Industry Report from Horwath HTL Health & Wellness, issued in May 2021 – Part Two
In the last issue, we explored what characterizes travel in the late, post-pandemic era and how people’s understanding of wellness will change. This issue, the second half of this report aims to suggest how the hospitality industry can leverage people’s growing interest in wellness to flexibly and effectively develop and optimize their services over the next decade.
Leveraging wellness in hospitality
Promoting the end of unhealthy lifestyles
Even before the pandemic, a growing interest in healthy lifestyles, nutrition and exercise were apparent. And although human lifespans have increased over the last century, many more people live in a state of poor health, brought about by a rise in noncommunicable and chronic diseases. These diseases are overwhelming health systems and leading to a propensity for over-medication as opposed to effective lifestyle change. As a consequence, non-communicable and chronic diseases are the world’s leading cause of death, and it can be said that while we have the ability to live longer and better overall, we are not taking full advantage of the wellness knowledge available to us.
Chronic disease is, and will continue to be, the number one health challenge for years to come, and some research papers have even dubbed unhealthy lifestyles that lead to chronic diseases an emerging pandemic, or at the very least endemic within modern society.
Sadly, and fortunately, many chronic diseases are preventable through a pre-diagnostic approach to maintaining good health. According to the Global Wellness Institute, at least 80% of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes, as well as 40% of cancers, are directly linked to unhealthy lifestyle choices, such as sedentary behavior, poor eating habits, smoking, poor sleep, stress and environmental pollutants1.
The coronavirus pandemic has given the world a unique opportunity to re-evaluate modern lifestyle value systems, many of which lead to unnecessarily high levels of stress, anxiety, and burnout, which weakens the body’s immune system’s ability to cope with health issues if and when they arise. For the hospitality industry, this opportunity manifests itself in creating more significant wellness experiences for guests that extend well beyond the traditional spa and fitness offering. From in-room wellness amenities such as air purification filters, circadian lighting, healthy mini-bar alternatives and a more comprehensive selection of teas, waters and amenities to healthy restaurant menus, free-to-use meditation pavilions, larger green spaces, visual healing projections, and binaural music in shared spaces, the opportunities for creating a genuine wellness guest experience are almost limitless. Many of these opportunities should become standard in new and existing developments, even those that do not specialize in wellness as a specific brand pillar or service offering.
Tackling loneliness head on
Loneliness and social isolation reduce our ability to find comfort and help each other. Pre-pandemic research pointed towards a growing worldwide decline in social capital, exacerbated by varied and complex modern, individualistic, and technologically-driven lifestyles2. For many, being surrounded by millions but interacting with few, can be damaging beyond expectation.
The experience and effects of social distancing, physical quarantine and lockdown requirements during the pandemic has only sped up this growing social health issue, leading to greater disconnection than ever before, with a growing emergence of major mental health consequences as a result. It can be assumed that many of these consequences are still to be fully manifested in many people who may remain unknowingly affected for years to come.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, one in every two people experience a mental illness in their lifetime. The economic burden of mental ill-health was expected to grow to more than 4% of the European GDP in 20183, a percentage likely to have exceeded this prediction due to the pandemic and its effects on mental health.
Loneliness is one of the biggest social issues the world is facing today, and is associated with a greater risk of heart disease, depression, anxiety, dementia and premature death. Healthy relationships and social connection are integral to nurturing personal and communal wellbeing and are now more important than ever.
Hotels and resorts have a unique opportunity to provide spaces, communities and offerings which can bring people together. While international travel is yet to bounce back, the lightening of travel restrictions will inevitably lead to a wave of travelers seeking to benefit from these experiences. With a focus on creating spaces that are both communal and free of stress and pressure, a new culture of social wellness can begin to heal the wounds of social isolation within the hospitality environment.
Whether they have a focus on wellness or not, hotels and resorts that provide access to basic health resources and community-focused programming have a chance to develop more memorable and effective social and mental wellbeing experiences. These resources may include fresh and nutritious food, on-site or on-call health and welfare services, green and biophilic recreational spaces and dedicated exercise and wellness programs. One simply used example within wellness destinations is the idea of a community table, which allows for meaningful and organic connection between guests, as opposed to mindless engagement with hand-held devices.
Bolstering the spa menu
As people gain a greater understanding of the serious impacts of living unhealthy lives, wellness travelers are now seeking more specialized treatments to boost immunity and gain quantifiable and data-driven wellness experiences which include preventative medicine, effective holistic therapies and cutting-edge digital approaches to the spa journey.
