We talk to Mohammed Ibrahim, CEO of The Wellness about creating wellness and leisure experiences that are sensual, sociable and sustainable

What’s the background to The Wellness?
The Wellness was founded in 2007, with its first office in the heart of Dubai, working across the MEA region, Europe and globally. Our expertise is a combination of 30 years’ international experience.

Our company has been expanding rapidly, with double-digit growth year on year, and today consists of 60 passionate employees.

We’ve now successfully furthered our expansion by opening our Asia office in Hong Kong which will cater for the ever-expanding Asian spa and wellness market.

What services do you offer?
We’re a full-service wellness company with two main offerings: consultancy and project realisation.

We serve our clients by providing spa and pool conceptualisation, design development, construction and project management through to maintenance.

Why should spas and hotels work with The Wellness?
We pride ourselves on our out-of-the-box thinking for every project we deliver. Our workforce consists of highly skilled and passionate individuals. We’ve worked hard to foster a spirit of excellence, teamwork and a desire to elevate among all our employees.

We always deliver on time. That’s because we’re the only spa design and creation specialist offering a whole range of in-house services – from conceptualisation to architectural and technical design, through to project realisation.

Our clients know us as a team of professionals who are dynamic, yet refreshingly fun – with an approach to consultancy that’s really quite different from our counterparts.

Can you share an example of this ‘difference’?
We make sure what we propose is beyond a client’s expectations. We certainly don’t consider our business as “just a business about numbers and profits”.

We give great attention to what our client needs and might need, and there must also be an exceptional experience and health benefits to their guests.

For instance, if the client asks for a spa, the basic package would be sauna and steam. However, at The Wellness, we would consider the user/guest, area size, location, theme, culture, etc.

We’d offer a customised design that creates a special connection to the guest so they can savour every second of their spa experience and want to return.

What excites you about the current spa market?
The wellness industry is now five per cent of global economic output, and one of the world’s fastest-growing markets.

I’d say The Wellness is successfully part of it, yet always striving to provide more effective and innovative solutions.

Our design concepts focus on a combination of health, sustainability and architectural wellness.

These are the main sources of every experience in a spa, and very relevant to current wellness trends.

We see health in terms of ‘lifestyle and social interaction’ for the spa guests; ‘sustainability’ by exerting our efforts to minimise environmental damage; and ‘architecture’ for comfortable, functional spa design, equipment and materials that affect the mental and physical health of the guest.

What do you see as the challenges for today’s spa operators?
Global wellness tourism is now a ‘thing’ and rapidly growing. Several small (and even some high-end) hotels are adding spa amenities. These could be free of charge or offered at a very affordable cost.

However, the kind of hotels that we’re talking about here are not focusing on spa business, such as practices, methods and benefits. Their focal point is to pull in more customers to make more profit for the hotel.

That is the biggest challenge for spa operators; or standalone spa facilities.

A spa must focus on providing quality service and benefits to guests in terms of physical, mental, social and spiritual aspects; not just profit.

In this current digital age, we must somehow disconnect from our gadgets; and reconnect with ourselves and others physically and mentally.

A spa could be one of the best places to socialise and interact in person and at the same time improve one’s health.

How do you define wellness?
Wellness – in layman’s terms – is everyday health and fitness, a form of wellbeing through movement.

But for our clients, especially for spa and hotel operators, it’s much more of an experience for their guests. With The Wellness, we ensure that the concept layout, design and materials of the spa area are accessible to all related areas of the hotel.

It doesn’t have to be complicated – we always favour simplicity – and it should always be sustainable.

What’s next for The Wellness?
The year 2018 has been extremely busy for us. We just launched The Wellness Asia in Hong Kong, increased our in-house services, closed deals on more 5-star projects, and doubled our work force.

We want to expand our contribution of wellness concepts and architectural expertise in the Asia Pacific region.

As the wellbeing-conscious market continues to increase, we’re extending our services to consumers who’d like private spa facilities installed in their own homes, or as part of a wellness community initiative.

We’ll also focus on providing solutions for all areas of wellness throughout the property.

In Austria we’re working on an innovative bio-pool system where the water treatment method consists entirely of plants. We’ll be focusing much more on green solutions to maintain and improve the quality of the environment, which also benefits society.

We’ll certainly be delivering more eco-friendly, energy-efficient projects like this in the future, as well as working with global chains and boutique brands.