The Inner Game: Hotels and the Wellness Opportunity

The Inner Game: Hotels and the Wellness Opportunity

The global wellness economy, is rapidly outpacing the growth of the global economy, with ever-increasing demand attributed to several contributory factors. Aging populations, fast-paced lives and high-pressure jobs are resulting in an increase in chronic conditions, stress, depression and sleep problems. People are also generally more conscious than ever of their mental and physical well-being, and are increasingly open to an expanding range of available treatments. Add in the impact of covid on our health, freedom and access to the people we love, and our personal well-being has never been more central to our behaviour as consumers.

Wellness Travellers Expect More, and Spend More

Wellness tourism is one of the leading revenue growth areas in the wellness economy. Consumers travelling want to access well-being services when they stay in hotels, and for a growing percentage of travellers, it's the primary reason for their trip. The GWI defines these individuals as primary wellness tourists and they make up 11% of the wellness tourism market.

Prior to the pandemic, health-conscious travellers already spent up to 130% more on hotel amenities than other guests, and that's only going to rise in the 'new normal'. In a 2020 consumer survey by the World Tourism Association, a quarter of respondents said they will focus their first post-pandemic trip on wellness, with 78% indicating that they already include wellness activities when travelling.

This presents a substantial opportunity for hoteliers to benefit from, and broaden, their well-being offerings. More than a consideration, wellness should now be a theme that pervades every department, from F&B and guest services, to room design and even the hiring of new staff with additional fitness/well-being skillsets. As customer expectations evolve, a greater emphasis should be placed on relaxation, fitness and rejuvenation by all department managers.

Integrating Wellness Into New Hotel Design

Hotel developers need to ensure that wellness-focused environments and experiences are prioritised in their designs. Hotels should be seizing this opportunity to support their guests' well-being, to both improve the customer experience and build stronger relationships.

Rooms Department There are a multitude of ways to integrate wellness into the guest rooms themselves, including temperature, air filtration, noise, light and sleep quality. Brands

such as EVEN Hotels offer travellers a holistic wellness experience for the duration of their stay, without the inconvenience of leaving their private space. So rather than making a trip to the spa, guests can use gym equipment, yoga mats and exercise spaces provided in their rooms, supported by apps and ondemand TV focusing on meditation, yoga and workouts.

F&B When it comes to catering, hotels must prioritise nourishment. Hotels can take the opportunity to stock mini bars with healthy alternatives, such as mineralboosting juices and organic products, with roomservice choices that provides wholesome meals, along with nutritional information to enable informed choices. Not forgetting the changing consumer trends, including vegan and plant-based diets.

This level of thought about the well-being offer also needs to extend into meeting room packages, providing catering that addresses these new dietary needs, and providing mental and physical fitness activities that enable professionals to perform at their optimum level.

Connecting with Nature When considering the overall hotel aesthetic, there's an undoubted link between exposure to nature and mental well-being. This can be enhanced with biophilic design which uses materials and patterns found in nature, incorporating them into furnishings to create a refuge of calm.

Adapting to Seize the Spa Opportunity

Spas have the opportunity to flourish, becoming even more successful than they were before. After all, there has never been a greater desire for stress relief, relaxation and therapeutic treatments. But, with consumer anxiety about cleanliness and social contact at an all-time high, which spa design will need to adapt. Clean zones can also be included in the design, within which the number of airborne particles is controlled to limit the introduction, generation and retention of contaminants within the space.

The Rise of the Urban Destination Spa

As wellness tourism accelerates and evolves, so does the appetite for the destination spa experience, but, crucially, with the new requirement of it being closer to home. Hotels have long ignored the importance of incorporating local markets into their business models, but as businesses they have the facilities and

the service culture that urban residents desire to maintain their healthy lifestyles.

People and Partnerships: Turning a Profit

Spas can be significant profit centres when we take into account their contribution to guest welfare, offering key amenities and adding to the overall experience. But vitally, hotels must ensure the spa and hotel offers are aligned and intrinsically linked, driving guests inside, increasing F&B revenue and selling rooms.

That can only happen if the spa element of the offering is operated effectively, and the calibre of the workforce can result in the difference. As such, hospitality must embrace this new type of service culture and seek the best talent in the industry to support it.

Hotel brands should seek to form established partnerships with reputable spa brands, bringing in expertise on how to deliver professional treatments. However, it's important that hoteliers are selective, choosing spa brands that fit their overall philosophy.

The Future of the Wellness Offer Within Hotels

Hotels and spas have the infrastructure and service culture to help guests find these wellness solutions and maintain their new habits when they travel. The recovery of many hotels will derive from embracing these new guest needs and demands, or simply by capturing a more wellness-driven market segment.

Most general hospitality brands will begin to provide tailored services, bringing the offer into hotel rooms and focusing on the holistic customer experience. Other more niche operations and destinations will introduce wellness therapies with doctors on hand, offering medical tests and examinations to collect health-related data from guests, and a more sciencedriven approach, alongside input from alternative medicine practitioners. This will see the birth of a new breed of wellness-focused hospitality brand, and we can expect companies outside the hospitality industry, such as ecological fitness organisations and techdriven start-ups, to jump on the bandwagon.

Finally, we can also expect the demand for personal well-being and environmental well-being to be viewed as one. Hotel guests want to be sure their stay doesn't have a negative impact on the planet, just as they don't want it to have a negative impact on their own health. Each hotel brand will have to find the right way to address this concern and consider how their operations will be impacted.