MEMBER PROFILE
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18)
Hilot remains the spa's bestseller among male and female spa guests.
Franchising the Brand
Franchising the spa was never part of Dr.
Montalbo’s original plan, but when he
saw the demand, he decided to branch
the brand out through franchising.
“It was in 2010 when our first
franchised branch was launched in Makati
City, Metro Manila. This paved the way to
various opportunities to expand in the
country. Last year, our spa brand has
reached the three major group islands in
the Philippines—Luzon, Visayas and
Mindanao. As of writing, we have opened
56 branches nationwide.”
Dr. Montalbo takes pride of the spa’s
growth, particularly how Mont Albo
Massage Hut was the only spa recognized
by the Bank of the Philippine Islands as
an Accredited Ka-Negosyo Franchise
brand in 2013. “This accreditation
measures financial stability and
‘franchiseability’ of a business. In 2014,
Mont Albo Massage Hut was officially
awarded the Philippine Superbrand Seal as
the only spa in the service category.
Through franchising, we are able to reach
one of our goals of reintroducing the
Filipino traditional massage, Hilot, to our
fellow Filipinos,” he says.
Because guests have responded well to
its menu of services, Dr. Montalbo
decided to keep the spa menu unchanged
in the last six years. “We just improve our
services and create new promo bundles
for our clients. Hilot and Bentosa are
always the primary offerings of the receptionists to every client. However, when it
comes to spa products for retail, we
created the Mont Sapo brand which
includes two soap variants and a locally
known ‘pito-pito’ (which means ‘sevenseven’ when translated in English) tea
brand last August.”
■
September 2016
Spa open date: March 11, 2007
Range of square footage of spa
branches: 40 square meters to 400
square meters
Number of treatment rooms: smallest
branch has 4 beds; largest branch has 20
beds
Number of full-time spa staff: 5 to 30
Method of staff compensation: Fixed
Salary + Commission + Tip
Signature treatment: Hilot
Product line used: In-house line called
Mont Sapo
Now that Dr. Montalbo has successfully
expanded the brand throughout the
Address: 1184 High Pointe Building,
Chino Roces Ave., Makati City, Philippines
Click here to launch a video of his interview on a local Philippine TV
show.
PULSE
ABOUT THE SPA
From the Philippines
to the World
WANT TO WATCH Dr. Montalbo share his rags-to-riches story?
20
Philippines, he feels he’s ready to take the
world. “The lack of local research and
available data for the Philippine spa
industry is one of the challenges that we
want to solve. Unlike in neighboring
countries such as Thailand and Indonesia,
the available information is very scarce,
limiting the growth of small and mediumscale spas in the country,” he says. “Also,
the local spa association has been
dissolved twice. There is no organization
to represent the spa industry at the
moment. Joining ISPA is like having a
professional spa family to belong to.”
But the self-made millionaire says all
the hard work and sleepless nights to run
the business have paid off. “Offering a
different spa concept and focusing on
Filipino healing traditions, with familiar
services, has helped us grow and flourish.
Soon, with the help of ISPA, we will bring
Hilot to the world,” he says. n
Website: montalbomassage.com
Phone number: 011.63.02.403.2075
Facebook: Mont Albo Massage Hut
Instagram or Twitter: @montalbospas