Call for facelift as mainlanders add high-end hairdos to their holidays
Local luxury hairdressing salons are seeing more mainland visitors coming in for hair treatments, according to hairdressers, who say the industry should enhance its services to appeal to a wider market.
'Obviously more and more are flying in from China now as the economy is changing. Women become more educated and like the quality of the work that we do,' said hairstylist Kim Robinson, who has worked with many celebrity clients including the late Princess Diana and Jackie Chan.
Robinson's salons emphasise individual and courteous service. He said about 20 per cent of his customers are tourists, of which nearly half are from the mainland.
Charging women from HK$6,000 and men from HK$3,600 for a haircut at his Chater House outlet, Robinson believes visitors come to Hong Kong salons because of the unique experience and the higher level of service.
However, he said education in the industry should be addressed to improve its services. 'I think Hong Kong has entered a phase [that has to] readjust to the needs of modern tourists,' he said, adding that visitors used to come for the cheap price but are now looking for more professional services.
When asked for his view of tour guides - who have been criticised for shouting at tourists for not buying enough - the stylist said: 'We have to be a little bit friendlier to people coming in. A tourist can scream at you but you can't scream back.'
His salons, kimrobinson and Kr+, have recently been included in the Hong Kong Tourism Board's Quality Tourism Services Scheme (QTS) for their quality hairdressing services. The scheme has accredited more than 7,000 shops, hotels and restaurants, and was extended to cover hair salons from April. At least six hair salons have been accredited so far.
Anthony Lau Chun-hon, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, said both its surveys and hair salon operators indicated there was a great demand for hairdressing services among visitors. 'We hope that by setting a clear and rigorous standard for the industry with regard to service quality, the scheme can help more operators explore new business targeting visitors,' he said.
Johnny Ngai Wing-yip, director of another QTS-accredited salon, Hair Corner, said it was 'very wrong' for some barbers to think that tourists were only 'one-time clients'.
He recalled a time when a colleague gave an Italian visitor a hair cut, but the client was not satisfied with her new look. Apart from apologising to her, Ngai did not charge the client and asked her to come back before leaving the city if she was still unhappy with the cut.
The visitor returned a few days later to apologise and pay for the cut, saying that all her friends had praised her new style.
'She even gave us a tip of HK$1,000 ... and she did come again during another trip to Hong Kong,' he said.
'So we treat a tourist as a regular client because he or she may come for a second time,' adding that about one-tenth of his clients were tourists.
William Tang Wai, president of the Hong Kong Association of Hair Design, said tourists love to fly in for hair treatment because of the industry's ability to grasp new style trends.