Treatments that are centered on maintenance and improvement of health in real terms are on the rise. These treatments can include holistic experiences such as thermal bathing, Traditional Chinese Medicine and essential oil therapies, as well as treatments that focus more on the use of technology, enhanced fitness and instantly felt or visible results.
A year of social distancing and spa closures have been devastating for an industry of professionals who make a living through therapeutic touch. Worldwide, spas and centers focused on enhancing and improving wellbeing have been forcibly closed due to the inability to adhere to social distancing regulations. However, it could be argued that these closures were actually counter-productive in providing people opportunities for improved health.
The curative effects of heat
According to Dr. Marc Cohen, a pioneer of wellness and integrative medicine, enveloped viruses such as the coronavirus are sensitive to heat and are destroyed by temperatures tolerable to humans – which is why the human body uses fever to deal with infections and why humans have utilized hot springs, saunas, hammams and sweat-lodges to enhance and maintain health for millennia.
In his paper, “Turning up the heat on COVID-19: heat as a therapeutic intervention”4, he reviews evidence for using heat to treat and prevent viral infections. In the initial phase of infection, heat applied to the upper airways can support the immune system’s first line of defense by supporting muco-ciliary clearance and inhibiting or deactivating virions where they first lodge. This may be further enhanced by the inhalation of steam containing essential oils with anti-viral, mucolytic and anxiolytic properties, and although no clinical protocols exist for using heat to treat the coronavirus, traditional practices and infection control measures based around this theory are expected to be developed and implemented rapidly and inexpensively over the next decade.
Embracing technology
As the effects of the pandemic reverberate across the world of wellness, the ubiquitous term ‘biohacking’ has also re-emerged as a buzzword across the industry and is now finding its way into hospitality. Described as the fastest- growing and most significant health and lifestyle trend this side of the millennium5, the term describes the practice of hacking the body to achieve positive results both physically and mentally.
Yet despite its tech-focused name and Silicon Valley-connotations, incorporating biohacking into hospitality is simpler than it looks. Nutritional provisions, such as specialized diet plans and alkaline drinking water, can help guests maintain their personal bio-hack regime, while more advanced offerings, such as complimentary wearable tech that provides daily biofeedback and in-room nootropic- spiked elixirs, can service the next generation of wellness travelers who are keen to push the boundaries on how far the body, the mind, and even DNA, can evolve.
For hotels and resorts unable or unwilling to offer such wide-reaching alternatives, an extended offering of dedicated fitness, mind & body practice and experiential wellbeing should still become a necessary cornerstone for any destination looking to take advantage of these trends. Integral to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and increasingly popular among guests of all demographics, the hospitality industry will need to continue exploring and engaging with the ever-evolving health and fitness sectors, and wellness managers will need to ensure constant innovation in these areas specifically to remain relevant and leverage opportunities when they arise.
Integrating health & wellness
In addition to a shift in the treatment menu, an arguably more dramatic shift is being seen from the operational side of spa offering and management. As the coronavirus pandemic first emerged, a large focus was put on ensuring touch points and surfaces were clean and sterilized – with some claims suggesting the virus could live on certain materials for days before perishing. However, further epidemiology research suggests that the virus’s surface transmission is not a significant factor in the spread of the coronavirus and that hand washing, face masks, and eye protection should be prioritized6.
What is clear is that regardless of scientific evidence, spa guests will remain actively conscious about hygiene and sterilization and will expect and demand it at all times. Hotels, resorts and spas will therefore be required to normalize the sterilization process and maintain transparency around health screening protocols well after the perceived risks of the virus have diminished. This will ensure peace of mind for every visitor, something crucially important for anyone looking to seek refuge, attain relaxation, and benefit from spa and wellness treatments7.
As our recent industry report that explored the benefits of merging medical and wellness tourism through integrative wellness destinations explained, the concepts of wellness and medical tourism are becoming increasingly interwoven. Spaces traditionally known for holistic wellness programming are incorporating more diagnostics and advanced results-driven treatments into their standard offering, while medically-focused destinations are broadening their approach to health by including more holistic wellness services to complement their treatments.
As the line between health and wellness becomes increasingly blurred, and as people begin to seek preemptive treatments and holistic treatments and lifestyle practices that supplement their recovery, medical destinations are moving away from sterile hospital-style designs by creating relaxing stays more similar to those experienced in hotels or resorts. On the other side of the spectrum, hotels and resorts that have developed a medi-spa offering have shifted their designs to better reflect the cleanliness, results, and professionalism expected from medical establishments.
