Six Senses: Striving for luxury that is eco-friendly

Six Senses is a resort, spa management and development company with a variety of properties in the Maldives, Thailand, Vietnam, Oman and Jordan. The group operates under the concept of ‘Intelligent Luxury’ and strives to protect and preserve the natural environment whilst providing a luxurious, pure and organic experience to guests at their resorts and spas.

SLOW LIFE is an acronym which stands for Sustainable, Local, Organic, Wholesome – Learning, Inspiring, Fun, Experiences, which are core principals of the Six Senses brand. Six Senses strives to apply each of these principles to every single offering it provides for its guests.

Six Senses has 14 resorts each with a Six Senses Spa and there are over 20 more Six Senses Spas around the world. The philosophy behind Six Senses Spas is balancing the senses, bringing balance back into life and rebalancing the body. Some guests expect and like relaxing and pampering treatments and it offers both, a balance of the two.

It has Balinese and Thai massage for example and aromatherapies. The Six Senses Spa hosts (Six Senses calls all its staff hosts) are trained to a high level of expertise, they care about each guest and enjoy helping and healing them. For these hosts it is not about their salary, or working hours – it is a vocation rather than a job.

All Six Senses Spa hosts are trained in reiki and can harness energy from the universe through their hands. Six Senses Spas also host many visiting practitioners, renowned healers and people experienced in alternative medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda and other forms of healing.

One of Six Senses’ goals for 2020 is to be the best employer in the hospitality industry. The HR team and Chairman and CEO Sonu Shivdasani have put in place a string of initiatives to make this happen.

Many follow the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs, the five basic comforts which human beings need: job security, good food, comfortable accommodation, etc. For more senior hosts, this includes bonuses and rewards for good service.

Soneva Kiri by Six Senses has the best host accommodation in Thailand and it is the same at one of the properties in Vietnam.

All staff are called ‘hosts’ to motivate ownership and responsibility. Treating hosts as owners creates a sense of shared responsibility and shared strategy. As well as Motivators it has Comforters, for example, its chefs have been tasked with achieving a level of 90% staff satisfaction in the staff restaurants and several have achieved this.

The travel industry by necessity involves airplane travel, which emits Co2 and that leaves a nasty smear on the industry as a whole.

Travel and tourism when done well, however, can be extremely positive and can be an essential ingredient in preserving the biodiversity of an area.

Costas Christ, Editor at Large for National Geographic Traveller and Chairman of the World Travel and Tourism Council, spoke recently at an Eco Symposium which was hosted at Soneva Fushi by Six Senses and gave many examples of how eco tourism leads to the preservation of bio-diversity.

In Gambon for example 11 million hectares of mining and forestry areas have been given over to a national park because it will encourage people to visit.

In Africa wildlife tourism is vital in the protection of many species, which would otherwise be hunted and extinct. Tourism also provides many millions of dollars which pay for necessary repairs and the upkeep and protection of natural areas.

Six Senses merges and marries sustainability and the need to be responsible with ultimate luxury. The Six Senses Foundation will carry on with the good work started in areas of social responsibility, such as the water project mentioned above.

Six Senses also gives 0.5% of all its profits from each resort to local, national and international charities and initiatives, including teaching local communities about waste management, teaching English, educating about the environment and the importance of protecting it, support to orphanages and other charities.

Six Senses is in the process of a re-branding exercise, streamlining its brand categories and giving them separate identities. Soneva will stand more for ‘Intelligent Luxury’ and Six Senses for the epic adventures and fabulous experiences that it offers. Six Senses is also in the process of expanding its presence in Sri Lanka, its breathtaking natural beauty making the island a potential exotic destination, ideal for Six Senses’ eco-friendly, luxury-orientated approach to tourism.