I AM BAR none the worst spa-goer in the world - the sort that spa operators love.
I get conned into buying a huge whopper of a package and end up going maybe twice a year or something. By then, the package would lapse (nobody told me they lapse!) and I would have to pay another top-up to keep it going.
So had I been one of Wax In The City's clients, I would pretty much be up in arms about its new defunct status like a group of them are at the moment.
Could the recent spate of insolvency of spas been avoided? Absolutely! And my proposed solution addresses what I hate most about going to spas in Singapore in the first place.
Have you ever noticed that a simple facial is never that simple? After 45 minutes of soothing facial massage usually by a young, sweet therapist, suddenly your quiet little sanctuary will be descended upon by the spa's mamasan who'd then launch into a hard-sell of a certain miracle ampoule that they used free-of-charge on your face earlier.
To my eternal shame, I gave in once or twice and bought 10 ampoules for future use just to get the scary mamasan off my back.
You see, the problem here is that the spa operators sell products so aggressively, but they don't quite understand that they only have a small pool of cows to milk. Say if I succumb to upgrading my package today - because the offer lasts only one day! - needless to say, I won't be spending any more at the spa for a few months to come. In fact, I might never spend a cent there again after being so turned off by the hard sell tactics.
That means, for the next few months, the spa gets nothing out of me. I'm already paid up for the rest of the year and I refuse to buy any products on the side. If most of the spa's clients are experiencing this process as well, that's a cessation of the spa's cashflow right there.
And it's not just cashflow either. These spas, having signed up membership packages, will have to spend their capacity on them. Therapists, therapy rooms and other resources will be committed to members would just redeem their already paid-for points. So it's not as if the spa can continuously take in new members or accommodate walk-ins.
Just a few months of this cashflow problems, with no excess capacity to bring more revenue in, and insolvency isn't too far away for the aggressive spa.
Now that The Spa and Wellness Association is working with an "appropriate insurance body and other appropriate organisations, hopefully insurance policies will be set in place to insure both consumers and spa operators.
For one thing, I hope it puts an end to business models based on the hard selling the client various unnecessary packages and products which, in Wax In The City's case, end up being dishonoured.
I don't care if it's 60 per cent off the normal price. No means no!