In order for hospitality destinations to effectively develop an integrated health and wellness strategy, certain key elements need to be considered. If medical therapies are offered in addition to traditional spa treatments, a team of experts or specialists will need to be hired, which in turn will affect the organizational structure due to a need for clearly defined roles for each team.
However, the benefits of offering a more comprehensive health and wellness offering have many positives if the destination is marketed correctly and can attract the right guests for their chosen service platform. With a heightened perception of risks associated with hygiene and physical contact, a balance must be established that both fulfills the need for relaxation and pampering while demonstrating a clear and trustworthy understanding of hygiene, cleanliness and medi-centric services.
Integrative wellness destinations are anticipated to become one of the most sought-after wellness hospitality establishments in the coming years, as they provide a comprehensive selection of services in an environment that is distinctly non-medical. For any hospitality company looking to expand its offering to meet the fast-growing demands born out of the coronavirus pandemic, it is recommended that a wellness consultant is hired to guide both owners and operators to create a successful venture at both design and operational levels. Without this guidance, and a detailed roadmap, then results may vary and for those who see wellness as an easy fix-all, there may be disappointment.
Conclusion
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, global wellbeing is expected to remain sharply in focus both in terms of physical need and collective cultural narrative. The World Bank estimates as many as 150 million people fell into extreme poverty in 2021 and suggests that a number of middle-income countries will see significant numbers of urban dwellers slipping below the poverty line for the first time, identifying a significant shift in the spending power of those who may have previously had the economic stability to enjoy travel and wellness tourism8.
The wellness economy’s future, and specifically that of wellness hospitality, will therefore be strongly influenced by the significant global changes seen over the last year. Certainly, the predicted growth of the pre-pandemic era will take time to correct, but due to fast-growing trends surrounding health, immunity, and wellbeing, the hospitality industry is poised to see a fast recovery if the correct steps are taken.
Pairing a growing need for, and deeper understanding of, health and wellness in general with a shift in global spending patterns, the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic place hospitality in a unique position to adapt and incorporate health and wellness into the core traveller experience. Therefore, fulfilling demand for new and improved revenue generation opportunities and improving accessibility to impactful personal experiences for a wider guest demographic, must be regarded as a priority.
With more hotels and resorts adopting meaningful wellness as a key service offering, and as the industry as a whole becomes more democratised, wellness tourism growth is very likely to exceed previous expectations despite the economic downturn, and particularly when compared to the wider hospitality landscape. It is predicted that wellness tourism will see an even greater growth rate than the pre-pandemic era by the time the global economy is truly stabilised.
Opportunity rising from crisis
The pandemic has shifted the goalposts for what is expected from the wellness industry and by association, the industries that interact with wellness the most, must adapt accordingly. This paradigm shift presents a unique opportunity for hospitality owners and operators to leverage the popularity and trends associated with wellness to create new profit streams, improve brand position and ensure long term stability of their product for guests, employees and stakeholders, even in the face of any future economic uncertainty.
The inevitable surge of late- and post-coronavirus era travel will emerge hand in hand with strong demand for wellness hospitality, likely exceeding all expectations. Our collective understanding of health and wellbeing has been forever changed by the pandemic, and it is this forced evolution in guest expectation that is driving a new interpretation of hospitality and more comprehensive service offerings. By thoughtfully leveraging wellness, the hospitality industry can utilise this key concept to create a new experiential and multi-layered product, helping it to become more resilient, relevant, and sustainable than in the years preceding the pandemic.
- 10 Global Wellness Institute – Global Wellness Economy Monitor (2018)
- Global Wellness Institute – Resetting the World with Wellness: A New Vision for a Post COVID-19 Future (2020)
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development – Health at a Glance: Europe 2018 (2018)
- Dr. Marc Cohen – Turning up the heat on COVID-19: heat as a therapeutic intervention (2020) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7372531/
- Ingo Schweder – Biohacking: An Inevitable Evolution of Wellness (2020) https://gocohospitality.com/biohacking-an-inevitable-evolution-of-wellness/
- The Guardian – Clean Break: the risk of catching Covid from surfaces overblow, experts say (2021) https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/28/clean-break-the-risk-of-catching-covid-from-surfaces-overblown-experts-say
- Horwath HTL Health & Wellness – Merging Medical & Wellness Tourism in Integrative Wellness Destinations (2020)
- The World Bank – COVID-19 to add as many as 150 million extreme poor by 2021 (2020)
