RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Leah Brennan is the director of Paul Brown's Spa Olakino Salon at the Waikiki Beach Marriott.

Spa director creates
space for relaxation

The facility offers dentistry
and botox, as well as massages

Leah Brennan >> New director of Paul Brown's Spa Olakino Salon at the Waikiki Beach Marriott. >> About the salon: The 6,000-square-foot spa opened in November at a cost of $1.3 million. In addition to massages, facials and body wraps, the spa has two part-time cosmetic doctors who can provide teeth whitening, Botox injections and other non-invasive treatments.

We may be expanding, if the market calls for that. We are the first one, where we are working through the market as far as getting exposure for our local clientele. Because we get so many mainland people here too, they tell their friends and they are able to come in to a more a relaxed environment, a spa as a opposed to a doctor.

What's the most popular treatment among local residents?

For our kamaainas, a lot of them get our Magic Island Massage. It includes four different massages in one. That's Thai, shiatsu, lomi lomi and reflexology. That's 80 minutes, for $140.

What's popular with visitors?

We do a lot of the massage for couples. We get a lot of honeymooners, and we do have a treatment room where they do their service together.

We have a special shower that has a window that can overlook the Waikiki area. The technicians leave, and they are able to look out and relax for a little bit there.

For our Asian travelers, a lot of them get the Na Lani Mea (heavenly things.) That's a facial and 25 minutes of lomi lomi massage. The standard price is $165.

How much of the business comes from residents and how much from visitors?

Kamaaina basically consist of 10 to 20 percent of our business here. West Coast probably another 30 to 40 percent. We do quite a bit with the Asia travelers, probably 30 to 40 percent. We do offer kamaaina rates, it's 20 percent off appointments.

How booked are the spa doctors?

I would say a week to two weeks in advance. They pretty much come here part time. We call them ahead of time with their appointments, they come down.

Has the spa performed up to expectation since opening in November?

Since we've opened we've stayed in the black so things are very good, so we're networking to build the business. We work with different companies to promote each other.

We get quite a bit of hotel guests, including from other hotels. The Marriott has different cart locations throughout Kalakaua where they have workers and talk to street people that walk by, drumming up businesses outside the facilities.

Things are growing so we're doing good. We have great panoramic view of Waikiki. We're on the beachfront side of the hotel.