‘It’s a game-changer’ – Zuma and Sanya Spa

Skirting the South West corner of London, New Malden sits atop a handful of bustling postcodes that make up the capital’s sprawling commuter belt. For residents of New Malden, and many of the adjacent towns scattered further into the Surrey hills, the living benefits are clear. Direct, unfettered access to one of the world’s biggest cities, whilst retaining the suburban, family-orientated feel of a relatively small town. 

But for those who have made the location jump from ‘Zone 1 London flat’ to ‘generous, New Malden family home’, there remains a crucial question mark. Can you still freely reach all those life-enhancing experiences that you came to love and expect on your doorstep? 

With more and more London residents saying goodbye to city centre living and retreating to the calmer climbs of areas like New Malden, there are tantalising opportunities for lifestyle and hospitality businesses to bring a taste of that Central London life right to residents’ doorsteps. But crucially, with London still a close hop, these businesses need to give clients a reason to stick to their local high street, rather than jumping the train into the city centre.

Sanya Spa is one such business – a new and innovative venture from local resident PK and his wife, Vishni. Sanya Spa can be found behind a shop front on the connecting road between New Malden and Kingston Upon Thames, offering high level beauty treatments, massages and facials. Through its front door, you’re transported into the luxurious confines of a premium West London spa – the perfect environment in which to relax and indulge in self care. Look up from the deep blue panelling and hand poured resin nail bar, and there you’ll find Zuma speaker-lights – bathing Sanya Spa in natural light and immersive, room-filling sound.

Only a week after Sanya Spa opened its doors to the public, we sat down with their Commercial Director, PK, to find out more about this exciting venture, and dig into how Zuma has helped offer an immersive service yet to be matched even by the famous beauty clinics of Central London. 

BRINGING SANYA SPA TO LIFE

“If anything it was a bit of a whim”, PK reveals. Sanya Spa’s beautiful interior started its life as a distinctly less luxurious space than we find now. Their New Malden shop front belongs to PK’s father, housing his accountancy firm until COVID saw them shut their doors and move fully remote. Carrying a wealth of experience in the aesthetics industry, PK has spent the last six years working for the iconic beauty clinics of Harley Street. And with his father’s shop front vacant, PK and his wife Vishni saw an opportunity to embrace their own creativity and bring that highly sought-after Harley Street experience to the residents of New Malden.

“There are loads of nail parlours nearby, I think on the main high street they’ve got four. But they all look and feel exactly the same.” PK tells us.  “…you go there thinking you’re going to have this personal service that relaxes you and leaves you feeling good…but in reality you don’t get that.”

PK and Vishni’s goal? To offer local residents a service that stands out from the crowd. “I thought, let’s see if we can create a luxury spa in New Malden. We don’t have anything like that here locally.”

Throughout the build process, PK leaned into a creative skillset cultivated during his time at London College of Fashion. PK and Vishni personally designed the interior from the ground up – with every fixture and fitting carefully considered to ensure it distinctly improved the client experience.

“I sourced everything myself. We utilised all my contacts in the fashion industry, and brought in people to tweak the design here and there to make it look as luxurious as possible” PK tells us. The goal was clear. “Bottom line, we wanted to make it look like the interior of The Savoy”. Some may think this an ambitious aim given the building’s relatively humble beginnings, but it’s a goal that PK and Vishni have – incredibly – achieved. Dark blue wall panelling draws the room in, while opulent, gold-finished water features (designed by PK himself) lend an unmistakably refined feel to the space. It’s a stunning achievement.

Where possible, PK was keen to utilise local artisans and tradesmen. “I met someone nearby who did the most incredible resin work, and I really wanted to promote him locally…he ended up doing the manicure/pedicure table and platform in resin, and poured the whole thing by hand.”

It took a team of builders two months to complete the internal renovation. Doors are now open for business, and the early signs are strong. “In our first week of trading, we saw twenty clients, and got multiple five star reviews”. The future, indeed, looks bright.

SANYA SPA & ZUMA

“We knew we needed good sound and lighting,” says PK. To begin with, PK and Vishni considered a more conventional, two channel approach. “Initially we were going to go with Bose speakers in the corner of each room, but I was a bit worried about the visible cabling.” They had worked so hard to elevate every intricate detail of Sanya Spa’s internal design, it’s understandable that PK and Vishni wanted to avoid covering that design in cables and electronics. Next PK considered his in-ceiling speaker options. “Sonos ceiling speakers were suggested to us, but I didn’t really want the ceiling covered in loads of little circles, either”. 

Zuma clients regularly cite these two, specific pain points as reasons for turning to a Zuma speaker light system. After spotting an advert for Zuma on Instagram, PK reached out, and quickly heard back from UK Sales Manager, Mark Humphry. PK was immediately interested. 

“The idea that you could have speakers in the light fitting was sort of a game-changer for me”.

