The spa business, for instance, is still in trend, but new spa operators might need to look for something "aggressive, pushy and quick" to get their businesses off the ground.

Areeya Majaworanakorn, marketing executive of Flore Pleno Spa - a trendy new boutique spa - admits that the "same old marketing strategies" might not work.

Flore Pleno Spa opened its doors just one month before the September 19 coup - an event with an inevitably negative effect on the spa business. Its customers fell as a consequence. A few months later bombs exploded all over Bangkok.

Areeya says she felt forced to launch aggressive marketing strategies as the only way of helping her fledgling business through the crisis.

At first, she tried to find something different from other operators, and hit upon the idea of making Flore Pleno into a trendy boutique spa.

"We readjusted our spa to become neither a conventional Thai spa nor a modern spa. We chose to go with post-Victorian decor, which is now in trend," she explains.

"We put different wallpapers in different rooms, and every room has its unique features. The style is simple, elegant and classic."

In addition, Flore Pleno provided double beds in every room to give customers the utmost privacy with their friends or lovers. After enjoying spa treatments, they can work out or simply rest in their rooms.

Areeya says Flore Pleno Spa also offers new treatment options to suit every season, such as wine or Valentine's treatments. The materials used are always fresh, and include green apples, milk yogurt, grapefruit, lavender, strawberries and chocolate.

To offer more value-added services, the spa also uses US-made Pevonia Botanica skin treatments and beauty supplies, in line with practices at spas in five-star hotels. However, Flore Plena Spa offers a discount of 30 to 40 per cent, Areeya says.

She is also constantly on the lookout for new markets, like opening a spa service on the second floor of the Fenix building on Sukhumvit 31. The building houses the popular California Fitness Centre, and her spa offers a two-hour "stress away" treatment for health-conscious customers.

Areeya also taps into the lucrative wedding market by joining forces with wedding-studio operators.

In a recent move, Flore Pleno Spa also followed a Korean trend and got together with Missha - a South Korean cosmetics brand - to organise a three-month workshop.

"We have to push ourselves very hard at this time because locals do not want to use their money and foreigners are afraid of political uncertainty. We also need to fight hard because there are so many spa operators," Areeya says.

"We give some services almost free of charge, in the hope that customers will know us quickly, and if they are happy with our services, they will be come back again and again."

Treatments at Flore Pleno Spa cost between Bt300 and Bt3,800.

The reasonable prices, use of international products and interesting packages are among the ploys this new spa operator is using to make her presence felt in the market as quickly as possible.

Cheerawat Khongkaew

Bizweek