Hotel Spotlight: Could Wellness Be Offered To Everyone?
An EcoChi Vital Abstract
This article was published in the November-December 2019 issue of Energy Times by Allan Richter.
Ellen Jordan is a spa hopper. In her leisure time, the 46-year-old Southern California jeweler heads to Las Vegas to unwind with treatments or to lounge in at least three hotel spas on each visit. Each, Jordan says, has its own appeal. She likes the service and attention to detail at the Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas, cools off in the cold plunge at the Spa at Mandalay Bay and is energized by the youthful vibe at Qua Baths & Spa at Caesars Palace. “When I’ve overdone it at work and exerted myself too much, Vegas is my go-to destination to reset my health,” Jordan says, adding that she also visits Sin City to hike nearby Red Rock Canyon or take a hot yoga session. “I’m not interested in buffets. I’m not interested in shows or casinos. Vegas is wellness town for me.” It’s little wonder that hospitality companies are taking notice of travelers like Jordan. The institute projects that wellness tourism will grow 7.5% annually through 2022, outpacing the 6.4% annual growth forecasted for tourism overall. Fueling the growth, says Miami-based GWI, are an expanding global middle class, an uptick in consumers interested in improving their health, rising interest in experiential travel and more affordable flights and travel options. Further, travelers interested in wellness-related activities spend more than the average traveler. Hotels are the biggest beneficiaries of this spending. Lodging—including destination spas, health resorts, ashrams and retreats—as well as hotels, resorts and campgrounds for both wellness and typical travelers, accounted for the biggest piece—$130.5 billion—of the $639.4 billion spent, according to GWI. Food & beverage, at $111.5 billion, holds the second-largest share. “As wellness travel becomes more mainstream, many hotels are incorporating wellness into their design, amenities, services and programming,” GWI said in a 2018 research report, “Global Wellness Tourism Economy.” Some lodging chains are—part hostel, part co-working space and offers packaged adventure and wellness outings. Selina launched in 2015 in a small fishing village in Panama and operates mostly in Central and South America. The wellness options hotels can offer their guests are many, from amenities such as light-and-noise-blocking windows and shades that help promote improved sleep, to in-room fitness equipment and videos, to healthy fare at restaurants. To help ensure they are meeting guests’ wellness needs, more hotel properties are acquiring or partnering with gyms and spas. Beyond ensuring fitness facility access, hotels are taking more sophisticated steps and making bigger capital investments in branding themselves as health-focused, going as far as building wellness or environmental features into their architecture through biophilic, or nature-themed, design .Terrapin Bright Green, a New York sustainability consulting firm, conducted a study of guest rooms and amenities at 15 hotels around the world; an online survey of global designers, marketers and sustainability experts expanded the study to 39 hotels. The big takeaway was that visual and material connections with nature were “the most frequently or consistently utilized design patterns in all hospitality amenities and hotel rooms,” the firm said in a recent report.
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