Page 77 - Forbes - Asia (October 2019)

Wiboon Utsahajit at a
Let’s Relax Spa outlet in
Hotel Nikko Bangkok
T heir massage parlors began as a closely

guarded secret. Wiboon Utsahajit and
Prasert Jiravanstit tried to maintain ap-
pearances, working for their respec-
tive family businesses. Unbeknownst to
their parents, however, they would slip
away on weekends from Bangkok to the
northern city of Chiang Mai to run a Thai massage chain
they started called Let’s Relax.
That was 1998. What Wiboon and Prasert started in
stealth has become one of the few publicly traded spa
companies in the world, Siam Wellness Group. The com-
pany also stands out by using big data analysis to improve
its services—and profits.
“At that time, massage parlors weren’t that clean,” says
Wiboon in an interview in a Let’s Relax branch inside
Bangkok’s Hyatt Regency. “The good ones were in the ho-
tels. They were clean, but the therapists weren’t profes-
sional. And at the mom-and-pop shops, the therapists
didn’t look good, but their skills were good. So we decided
to open something better.”
Since opening their first Let’s Relax 21 years ago,
Prasert and Wiboon have launched five more spa brands
with 69 branches around Thailand as well as in Cambo-
dia, China and Myanmar. Siam Wellness is also listed on
Thailand’s stock exchange with a market capitalization
of roughly $260 million. Now, fueled by rapid earnings
growth, Siam Wellness aims to become a global massage
and wellness brand.
Prasert and Wiboon, both 55, didn’t have a background
in massage. Wiboon, whose family ran a copy and printing
business, earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science
from the University of Southern California. It was there he
met Prasert, whose family makes shoes. After graduating,
the two set up a business importing goods to Thailand to
sell to tourists.
Running a business takes legwork, and Wiboon soon
developed foot problems. The relief he found from Thai
massage inspired him to take a class in the technique.
Soon, he and Prasert got the idea to start a branded Thai
massage chain marketed to tourists.
Their first Let’s Relax was somewhat typical: an unreg-
BRENT LEWIN FOR FORBES ASIA family-run businesses still make up about 90% of Thai-
istered parlor in a night market. Small, often unregistered,

land’s spa market, which Thailand’s Public Health Minis-
try values at $1 billion (sales).
As Let’s Relax’s first shop was unregistered, Wiboon
says sometimes police raided the outlet. It was one of
these raids that tipped off his family to his side hustle.

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