INTERVIEW
magically well, really picking up. It’s now very focused on expanding to its third location in Lenox, Massachusetts this year. I like to remind people that there’s a reason Miraval competitors are typically singleunit operations that have been around for 30 to 40 years – because replicating that isn’t like a typical hotel pipeline. “Exhale is continuing to grow and has just opened another location in New York City, so it now has 21 sites in its portfolio. It also offers complimentary Exhale On Demand video content at select hotels in the US. “Alila is an incredible brand which doesn’t really need to be touched. It supports Feel, Fuel and Function out of the box and has been purpose-built with the wellbeing of people, planet and community in mind. It has incredible equity in the Asia region and we’re now looking at how we can expand it towards the west.”
Hyatt is rolling out the Miraval destination spa concept. The second site opened in Austin, Texas
Shifting share Having paved a path for wellness and wellbeing, along with continually pushing Hyatt’s position on this internally
Hoplamazian chilling out with Headspace following an exclusive collaboration
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and externally, Kyricos and her team, consisting of four people at present, are now focusing on initiatives across brands and regions to “help raise the tide”. The two key areas in this respect – what Kyricos refers to as the ‘big buckets’ – are developing Hyatt’s partnerships and working on its meeting products. She says: “We’re looking at how to bring partnerships to life that are aligned with our landmarks,” she explains. “Whether that’s working with specialists around emotional and mental wellbeing, which is Feel, or others affecting Fuel and Function.” As a case in point, Hyatt has just announced an exclusive collaboration with meditation and mindfulness app provider Headspace, which has nearly 60 million users in 190 countries. The relationship will provide mindfulness exercises, guided meditations and sleep content to the corporation’s employees, corporate customers and guests. Kyricos says they’ve also been vetting other possible tie-ups over the last 12 months – “we’ve been highly selective” – so we can expect to see more coming down the line.
At some point this year, Kyricos hints at the launch of a new meetings package for Hyatt’s corporate customers to make “meetings more well”. So, with all of this in mind, the question is can Hyatt put a value to wellness and what it means to the business commercially? “I get asked this a lot!” says Kyricos. “In some ways we have a greater runway because wellbeing is so intrinsically tied to who we are, but we will be measuring it over time. What I can say is that we’re finding that it’s shifting share – whether you’re a guest, customer or even a colleague. As more people keep hearing about our commitment and developments, they’re typically choosing us over other companies because we stand to care for their wellbeing more than the next guy. And right now, our overall focus is our purpose of care.” ●
Katie Barnes is the editor of Spa Business magazine ■ katiebarnes@spabusiness.com