Austin Sakchai

Austin Sakchai is the founder/owner of Smile Thai Wellness, a unique wellness centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, with a wide menu of services including traditional Thai massage, Thai herbal spa treatments, acupuncture, and classes and workshops, including meditation taught by Buddhist Monks from Thailand and traditional Thai yoga (Rue Sri Dat Ton). Born in Bangkok, Thailand, Sakchai was taught traditional Thai massage as a child. He then practiced on his relatives regularly as a traditional Thai way of pleasing the family. Later, as a monk in Thailand, he learned more techniques for massage, meditation, and yoga. After completing several training courses, retreats, and thousands of hours of work in Thailand, Sakchai was certified as a Thai massage therapist. He believes Smile Thai Wellness is differentiated by its authenticity and its goal of inspiring and educating people to integrate health and wellness into their lives.

My personal mantra is …keeping myself and other people happy, healthy, and smiling.

I find my inspiration from …the smiles on the guests’ faces when they relax and enjoy their treatments.

My guilty pleasure is …Tim Horton’s doughnuts.

My favourite way to relax is …to sit and watch the sunset on the beach.

I got in to this business because …I wanted to promote Thai culture and traditional therapies in Vancouver.

My spa management/customer service philosophy is …that no detail is too small to give guests a memorable experience.