Some business ideas arrive in a flash. Others remain in the background, waiting for the right moment.
For Kaiya Spa founders Harpreet and Jatinder Phlora, the dream of creating a private spa had existed for four years. It survived a deeply personal journey through IVF, the arrival of their miracle daughter and all the responsibilities that came with becoming parents.
The idea had never disappeared. Life had simply asked it to wait. Then one evening, Harpreet and Jatinder spoke about it again.
“What about the spa?” Jatinder asked.
By the time Harpreet woke the following morning, Jatinder had produced a business plan, identified potential premises and begun developing ideas for the design.
Four years of waiting had turned into decisive action in just 24 hours.
A spa inspired by something personal
Kaiya Spa is named after Harpreet and Jatinder’s daughter, Kaiya, whose arrival marked a new chapter in their lives.
She was not simply the inspiration behind the name. From visiting the showroom to helping choose the products, their daughter Kaiya became part of the process itself.
“We took our daughter with us because we wanted her to be involved in the entire journey,” Harpreet explains. “The spa is named after her, and she also helped us choose all the products.”
The result is a Japanese-inspired private spa in Bexleyheath, Greater London, created exclusively for groups of two to five guests.
Every booking gives guests two hours of complete privacy. There are no strangers sharing the facilities, no crowded communal areas and no waiting for someone else to leave the sauna, steam room or spa before you can use it.
For those two hours, the entire space belongs to you and your group.
Designed by people who truly understand spas
Harpreet and Jatinder were not approaching the project as newcomers to the spa world. They had spent years visiting spas and would willingly travel further for a better experience.
Yet they often found themselves leaving with the feeling that something was missing.
“We are spa goers,” says Harpreet. “We will travel far and wide to find the best spa, even if it means going beyond where we originally intended. But we were never completely happy.
”That experience guided Kaiya Spa.
Rather than reproducing the familiar formula of a traditional spa, they began with the frustrations they had experienced as guests. Busy facilities, a lack of privacy, generic interiors and the need to wait for equipment all informed what they wanted to do differently.
When Christina Mantoura first met the couple through the Hot Tub and Swim Spa Company, she immediately recognised how carefully they had considered the concept.
“You were very discerning buyers,” Christina recalls. “When we discussed immersion, the ice bath and contrast therapy, you already understood the science and the research. You really knew your subject.”
That knowledge allowed the relationship to become genuinely collaborative. Jatinder arrived with a clear design brief and detailed visual renders. Christina and her team then helped the founders identify the products that could turn that vision into a practical, flowing thermal experience.
Creating a modern interpretation of calm
The Japanese influence at Kaiya Spa is expressed through restraint, simplicity and considered detail.
Harpreet and Jatinder did not want the space to resemble the tiled, mosaic-style spas they had encountered elsewhere. Their vision was cleaner, warmer and more contemporary, combining natural stone and wood with smooth lines, curved forms and atmospheric lighting.
At the centre of the thermal area is the Tylö Panacea Twin, which brings the sauna and steam room together within one refined unit.
“We wanted something luxurious, modern and beautifully clean,” Harpreet says. “The concept is simple and minimalist, and that is exactly what the sauna and steam room achieve for us.
”The proportions were also carefully thought out. The sauna feels intimate and cocooning rather than oversized, while complementary timber tones connect it naturally to the surrounding wall panels.
Adjustable lighting allows the atmosphere to change for different guests and occasions. Calming amber tones can create a softer experience, while blue or green light can bring a more energising quality to the space.
If guests are visiting for a birthday, anniversary or another special occasion, the lighting can even be coordinated around a meaningful colour.
Why the spa had to be round
The circular spa was central to Jatinder’s earliest designs.
It was not chosen purely for its appearance. Its shape supports one of the most important ideas behind Kaiya Spa: connection.
“With a round spa, you feel more connected,” Harpreet explains. “When three or four people are sitting around it, you are facing one another. It brings everyone together.”
The absence of corners creates a more social and inclusive arrangement. Whether guests visit as a couple, with friends or as a small family group, no one is pushed to the edge of the experience.
Its curved form also reflects the wider interior, appearing again in the warm relaxation beds and the smooth architectural lines throughout the spa. The result is a sense of visual flow rather than a collection of separate facilities.
It is a design decision grounded in both Japanese-inspired simplicity and the belief that wellbeing can be shared.
The restorative power of contrast
Alongside the spa, sauna and steam room is a professional ice bath, introducing contrast therapy into the experience.
Moving between heat and cold can create an invigorating physical and sensory ritual. For Harpreet and Jatinder, who both train regularly and understand the importance of recovery, the ice bath was essential.
“We could easily have chosen an ice bucket, but it does not give you the same sensation as immersing yourself in cold water,” says Harpreet. “There is nothing else like this around here. It is one of our unique features.”
Guests can move through the warmth of the sauna and steam room before entering the cold plunge, then return to the spa or settle into the relaxation area.
Each product has a distinct purpose, but together they create a restorative journey through warmth, cold, movement and rest.
The restorative power of contrast
Kaiya Spa did not appear in 24 hours. It was inspired by years of experiences, frustrations, ideas and personal change.
But those 24 hours mattered.
They marked the moment when a long-held dream became a plan, when hesitation became momentum, and when Harpreet and Jatinder decided that the time had finally arrived.
The business plan may have been created overnight, but the feeling guests experience today is the product of something far deeper: four years of thought, a lifetime of personal spa experiences and an unwavering commitment to creating something genuinely different.
Now the doors are open, the first five-star reviews are arriving, and guests are discovering what it feels like to have an entire spa to themselves.Perhaps the next important two hours are yours.
Watch the full interview with Christina Mantoura, the owner of Hot Tub & Swim Company and Harpreet Phlora, co-owner of Kaiya Spa below.
