Samui spa offers yoga and detox facilities

The Absolute Sanctuary resort is based on increasing interest in health over the past few years and rising demand for health resorts and spas.

"Thailand only has 50 resorts and none focus on a specific type of programme. Therefore, we decided to come up with a resort that specialises in yoga and detoxification," the resort's managing director Benjaporn Karoonkornsakul said.

Built in Moroccan style, the resort has 38 guestrooms; eight rooms in its detox centre, where guests are treated to colon hydrotherapy as well as a room devoted to yoga lessons and a spa treatment area. It offers three- to seven-day programmes at prices ranging from Bt33,950 to Bt63,950.

Benjaporn said the resort was targeting middle- to high-end consumers, including expats and tourists. The company doesn't want to position itself as a five-star resort because it wants to be accessible to as many people as possible.

She said the resort's prices were 30 per cent higher than mass-level health resorts and 30 per cent lower than five-star facilities. Since its unofficial opening last April, the resort has had a 40-per-cent occupancy rate, and they expect it to rise to 70 per cent after its official launch yesterday.

Absolute Sanctuary has marked Bt20 million for road shows, both on its own and with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, plus market research and building awareness through media and its website. It also plans to exploit its yoga centre's customer database, which lists some 70,000 names in Thailand and Singapore.

Benjaporn admitted such resorts were still quite new to Thailand, but she insisted this was a big opportunity to attract people who were new to yoga and detox programmes.

She said the economic slowdown was not a major obstacle, because though people were careful about spending money, they wanted to invest in things that helped them relax and boosted their health.

The resort expects to generate Bt30 million in the first 12 months, and break even in seven years.