FAQ - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What kind of place is DaiKai?

DaiKai in Arbins gate 11 in Vika and in Rostockgata 68 in Bjørvika are Norway’s largest and best known massage centers, usually described as a City retreat or Wellness retreat. Each retreat has the capacity for up to more than 30 customers at the same time. It opened in 2006, performs more than 20 000 massages per year - therapeutic, relaxing, strictly non-sexual - and has almost only full-time, professional male and female therapists with permanent positions and good salaries. The retreat is a fusion of beautiful Japanese, Chinese and Nordic design elements. «Dai» means «great» in Chinese (or Japanese), and «Kai» means joy, so DaiKai means Great Joy, as a reminder of the «Joy of life».

What backgrounds do the therapists have?

DaiKai presently has an international team of about 30 full-time therapists from both Asia and Europe. The majority have a Bachelor of Physical Therapy education backgrounds or Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, plus specialized massage training and thousands of hours of massage experience. The team exchanges massages between themselves regularly to learn from each other and keep improving their knowledge and skills.

Which treatments does DaiKai provide?

DaiKai specializes in high quality massages for relaxation, anti-stress and general wellness. The menu includes Asian and European style massages, like Chinese Tui Na, Japanese Shiatsu, Classical (Swedish style) aroma oil massage, Chinese style aroma oil massage, Chinese Foot massage, Head-neck-shoulder massage and Facial massage, and “package” combinations of these massages. Some of the therapists are also specialized in prenatal massage, baby massage and are trained instructors for giving courses in massage for home use for couples or friends.

Who are the owners of DaiKai?

The founders and owners of DaiKai Norway AS, a Norwegian registered limited company Org.no:993426539, are Anita Kavlie (Ph.D.) and Finn Dalheim (M.Sc.). They are massage and wellness enthusiasts who were inspired by the combination of Asian massage traditions and modern wellness trends, and opened DaiKai because they felt that Oslo needed a quiet, beautiful place for relaxing, high quality massages alone or together with friends or family.

What does DaiKai mean by “Social massage”?

DaiKai promotes social massage, i.e. couples, friends and families can share the experience of having massage together in the same room and then sit and talk quietly together afterwards in the Relax-room while being served a cup of tea and some fresh fruit.
In addition to single rooms, DaiKai also has double rooms, triple rooms, private suites and a larger foot-massage area. DaiKai regularly receives groups of between 10 and 20 persons.

Who are the customers at DaiKai?

Most of the customers at DaiKai are local Oslo residents or Norwegian nationals visiting Oslo. About 2/3 of the customers are female. While coming from all parts of Norwegian society, there is a high percentage of customers famous from arts and media both in Norway and abroad. One famous actress spent 2,5 hours at DaiKai prior to being the host that evening at the Nobel Peace Price Concert.

Pricing

The prices are presently NOK 1350 per hour (60 minutes) for any of the treatments with one therapist. Four-handed treatments with two therapists cost NOK 2700 per hour. Tea, fruit (and slippers) are included. Tipping is not usual and not expected. The therapists are paid regular Norwegian salary levels.

Bookings

Bookings are required and can be made via telephone, email, web, sms or in our reception during our opening hours 10:00 to 21:00 seven days a week. We recommend that our customers arrive 5-10 minutes before their scheduled appointment, in order to change into slippers and calm down before the massage.

Procedure

Our receptionists speak English, Norwegian, German, French and/or Spanish.
Upon arrival in our reception, our receptionist will explain the procedure.
Upon arrival in reception the customer receives slippers and can take off her/his outerwear. If (s)he has chosen a massage type with oil (s)he is asked to select the aroma oil of her preference. The therapist then meets the customer and shows her the locker rooms where she can change into comfortable massage robes. Inside the retreat is a quiet zone, with as little talking (whispering only) as possible. During the treatment the therapist will ask “Is the pressure OK” and the customer can ask for “softer please” or “harder please”. After the massage the customer changes back to his/her own clothes and is then shown to our Relax room where she is served green tea or fruit tea and fresh fruit. Upon returning to reception she will be offered to keep the slippers as a souvenir, and she can choose to pay for her treatment with credit card or cash.

Further questions:

DaiKai accepts Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, American Express, Vipps and cash NOK.

If you have any further questions please contact us via email daikai@daikai.no or phone 23083888. (www.daikai.no) or Facebook: DAIKAI