smart enough to know that I didn't know enough," she says. "I've always had a strong business sense, [Jerry's] strength is in finance, and mine is in marketing." For everything else, they relied on Collier & Collier Spas, a spa consulting, planning, design, and development firm based in Whitefish, MT. Spa Tiki is the company's first full-fledged day spa project.

Collier &. Collier Spas is best known for its work on resort spa projects. Taking care of the menu and staffing, the firm gave Stuart and Dressel the guidance they needed to find and hire a spa director and assistant spa director, who then pooled their resources and began recruiting additional staff.

The spa now employs 24 full-time staff members and several independent contractors on an as-needed basis.

Because of its close proximity to the convention center, the spa draws a great deal of group business. According to Stuart, January through March is high season for conventions, In the summer when groups taper off, the spa increases its local business. Even in the midst of convention season, Spa Tiki is able to balance its out-of-town visitors and local clientele, ''The beauty of convention business is that clients check in on Sunday and check out on Wednesday," says Stuart. "The traditional pattern of business takes place Monday through Wednesday, leaving us wide open on weekends." This provides local residents access to the spa when they most want it. The spa also offers locals a membership program called Club Tiki.

The $300 annual membership includes 20 percent off all services Monday through Wednesday, 15 percent off all retail purchases, a complimentary one-hour service on the member's birthday, free use of the Hula Hut meeting room twice a year, sneak previews of new products, unlimited access to the steam room, exclusive invitations to quarterly special events, and complimentary consultations with lead staff members about makeup, esthetics, massage therapy, hair design, and medically directed skincare.

To appeal to local residents, the spa features the Spa Tiki Skin Care Clinic, which offers medically directed skincare treatments and products under the supervision of M.K. Batra, M.D., F.A.GS. Botox, collagen, and laser services are just some of the medical-oriented services available. The spa also offers a host of islandinspired treatments, such as the Mai Tai Body Facial ($85, 45 minutes), including a Pineapple Papaya Scrub; the Tallitian Monoi Bath Ritual ($45,25 minutes), utilizing a scented oil used by Polynesian women to protect their skin and condition their hair; and the Tiki-Lada Hydrating Coconut Wrap ($55, 25 minutes; $105,50 minutes), which features a coconut oil scalp and foot massage.

With product sales playing a key role in the success of the spa, 75 percent of the first floor is devoted to retail space. 'We have a wide variety of retail items," says Stuart. "Our market is really different in that it appeals to the very young or young at heart." Looking to maximize marketing Opportunities, Stuart plans to expand the spa's retail area out into the adjacent courtyard when PETCO Park, a baseball stadium, is opened down the street-Spa Tiki is on a major thoroughfare to the stadium. According to Stuart, keeping up with the growth of the spa is one of her greatest challenges, along with fine-tuning operational issues and integrating event-planning activities. In the end, the spa delivers on the promise made by its motto: 'Where everyday ends and vacation begins."

-Heather Mikesell

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