The Business

The Business of Palm Avenue Float Club 

Operations

Palm Avenue Float Club (PAFC) is an independent wellness center that falls under the business model of spa management company. They are made up of a small team of people managing both their own business development and marketing. And as of now, PAFC has only one location in Singapore, situated near Kallang Riverside Park.

Palm Avenue Float Club

With a total of 6 flotation pods which guests can book through their website, guests who are keen to float simply select their preferred date and time, and their booking will be registered into the system. Only bookings for groups containing more than 4 guests will require a deposit. Otherwise, all guests need to do is to show up on time according to their confirmed booking. Guests are advised to arrive early before each float as arriving late may cause your session to be shortened as not to penalize the next guest. Other than being punctual, another spa etiquette to be observed at PAFC is no urinating in the float pods, which PAFC would term as a “$1000 mistake”.

When guests step into the PAFC, a reception desk and a relaxation area where guests can rest and relax before and after floats can be spotted. The entire open area is clean, spacious and uncluttered. Despite being able to view the entire area with a single glance, there is no worry of privacy invasion as all private matters are taking place in individual private rooms.

Reception desk on the right, and open space relaxation area

Relaxation Area

Relaxation Area

View overlooking Kallang River and Sports Stadium

Relaxation area and reception desk

As for private rooms, facilities that will be waiting include a personal shower where guests can rinse before and after floats. Consumable items that are replaced and replenished after each float include complimentary earplugs, shampoo and conditioner. And of course, the main operating equipment for PAFC would definitely be their floatation pods

Being a high-tech, low-touch wellness center, the main draw at PAFC would be their state of the art floatation pods. Each pod is filled with 600kg of Epsom salt in water maintained at 34.5 degrees, matching the temperature of our skin. In addition, after each float is completed, the pod is clean thoroughly through a process of filtration, UV light disinfection, and chemical disinfection to create a sterile environment for the next guest.

Shower facility located in same private room

 Marketing

Floating being a wellness experience that appeals to a niche market, PAFC does not focus its resources into crafting extravagant marketing campaigns where advertisements are plastered all over television and malls. Instead, PAFC takes on a rather lowkey approach.  Firstly, PAFC does not aggressively push for their products.  Instead, they focus on the experience of floating and its benefits, and it is through these float experiences where PAFC does their marketing. By creating floating experiences that satisfies, PAFC believes that those experiences won’t go unheard. This way, it feels like a natural process where when most new guests that arrive at PAFC, they are there because they heard or read about a genuine experience that they are keen to try it out for themselves.

PAFC does conduct additional marketing through engaging journalists and bloggers for editorials. The marketing efforts done here stays true to their focus on the floating experience. This is accomplished through the media writing editorial pieces about the establishment and interviewing the owners. But most importantly, the writer’s very own floating experience. This creates a personal article that connects to the reader in a genuine manner, rather than the reader reading what may feel like an outright cut-and-paste advertisement.

Editorial piece written by TODAY about PAFC

Online series 'Hype Hunt' episode showcasing PAFC

The beauty of the marketing done here is its knowledge of the target market and its own product. PAFC understands its product is something not many people have tried before and would therefore be intrigued. However, the problem is skepticism because guests do not know what kind of experience they are going to derive from a float. Therefore, by focusing on marketing based on first-hand experiences stemmed from guests who have floated, it removes the factor of the unknown as potential guests would then have an idea as to what they are getting into. And all that is left with is the feeling of being intrigued, which itself is hard for anyone to resist.

Programming

When it comes to having a diverse spa menu and programming is where PAFC suffers a little. On the surface, it would seem like floating is the only product they offer. And many would deems not having a diverse spa menu as a weakness for a wellness center. However, I do not particularly see this as a weakness for PAFC. In fact, I would even say that having a too diverse spa menu would serve as a weakness for PAFC. The key to this lies in PAFC’s unique product, as there is literally no other wellness center in Singapore that offers floatation therapy. There is no need for PAFC to differentiate themselves by trying to come up with fanciful services, as there are already differentiated from the other wellness centers right from the start. On the contrary, if they decide to oversaturate themselves with all kinds of different services, they are putting themselves in danger as the attention is taken away from what made them stand out from the competition in the first place.

