MAKING THE SPA

Steve Jeisman, Group Director, Alila Experiences talks wellness and health

Tell us about your journey into wellness and your association with Alila Group.

I started my management career in Australia in a small boutique hotel at 22. And then, not long after, found a job in Bali. While I was General Manager of a property called The Villas Bali Hotel & Spa Resort, I built Prana Spa, which had 76 therapists. Soon after, I joined Alila Hotels & Resorts. With Alila, I was offered two jobs, either take a GM role or help develop and redevelop their spa entity, which I started from the ground up, titled Spa Alila. I have been with them for 13 years now. As the Group Director of Alila Experiences, I take care of the development process worldwide from spa, gym and yoga studio to boutiques and kids club, for the group. I also take care of some operational audits and spa operations globally.

Tell us about your expansion plans for Spa Alila in India.

We are not focussing on standalone spas at the moment. Basically, when we open an Alila Hotel, the Spa Alila mojo will drop into that and we are obviously going to have a combination of wellness offerings through dedicated wellness menus, yoga, exercise, professional guidance along with pampering and beauty. It is equally important because the more beautiful people look, the better they feel. So, facials, manicures and pedicures are a big part of what we offer. But, worldwide, we will be expanding Spa Alila within our Alila Hotels for now because we can control the quality that we’d like to strive for.

How have you customised Spa Alila’s programmes and packages for the Indian market?

For the Indian market, and especially at Alila Diwa Goa, we have some fantastic customised spa programmes. We have a combination of Ayurveda, western and Asian therapies partnered with all kinds of exercise programmes, from walking and breathing to yoga, heavy gym workouts and also coupled with specific wellness cuisine. The programmes are customised for the individual and we are also developing a self-start wellness programme in which guests can come for a day or even a couple of weeks and actually go at their own pace. The whole goal is just to eat better, exercise, to reconnect with themselves and with the earth and basically just take time to pause, stop and breathe again. These are especially for people whose lives are fairly toxic with stress, bad food, obesity, illnesses and the like. The programmes that we have created here, like the 'Detox Detour', weight management programme and also the revival programmes, are really all about the individual. There’s no set regime.

Upon arriving at the hotel, you go through an appraisal or consultation process with our Ayurveda doctor, and from there we map out all of your meal plans, exercise regimes and therapeutic spa and wellness experiences.

How do you see the wellness industry in India changing in the next few years?

I believe that the importance of wellness management in India is growing exponentially as alternative and natural therapies are growing in stature. People are becoming more wellness and spa savvy, understanding that food can be medicine – that by exercising, eating a balanced diet, having less stress in your life, you can be more healthy. So, I really hope that prevention is picked up by the Indian market.

I think the wellness industry will change in due course. It’s all about education and awareness. People need to go down that road and try healthy diets, reconnecting with nature, therapeutic experiences and basically look at things unemotionally, at a professional level. Stress management and mental health is key. These are components that are valuable to every one of us. Life balance, mindfulness and simple wellbeing is the right measure.