Krip Rojanastien

One of the uh factors that is so important is our Chiva-Som Academy. We actually have a training school and we've established for a long time 15 years I think roughly and anybody going to work in our resort would have to go through the you know the relevant training programs and we also take in outsiders people who want to be therapists themselves or want to manage their own spas we also train them so that's one way of getting around the uh what we call a manpower shortage nowadays you know because everyone wants a therapist. Everyone's opening a spa, a wellness center and so on.

What we have done is enlarge the accommodation rooms - people do spend a lot of time there.

We are investing to stay relevant.

The renovation of Chiva-Som will help us anticipate what is coming in the future.

The new bedrooms also have a work desk.

the world is rapidly changing, so why shouldn't we?

Every day, you can change and do something new. That's the challenge and beauty of life - if you are well enough to do it.

Qatar is going well gaining a lot of traction among the locals and uh the neighboring countries but because of you know geopolitical circumstances today and that's where the focus is but we have actually uh generated interest from Europe from Asia because what we're offering there that is quite new is family wellness the circumstance the facilities the practitioners that help you uh narrow that gap that generational gap.

It's not just a kids camp. It's not just a place where you can come and leave your kids and then you go off have a spa treatment. You actually uh requested to spend a few hours in activities with your children. Something that requires a team work, team spirit, learning together like cooking class, outdoor games, you know, tailored for each family. And then when they spend the quality time together, they learn more about each other. They find out ways of narrowing the gap. The gap is widening today, I think, because of the social media. For example, uh people get so hung up on it and that affects the kid as he grows up and we don't want that to happen.

Um they're looking for something that is not just uh spa or fitness. They're looking for benefits from wellness in particular. and what kind of lifestyle change do they need to make to achieve it? What technology can play a role in this in all this evolution.

it is shifting uh in the past few years particularly after covid. First of all the the age is dropping that means you know much more awareness much more requirements demands from uh the younger segments and also uh more demand more purchasing power from Asia, India, China, Southeast Asia. So uh yeah the faces of clientele are changing uh the uh demographics are changing and geography is changing

We see that um you know AI is something that nobody can avoid right and we feel that the AI-driven personalized wellness program is something that's going to be very big. You know, the data that the AI can acquire and accumulate and then analyze and deliver is so big, fast, very timely that everyone wants.

And one of the things that drives that is the wearable like the one I'm wearing today. It gives you your heart rate, your uh your calorie burn, right? The intensity level of your exercise and so on. And you know even quality of sleep it can tell you something about that. So it's all facets of life you know where improvements can be made especially in this world where the world is moving very fast information travels quickly you know how do you handle the stress the the pressure that comes with it. This is why the younger generation is interested

And that's that's uh up to our innate talents of our therapists. The ties have always had that, you know, passed down the generation, the soft touch. We're a very tactile culture. You know, when you see the elderly, you go up, give them massage, touch, it's very normal. So um that gives us an advantage uh when we come to uh treating uh individuals uh treating people who are in need of that sense of intimacy, sincerity and convincing them that what we're delivering is the best solution.

It may not be what they want cuz people may want something that they they think they need and it's not really what they want. For instance, uh someone might come and say, "I've eaten so badly, you know, the past 6 months because of my travel schedules, my meetings, and so on. So, I'd like to go on a a weight loss or detox program." Now, if you were just sitting there and just making bookings, you would just book, okay, here's a detox. No, here's the weight loss. But we tend to consult each other. uh we tend to talk to uh each individual and just find out the root cause of the problem rather than the symptoms and then we might find that well you know during meetings uh they're eating compulsively you know it's just a a habit right so we might recommend something like stress management instead of digital detox or weight loss to to best suit uh what they need

And the other measure is that we retain a very uh tight network of the people who have worked with us, they have gone say overseas, gone to other places and then you know a lot of them for remuneration purposes for gaining new experiences and so on. We tend to keep in touch with them and we know where they are in the world, what they're doing. So uh when it's time for them to come back you know it's uh it's quite simple they get in touch and we have availability they're back and we know what they've been doing we're up to date in fact you know most of them have gone and acquired more experience more knowledge so that's beneficial to us so the turnover problem yes everyone worries about but uh it's not all negative

Thus, we are catering to a wider base of people and we must anticipate their needs.

If you are going to be offering real value, you have to be relevant to the lifestyle of your guests.

We also have younger generations coming in.

A lot of the people who came to our resort 20-something years ago, they have aged, so they have different requirements.

We found, if we kept guests from their work, stress goes up.

Right now, the British market is one out of five of our guests.

I think the Thai authorities could go for more high-value, low-impact tourism.

We have one in Bintan, Indonesia; a huge island that is only 45 minutes by ferry from Singapore.

We have been in operation for 23-years and it is now time to look forward, to anticipate the needs, trends, and the demands of our future clientele.