That being said, there is a need for PAFC to increase their efforts in terms of programming, not only for increase sales and revenue purposes, but to elevate the entire experience to another level, experience being the very thing they stand for. And indeed, there is some work being done when it comes to value adding to the current programming. PAFC have been organizing events regularly right at the wellness center. Such events include group meditation and sharing, workshops about breathwork and floating explorations. Such events are usually chargeable, which creates revenue for PAFC too.

PAFC events listing

All in all, when enhancing the programming at PAFC, it needs to be done strategically. One question to consider when coming up with new events or even new menu items for PAFC is, ‘is what being done value adding or stripping away from what PAFC stands for in terms of branding and product offerings’.

Customer Service

When I first entered PAFC, I was immediately greeted by Jean, one of the friendly float guides, who addressed me. Jean was dressed in her own comfortable clothing, which was different compared to other luxury wellness centers, where staff would usually have a uniform to keep in line with professionalism, but I had a feeling that wasn’t the vibe PAFC was going for anyway. Instead, they want to make you feel at ease, similar to a friend inviting you to his/her house and offering you a cup of tea, which Jean literally did offer me a cup of tea.

I arrived much earlier than my scheduled session. Instead of simply letting me wait, Jean recommended things such as relaxing at the comfortable bean bags, and using the toilet before the float, while she went to prepare the room for me. Once the room was ready and we were in it, she went through some simple facts about the floatation pod, available facilities, and some do’s and don’ts as it was my first time floating. Additional details she payed attention to such as hanging a face towel and spray bottle inside the pod.

After my float was completed and I exited the room, Jean got me another cup of tea as I sat at the lounge to relax. As I was making payment, Jean asked me questions regarding the quality of my float. However, what impressed me was when she asked if I had trouble with the saltwater entering my eyes, because she noticed my face towel was fully soaked when she went to service the room after I left. To me, it is such attention to detail that separates the good from the great. Even after I left, a follow up email was sent to guide me into the next step in my floating journey, if I wish to pursue.

After float with a cup of tea

PAFC focuses on more than only the experience within floatation pod. From the moment the guest steps into PAFC up till the moment they leave, PAFC strives to achieve more than just serving guests as a paying customer. Instead, they want to build long lasting connections, or even friendships, all while creating a stress-free environment similar to a home you want to go back to. This customer service mindset relates back to their commitment to experience.

Recommendation

Floating is still a relatively unknown wellness activity here in Singapore. To many, it sounds like a bizarre concept most can only imagine happening at the Dead Sea in Israel, which makes it very challenging to market to the wider audience. Hence, what PAFC needs now is to increase brand awareness for their presence to be known outside of the current small community of floaters.

One great way to increase brand awareness would be engaging education institutions to organize talks in different schools such as polytechnics and universities, to share the concept of floating as a wellness activity. Despite such public engagements not being directly revenue generating, it is simply not its objective. PAFC has a lot of potential but one problem is that not enough people are talking about it. The purpose of these talks is to educate and engage the public and to further spread the word when it comes to floating, especially to people who haven’t even remotely heard of the concept before. By allowing its presence to be known to a wider audience, PAFC creates awareness to what they are doing, sparks interests and start conversations for many others in the process. This can even translate into spa traffic if the market’s interest is piqued, especially with young people open to hearing and trying out new things.

All in all, PAFC is on the right track when it comes to branding and programming. The services offered are also unique to themselves, making it a huge selling point. In order to improve, they need to increase brand awareness have their voice heard by more people, which will definitely allow them to further cement themselves into the wellness business.

After my float