Assessing the needs of your guests, which may vary depending on their age and lifestyle, is the first step to meeting their wellness expectations.
Understand Your Target Market
In elevating your wellness programs, what should be the first
step? You have to first assess the nature and depth of your
stressed-out guests’ need for a more balanced life. Boomers, in
particular, yearn for more vitality. This generation has broken all
social conventions, owning the largest portion of wealth in the
world. When you listen to them, they often indicate they have
no desire to retire. On the contrary, they want to continue to
“suck out all the marrow of life.”
According to data from Eurostat, the statistical office of
the European Union, life expectancy is 83.3 years for women
and 77.8 for men in the European region. However, according
to Dr. Jacques Desplan, CEO of Groupe Fontalvie, a medical
group based in France, life expectancy without
incapacity drops to 62 for women and 61 for men. Ponder on
that for a while.
In a YouTube video, the Heart and Stroke Foundation in
Canada warns that, on average, Canadians will spend their
last 10 years of life in sickness. It is time to help guests decide
what kind of lifestyle they can adopt. Our mission as spa and
wellness professionals should be to raise the level of
education of staff, guests and communities toward healthy
and engaging activities and programs, focusing on health
expectancy, not just life expectancy.
December 2016
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