Mark attended the now-developing site and demonstrated the potential of Zuma in person. The whole team was impressed by the sonic result. Next, Mark helped PK settle on the right system for this fairly unique space. Utilising a combination of Lumisonics (speaker light units) and Luminaires (light only units), they together created a system that sat within the realms of Sanya Spa’s spatial and experiential requirements, and available budget. 

The front of the premises is an open plan space that doubles as a reception and beauty area – including that hand-poured resin bar for nail enhancements, manicures, and more. For this space, two Lumisonic speaker lights accompanied thirteen Luminaire light units – for an immersive speaker experience uniting the two front rooms. The needs of this front space were relatively straightforward. “We’re not the kind of business that necessarily needs loud music…this room is just background music whilst someone is getting a treatment.”

The smaller treatment rooms to the rear of the property is where Zuma really had the opportunity to demonstrate its potential. Two cosy, private spaces serve as the location for facials, massages, eyelash treatments, and additional wellbeing services. In PK’s words, “That’s where the game changes.” 

ELEVATING THE SPA EXPERIENCE

“Everything we’ve implemented here treatment-wise is the same as what we do in London on Harley Street”. This is where PK and Vishni were able to bring all their experience to bear, and offer something truly unique to the residents of New Malden. “We wanted to give everyone the opportunity to experience that level of luxury…we wanted to make people aware that you could have that same level of treatment, but at a much more affordable price.”

Steam-assisted facials, 24K gold treatment ingredients, and friendly, in-demand therapists are just some of the elements that place Sanya Spa in a premium category of service delivery, whilst opening these previously exclusive treatments up to a new world of clients. “These kinds of treatments would easily be two or even three times the price in Central London. Here, we’ve made them much more affordable for people”, says PK. 

This luxury level of service delivery is significantly elevated by the presence of Zuma in each small, intimate treatment room. “Even in London, most places just dim the lights during treatments”, PK reveals. “You’re paying for a premium service but not getting the full package and ambience”. At Sanya Spa, that was set to change. 

Zuma proved itself to be a powerful promoter of beautifully relaxing environments for spa treatments. With its unique, in-built wellbeing presets that combine sound and light into deeply immersive and meditative soundscapes, Zuma is able to offer Sanya Spa a genuine first in the UK spa industry – fully immersive, wellbeing-enhanced treatment facilities that utilise all the senses.

“Even our therapists said that when the wellbeing presets are playing, you don’t feel like you’re in a treatment room.” PK reveals. “The rainforest setting for example, with the sound of the water on leaves and the birds singing, the sound of a breeze in the trees…couple that with the lighting and our steam treatments and heated blankets…and you’re taking clients to a whole new level of luxury”.

Many clients were so comfortable, they reached the ultimate level of relaxation in the treatment rooms. “Clients have been really impressed. They’ve told us, ‘I’ve ended up going to sleep because the sound has totally transported me!’. That’s exactly what we’re aiming for here, and with Zuma it worked out perfectly, all in one place”.

THE ZUMA EXPERIENCE

“The customer service from Zuma has been out of this world”.

Once installed, PK and his team needed a little help to get the Zuma speakers connected and operational. Mark, Zuma’s UK Sales Manager, was only too happy to come down and help. “Mark has been there every step of the way. In this day and age, you don’t get that level of service anywhere”. Customer service, it turns out, was a key factor in choosing Zuma. “Unlike almost every other audio company we talked to, at no time did Mark push for the sale, that’s what gave us the confidence to buy”, says PK. “I know I could send a message to Mark now and he’d respond right away. That makes such a difference.”

The Zuma system has quickly become a key part of Sanya Spa’s day to day operation. The in-spa therapists can easily download the Zuma app and control music and wellbeing settings directly, for straightforward control. A central ‘sound and light’ hub has been set up on an iPad at the front of the shop, “which works well”, according to PK. 

The real surprise for PK has been how seamless Zuma’s installation, set up, and implementation came together – even for a relatively complex use case like Sanya Spa. “It’s perfectly integrated into our business…we’ve not had any issues since it’s been set up.”

By embracing a pioneering new technology in Zuma, PK and the Sanya Spa team have been able to further leverage their powerful USP of affordable luxury outside the Central London bubble. “We’re really proud to be the first spa to use it. We’re so excited by Zuma”. 

We finish by asking PK, as the inaugural spa to integrate Zuma into its designs, would he recommend a Zuma system to similar businesses? “Most definitely I’d recommend Zuma. It’s an easy recommendation. If you want to go with a company that provides excellent service, and really supports you along your journey to getting set up, Zuma should be your first choice…that’s not to mention the sound quality and the options for the wellbeing and ambience.”

“It’s an easy win for spas…it should be a no-brainer decision for businesses in this industry.”

Our sincerest thanks to PK for taking the time to talk to us for this interview. 

Article & Interview by Lee Broderick.