"The spa, after having been planned for two years, is expected to add more value to the hotel and keep its occupancy rate high," said general manager Rainy MK Chan.

She said the spa services would be housed in a three-storey building decorated in traditional Thai colonial style. There will be 18 treatment rooms, consisting of four suites and 14 standard rooms.

The spa at the Peninsula Bangkok is the second, after the Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong. Two more spas will operate at the Peninsula Hotels in Tokyo and Shanghai when they open in 2007 and 2009, respectively.

The Peninsula Bangkok signed a contract with ESPA International (UK) Ltd, a spa consulting and training firm, to provide management and programmes.

ESPA will recruit and train therapists, provide spa equipment, suitable music and incense, design the spa's menu and room decorations, and sell spa products.

The hotel will require 18 therapists at first and five more after nine months. How many programmes will be provided depends on identifying the therapists and the efficiency of each.

Susan Harmsworth, chief executive of ESPA, said the company would recruit people who have never therapy experience but have the potential to become good therapists. Intensive training will be conducted for eight to 10 weeks. Later, it will cooperate with other five-star spas in Thailand so that therapists can learn overall spa system management.

ESPA has been running its spa business for over 10 years, working with more than 250 hotels worldwide. It also has another 60 working projects with other spas. The Peninsula Hotel, however, is the first hotel in Asia in which ESPA provides all its services.

"The hotel doesn't expect to see strong revenue within the first year of operation," said Chan. She added that the hotel planned the spa to provide five-star service to guests rather than be a moneymaking business.

Frequent travellers require higher standards of service which will maintain the hotel's high occupancy rate, she said. The hotel, however, expects to see returns within two to three years.

Nitida Asawanipont

The Nation