Interesting article published by Skift reports how hotel brands are developing more all-encompassing wellness retreats and partnering with trendy health brands in an attempt to deliver transformative travel experiences.
Wellness is now mainstream in luxury hospitality, and it’s becoming more prevalent in the upper-upscale category as well. For example, Hilton just unveiled a new in-room gym design and Westin debuted its new partnership with boutique cycling company Peloton.
A recent Cornell University Center for Hospitality Research study showed that 46 percent of guests intend to use hotel fitness amenities, but only 22 percent actually do. Therefore, the challenge for hotel brands is finding creative ways to motivate guests to do what they say they aspire to do, in an effort to provide a transformative travel experience that extends beyond the hotel stay.
Surprisingly, the rise of “FitTech” was supposed to revolutionize the hotel health and fitness experience. That’s not happening either, at least not at any kind of scale. One reason is because clinical studies are showing that the health benefits for using fitness wearables are underwhelming, and even anti-productive at times.
What does seem to be gaining traction is that hotels are teaming up with well-known third parties in the wellness industry to attract health-conscious clientele. Jack Ezon, president of Ovation Vacations in New York, stated in his annual luxury travel trend report: “Hotels seeking to differentiate themselves in the burgeoning wellness space are signing lucrative partnerships with leading wellness partners.”
Some examples are:
• Lululemon and Shangri-La Hotel, Toronto collaborated on the development of an original yoga video with Lululemon ambassador Amber Joliat. Guests can access the video on the Shangri-La’s guest room TV’s and iPads while practicing yoga in the privacy of their rooms on Lululemon yoga mats
• Mandarin Oriental Hotels and The Mayo Clinic launched a series of Healthy Living Programs. The programs marry Mandarin Oriental’s spa facilities with The Mayo Clinic’s restorative therapies, with packages ranging from 1-5 days
• Park Hyatt New York partnered with the popular MNDFL meditation studio to develop a series of private and semi-private guided meditation sessions, hosted in dedicated meditation spaces within Spa Nalai. More recently, Park Hyatt Hotels partnered with Dr. Frank Lipman to incorporate his Be Well brand into its programming and products
The Global Wellness Summit 2017 trend report proposed eight shifts in the wellness marketplace. The most significant evolution seems to be the rise of interest in improving mental health in addition to body-centric approaches: “Mental wellness will be the biggest future trend, period, from wellness destinations and spas bringing in neuroscientists and psychotherapists to meditation becoming seriously mainstream.” Whether or not hotel brands will be quick enough to keep up with the mental wellness trend remains to be seen.
