An eye for detail

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The Oriental theme running through the spa is something Monsod is keen to promote.

Michael Monsod, the new spa and recreation manager at The Palace, The Old Town in Dubai, is determined to make an impact on the hotel by relaunching the spa and establishing its place in the emirate's highly competitive market.

When Michael Monsod, spa and recreation manager at The Palace, The Old Town, talks about relaunching the property's spa this month, he can barely contain his excitement. Nor can he hide his determination; this role and the challenge ahead are clearly both important for the hotel's management company Emaar Hospitality Group (EHG), which took over the management of the hotel from Accor in August 2008, and for Monsod personally, who joined the team last October.

"We're still in the process of weaning ourselves from the Le Spa brand [belonging to previous management chain Sofitel] and really establishing ourselves as The Spa at The Palace. I did a whole presentation on what we will do to rebrand ourselves and we are taking the steps right now, including coming up with a new logo and a relaunch of the spa," says Monsod.

"Emaar is a new and growing company and the hotel arm is just establishing itself. I'm very happy that we've taken the direction that we have in terms of the spa here because it has given me the opportunity to do what I want and to show the hotel and the company what I am capable of. I'm not limited by just working with one brand or by a lot of parameters; I'm given basically the opportunity to run with it," he says.

Monsod says he is helped in the task by the fact he has a fantastic facility to start with - the spacious hammams give the spa an Oriental USP - but he says "there is a lot of work to do in terms of launching it into the market".

"It seems quite simple, you have a hotel and you have a spa, just promote it. But it's not just that. You want to make it distinct," says Monsod.

"Now it's just bringing it to the next level, making sure that our treatments are top of the line, that our fantastic therapists are even better, making sure that people come and they keep coming back because they love the therapists and they love the treatments. And of course, establishing that identity which is very Oriental-oriented and having signature treatments that are very geared towards this theme," he says.

Monsod says that business in January was good, with a 50:50 ratio on in-house to outside guests, "which is the highest that they've had so far, which is for me a very good achievement that signifies that we're on our way and that it's where we want to go".

But while boosting the local market helps the business hotel during public holidays and weekends, Monsod says that everyone is affected by the current economic climate and that "business could have been better".

"This is what I am actively working on; to reach markets that will help us during lean times and coming up with packages as well that will allow a wide variety of people to access the spa.
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"This is the time to be creative. This is the time to make sure that we think outside of the box and this is the time to do what you can to reach your market," advises Monsod, who previously ran the spa and health club at the Shangri-La hotel in Dubai

"And when I say creative I mean not just adverts but working with our events department, our sales department, strategic alliances; things like that will allow us to reach out and introduce ourselves to more people.

"Obviously everyone's budgets have been cut and everyone's being conservative, but it doesn't mean that you have to sacrifice on your quality and also on your marketing efforts. This is something that Bénédicte Flouriot [marketing manager at The Palace] and I are clear on - whatever budget we have, whatever means we have, we're going to be out there; I'm not going to let them slack on that. And I'm not going to let them tell me, we only have this amount, I'm not going to take that. I have to make sure that I'm out there," says Monsod.

With this level of commitment, you can't help feeling confident that Monsod will achieve his aim of getting The Spa at The Palace up and running with its new identity by the end of the month.

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