SPECIAL REPORT
WELLNESS AS A
DIFFERENTIATOR
study by the Global Wellness Institute
A reveals that wellness tourism grew from a US $ 563 billion market in 2015 to US $ 639 billion in 2017 , or 6.5 % annually . This megatrend implies huge opportunity for hoteliers who can successfully manage in a space that too often acts as a loss leader .
HOTELS : How well do hotels operate in the wellness space , and how do you fuse it with a rooms business in an authentic way ?
Jim Chu : We describe [ wellness ] as an adjacent space … Customers may go to Miraval [ Hyatt ’ s recently acquired wellness brand ] one time a year , or once every three years , but it doesn ’ t mean that they ’ re looking for a Miraval experience in every single Hyatt property . If they do that , then we would just dilute that experience of Miraval .
But there is a very large population that spends an exorbitant amount of money on wellbeing , and on wellness . There ’ s a balance between having a Miraval experience and having a hotel experience , and we want to be mindful of what it means at different levels and different brands of our hotels . It doesn ’ t have to be under those trade names by any means .
Jay Stein : Travelers want wellness as part of their lifestyle all the time . It ’ s part of their lives to eat healthy , to live healthy , to have a place to work out . So we see those as basic elements . Now , when we go to Dream in Palm Springs , there ’ s going to be an insane spa element because it ’ s the prefect place for it , but we wouldn ’ t do that in every property .
Wilson : It ’ s a localization product to me in a lot of ways . We have an amazing spa in our Palm Springs hotel and we do yoga classes in all of our hotels . What I find fascinating : We do yoga every morning , and we ’ re lucky if one or two people show up when the hotel ’ s sold out . And yet , the fascinating thing is so many people prebook and everyone is fascinated by the fact that we have yoga classes .
Walshe : Guests have zero tolerance for mediocrity , so my view is do a few things brilliantly … When we opened Los Cabos [ Mexico ] last year we went to Harley Pasternak ( Los Angelesbased personal trainer , motivational speaker , author and television host ) to build us what our guests now describe as our very own Equinox [ gym ]. It ’ s cool . They think that we have put the effort in to give them an awesome gym experience . I ’ ve never had anybody say , ‘ I ’ m not coming back because they don ’ t have yoga .’
Chu : There is the basic piece of the observation , which is when we went back and expanded our fitness facilities . We expanded the footprint even of our core Hyatt Place and Hyatt House brand because one thing was clear : if I work out every day at 6 a . m . and on the second day I can ’ t get a treadmill , it doesn ’ t matter what else I ’ m doing . I ’ m upset .
Pasricha : We don ’ t have gyms at our hotels because the only space we can allocate is a basement without windows , Our view is if it ’ s not an inspiring space , well , there ’ s somebody out there that ’ s going to do it better . So we partner with the Equinoxes and the Gym Boxes , and the Soul Cycles of this world , and we encourage our guests to go and use them , and have an experience outside the hotel that is way better . But rather than spending money in a gym , we spend money on the experiences , and we curate these experiences .
TRAVELERS WANT WELLNESS AS PART OF THEIR LIFESTYLE ALL THE TIME . IT ’ S PART OF THEIR LIVES TO EAT HEALTHY , TO LIVE HEALTHY , TO HAVE A PLACE TO WORK OUT . SO WE SEE THOSE AS BASIC ELEMENTS .
JAY STEIN
26 hotelsmag . com May 2019