MAKEOVER: Endang Hasthowati works on one of her clients, Australian expatriate Joanne Craig.A Javanese entrepreneur fills a niche in Phnom Penh.
Rice powder, tumeric, sandalwood, milk, lime peel, avocado. Those are just some of the ingredients Endang Hasthowati has used to create a successful, one-of-a-kind day spa in the chaotic Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.
The Java native also has thrown in a bit of her grandmother’s traditional wisdom and her own artistic flare to fill a niche in a market flush with stressed-out, wealthy expatriate women who want to be pampered in style.
The one-year-old spa - called, appropriately, In Style - offers women an alternative to the ubiquitous massage parlours that cater mainly to men and allows 37-year-old Hasthowati to work and stay at home with her three young daughters.
"I wanted a career, but on the other hand I wanted to be home with my children," she says. Opening a day spa in the bottom floor of the spacious villa she shares with her husband, their three youngsters and her stepdaughter was the perfect solution.
Hasthowati moved to Phnom Penh from Indonesia in 1997 with her husband, a consultant to the Asia Foundation. With a background in landscape architecture and a toddler and baby at home, she was looking for work that would allow her to stay at home, but still be creative.
"I tried to market myself. My background is in landscape architecture, so I started landscaping and I tried to do flower arrangements - something artistic," she explains.
While Hasthowati was fairly successful with a flower arrangement/gift package business, she soon spotted an opportunity to start something truly unique in a city with great potential. "There are too many massage parlours for men," she says, quoting the In Style motto she coined last year when the business was launched.
When In Style debuted in January 2000, it offered a one-hour, full-body massage and scrub, followed by a steam and then a herbal bath - all for a special promotional price of US$10. Hasthowati has since raised the price to US$15, but often offers specials that shave 10-20% off the rate.
In Style also offers a milk-and-honey scrub, foot massages, facials, hair treatments, manicures and pedicures. Most treatments feature traditional, homemade Indonesian remedies for smooth skin, shiny hair and other beauty requisites.
"I make all the ingredients; they’re all herbal... My grandma taught me this - it’s all traditional," she says, adding: "I have also learned from books."
Hasthowati, who treated herself to traditional Indonesian massages up to three times a week when she lived in her home country, trained In Style’s half-dozen Cambodian employees personally. "I know what feels good," she explains. "I trained them in the way they touch and I was able to figure out who could be trained and who couldn’t. Then I moved on to (teaching about) muscles." She performs the facials herself, however, since "the face is more sensitive".
Hasthowati just recently began training two male masseurs to make "house calls" around Phnom Penh. She is responding primarily to demand from expatriate men who want massages after work. "If ladies are here, the men make them feel uncomfortable. Plus, after work is too late for the women masseuses," she explains.
In Style did not make any money during its first six months of operation, but began turning a profit during the second half of 2000, Hasthowati says. Encouraged, she launched a more aggressive advertising campaign this year and has contacted travel guides and tour agents to get the word out about the day spa.
"We’re starting small. It’s a cottage industry," she says. "The baby is starting to crawl."
While there are no similar day spas in Cambodia, In Style does face competition from five-star hotels such as the Hotel Inter-Continental and Raffles International’s Hotel Le Royal in Phnom Penh, as well as mid-range hotels that offer similar services.
Moreover, a group of blind Cambodians offer US$3-per-hour massages and appeal to visitors’ desire to support charity.
However, Tim Smyth, managing director of Indochina Research in Phnom Penh, says there is room for all the current players.
"With outlets in many other retail sectors tending toward increased specialisation, it is likely that the one-stop shops offered by hotels will face increasing competition from specialised retail outlets that do not have the same overhead burden faced by hotel venues," Smyth says.
"With women in Cambodian households controlling more than 75% of household expenditures, the financial capacity to visit such spas certainly exists, particularly among the wealthy and educated Phnom Penh consumers," he says, adding that these services also appeal to expatriate women.
According to Indochina Research data, the amount beauty salons spent on television and print advertising grew significantly during 2000 and the "cosmetics/perfume" category was the single largest in Cambodia last year.
"It would seem that product manufacturers and local business people have also recognised the latent, but strong, demand for such products and services," Smyth says.
Hasthowati certainly has her eye on the future - and Cambodia’s biggest tourist destination, the Angkor temple complex in northern Siem Reap. "We really want to open in Siem Reap," she says determinedly.
Tourism in Cambodia in general and at the Angkor temples in particular has boomed in the past few years as the country has enjoyed peace for the first time in decades. Some 87,000 tourists flew directly to the northern town of Siem Reap in 2000, compared with 28,500 in 1999, according to the Ministry of Tourism’s most recent statistics.
The growth in tourist traffic is a key ingredient in the recipe of success for a business geared toward foreign visitors - especially those with tired and aching limbs after a day climbing around ancient ruins.