Spa treatment room.
It may be the beginning of a new year, but I’m still suffering from ongoing pandemic and year-end celebration fatigue. Though with technology at our fingertips these days, that’s an easy fix.
Enter DayAway, a hospitality start-up (mydayaway.com). The Singapore-based platform is the first online destination for exclusively-curated daytime experiences at the finest hotels in Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong, with further expansions on the horizon. DayAway was founded by marketing expert Martha Waslen and launched with the iconic Raffles Hotel Singapore as its first hotel partner. “The idea to launch DayAway, Asia’s first online destination for booking hotel experiences by the day, was born in Singapore in August 2020 at the height of the pandemic with the aim to become the first vertically integrated hospitality ecosystem partnering with hotels to offer solutions to optimise underutilised ancillary spaces,” CEO Waslen says.
Martha Waslen. (Photos: Sindhorn Kempinski Hotel Bangkok)
Lobby.
Swimming pool.
The platform evolved as a supply and demand solution to connect people looking for engaging experiences outside their homes with the surplus of hotel inventory due to international travel restrictions. In Thailand, partnering hotels are Bangkok’s Siam Kempinski, Sindhorn Kempinski and The Sukhothai, and Trisara and Hyatt Regency in Phuket. With the goal to establish DayAway as the world’s foremost name in booking daytime experiences at the world’s finest hotels, luxury hotel brands and boutique properties that offer engaging, unique experiences are chosen.
In Bangkok, my DayAway began at the Sindhorn Kempinski with a check-into an Executive Suite that comes with a balcony and a spectacular view over Lang Suan and beyond. Next up is probably what one dreads the most — the Evolt 360 Body Scan machine in the gym. Though, it wasn’t what I expected and to look at things in a positive light, my right and left side are in perfect harmony.
This hotel was chosen with a purpose in mind. Sindhorn Wellness by Resense is a holistic journey and offers an extensive range of experiences, advanced treatments and therapies. To destress, I start off with some time in a bio sauna combined with Himalayan salt therapy. The sauna’s warmth opens the skin’s pores allowing easy absorption of the beneficial minerals present in the salt. After 10-15 minutes of this, it is always good to plunge into ice cold water, ask the Nordic people! Though here you can enter the cold room across, where temperatures are freezing. I could only do five minutes in my bathers. Brrrh!
From there it was to more pampering via the Experience Shower, which is a multisensory shower experience. Remember the ice bucket challenge? Well, it’s back! Though I gave it a skip and headed straight into the aroma steam room followed by a Finnish dry sauna and then gazed into the horizon on a Tepadarium lounger, which is a heated lounger. Needless to say every balcony needs one even in a tropical country. To further indulge in my DayAway, I headed for an hour’s aroma massage. But the DayAway’s pampering did not end there. You are treated to a three-course nutritious lunch with cold-pressed juice at Flourish restaurant and even an afternoon tea in the spectacular lobby! For vegans, Sindhorn Kempinski does a vegan afternoon tea, as well. The rest of the day can be spent enjoying your suite, which has a huge bath that I took full advantage of!
DayAway caters bespoke packages and consistently aims to offer what users need the most. “My team and I work closely with our partners to determine which ancillary spaces are underutilised at specific times of day to curate packages that generate engagement and maximise revenue, while providing guests with opportunities to relax, recharge and reconnect,” emphasises Waslen.
The DayAway app will be launched soon and the start-up will also expand to Indonesia, Australia, UAE, UK, US, Africa and Germany. “As DayAway expands, the critical mass of bookings will generate insight for our hotel partners that will allow them to curate experiences to excite guests while generating meaningful revenue,” adds Waslen. Visit mydayaway.com.
Executive suite living room.
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