18 NEWS March 2019 | HOTELMANAGEMENT.

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JAMES BAIGRIE
IHG spent $300 million to acquire the Six Senses brand in February. Hyatt Hotels Corp.’s latest Miraval resort opened in Austin, Texas, earlier this year.

Value of wellness tourism pushes trend into mainstream

BY JENA TESSE FOX travelers spend as much as 130
@JENAFOX percent more on hotel amenities
No longer reserved for exclusive than other guests.
spas, wellness now is incorpo- The Global Wellness Insti-
rated into hotels up and down tute  echoed those sentiments,
the hospitality chain scale, with calculating the global spend on
millions invested in making wellness tourism at $639.4 bil-
healthy travel accessible to the lion in 2017. More than that, the
masses. sector grew 6.5 percent per year
There is a clear value to this from 2015 to 2017, more than
investment: At Wyndham twice the growth rate for general
Hotels & Resorts’ 2018 brand tourism. In 2017, international
conference, Danica Boyd, at the wellness tourists on average
time the company’s senior direc- spent $1,528 per trip, 53 percent
tor of operations for full-service more than average. Domestic
brands, said health-conscious wellness travelers, meanwhile,
spent $609 per trip, a full 178
percent more than the typical
PART 2 IN APRIL: domestic tourist.
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travelers: those who travel spe-
cifically for wellness (primary)
and those who simply want to
remain healthy while on the
road (secondary). This second
group makes up the bulk of
wellness tourism, accounting
for 86 percent of expenditures
in 2017. Secondary wellness
tourism also grew faster than
primary wellness tourism, at 10
percent compared to 8 percent
per year from 2015 to 2017. “As
more consumers incorporate
wellness into their lifestyles,
there are many opportunities for
all businesses to infuse wellness
into their offerings and capture
spending by wellness travelers,”
the Institute’s most recent execu-
tive summary claimed.
HOTELS ADAPT
In last year’s “Wellness-Themed
vs. Wellness Hospitality” report
from Horwath HTL, Ingo
Schweder, founder and manag-
ing director of health and well-
ness at Horwath, cited specially
furnished fitness guestrooms,
concierges who focus on local
jogging courses, healthy menus
and cooking classes as just a few
of the wellness initiatives hotel
companies have launched.
“A lot of hotel chains are
jumping onto the wellness wagon
in order to cobrand or associate
their products with wellness,”
Schweder said. While this can
be a positive trend in general, he
cautioned that some businesses
are using the term to appeal to a
demographic rather than actually
promoting something healthy.  with others, you create a feeling
The majority of travelers,
Schweder noted, are middle
class, and hotels need to consider
that when incorporating well-
ness into their operations. He
cited the Glen Ivy Hot Springs
day spa in Corona, Calif., as an
example of affordable wellness,
with rates starting at $52 per
day. “Seventy percent of their
food is organic from their own
farm,” he estimated. “It is not a
luxury product, it is a democratic
product. It is not unaffordable
for most people That is where
the industry has to go, with more
and more democratic models
established [so that travelers are]
more educated and can live a
healthier, cleaner, more sustain-
able lifestyle.”
WELLNESS FUTURE
Wellness travel is only poised to
grow, predicted Brian Povinelli,
global brand leader for Marriott
International’s Westin brand,
and hotels will continue to
adapt (and invest) in order to
stay ahead of guest demand. In
February, IHG spent $300 mil-
lion to acquire the Six Senses
Hotels Resorts Spas brand, add-
ing 16 wellness-focused hotels
and resorts to its portfolio. The
brand is poised to grow to more
than 60 properties over the next
decade.
“I don’t think wellness is just
food or a luxury bathroom or
a fancy restaurant,” Schweder
said. “Wellness is simply creat-
ing an environment in which
you can relax, you can bond
of community of sense of being
and sense of self, where you can
learn. That doesn’t cost money. It
is incredibly important that we
don’t only sell wellness through
a fancy meal that costs $100,
but a simple meal grown on an
organic farm—and the organic
farm movement is huge.”
Amazon’s purchase of Whole
Foods, Schweder argued, is a
“big sign” of the value of well-
ness, and Marriott’s AC Hotels
and Accor’s upscale 25Hours
brand serve organic food in
casual lobbies. “They attract a
much larger public,” he said.
“That is beautiful because that
will ensure that more people, not
only the elite, are touched by true
wellness.” HM
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