A Korean spa and sauna has recently opened in Puerto Princesa, and it appears to be a real treat for the locals.
Peter Kim, owner of W Spa and Sauna, thinks that introducing the city to the first Korean sauna technology will also raise awareness of the benefits to blood circulation that currently go unnoticed.
“Why do people love saunas? The sauna is good for your health, as is the dryer, steamer, and jacuzzi. Your blood circulation improves, after you have a sauna, it brings a good feeling. Koreans, if meron headache or stress, look for a sauna. I hope all people love sauna,” he said.
With an indoor jacuzzi pool, steam room, dry finish, and inside showers, each male and female sauna room can hold about 20 people at once. To ensure that only clean water is used for the operation, the water supply is put through a filtration system.
“It’s really a different sauna system. If some spas are meron dry sauna, steam sauna box style which capacity is one or two pax only. Our style, five pax to six pax available. Also a big size jacuzzi and we also have this water filter system, for automatic cleaning,” he said.
After the sauna, customers may also enjoy the complimentary coffee, which is served in the lounge. There are also different rooms for family, couples, and solo options for massage services from NCII-certified therapists.
It will soon offer a facial massage by the third week of September from Korean therapists as an additional service that can be availed at W.
The operating hours start at 7 a.m. to accommodate locals who are doing exercise in the morning and would love to go have a sauna before going to work. Kim added that the sauna is best done early in the morning. It is open until midnight Mondays through Sundays.
Aside from walk-in, customers may also enjoy an exclusive package of services through VIP membership. The membership comes with options for one month, three months, six months, and year-long exclusivity.
The sauna with lounge use and coffee package ranges between P400 and P900 if the customer wants to have an additional one-hour massage. If the massage hour is increased to one hour and a half, the rate falls to P1,150 and to P1,400 if the massage hour inclusion reaches two hours.
There are also coupons sold for P900 each and a 5 + 1 promo for only P4,500 if they want to share the services as gifts with others.
Kim started to venture into different businesses in 2017, such as opening a restaurant, grocery, and souvenir shop. He then decided to try to bring a sauna in 2019 for Korean tourists who would love to experience it in Palawan. Unfortunately, the construction was put on hold due to the height of the pandemic in 2020 and later pushed through to completion in 2022.
He is now hands-on in marketing and operations after the business started operating a week ago. W’s main goal is to make the sauna part of the lives of locals in the city and also cater to domestic tourists and European and Korean guests visiting Palawan.
The W Spa and Sauna, whose name is derived from “We,” believes that everyone should work to bring the best services to customers considered as “Kings.”
Around 16 staff are employed for the operation and 20 therapists for the massage services.
Kim also hopes to expand the sauna experience to other towns in the province.
