There are a number of resorts such as Miraval Resorts & Spas , SHA Wellness Clinic and Mii amo that have been leading the charge in “Luxury Wellness Travel” for decades, but they have been the outliers - the hyper specialized properties within the travel market. With the newly cemented “wellness” sector in travel and hospitality, the time has come to level up.
What people need is an invitation to be human. More than ever, individuals are making the choice to disconnect from their day to day life, not only for a “vacation”, but for the purpose of stepping back and taking a good long hard look at what is and is not working in both their overall life and state of health. They want to make changes…. fundamental changes to how they operate - and they’re traveling to Wellness Resorts for help.
THIS is what true wellness is all about—yet, I see it being widely avoided by the wellness hospitality industry time and time again.
There is certainly value in assessing and measuring physiological functions, but what is especially needed is a safe container to do the unsexy work of observing and challenging one’s internal operating systems - those that are the root cause of chronic physical ailments and general dissatisfaction in life.
But currently, most elite wellness resorts operate under the belief that the primary value is in the metrics and services that feel good in the moment, with results that are sustained for no more than a week post-departure. Yet offering a container and guidance for doing the actual, self-confronting work and education on practical lifestyle choices that result in lasting healing and transformation is nearly non-existent.
Think about it - someone invests in a stay at a luxury wellness resort because they’re suffering from operating for years at a baseline level of elevated stress. They leave with a solid picture of their overall health, all of the supplements, having been nourished through and through, and feeling confident that they are finally going to thrive in their health and wellbeing.
And then they go back to their day-to-day routine….and the vicious cycle begins again.
What’s missing from the human puzzle is the piece that asks and supports discovering the answer to, “What, within you, needs to change?”.
Do I feel that offering these deep psychological containers at a standard luxury hotel property is appropriate? I do not. Wellness in general travel is a different lane altogether. But do I see that most properties explicitly dedicated as “wellness destination resorts” are missing the mark? I absolutely do. There is a massive opportunity to offer next-level programming that invites an individual to explore and confront their interior landscape within the curated security of wellness resorts and even private membership clubs. This is what will ultimately place your brand ahead of the curve as things in the hospitality/wellness sector evolve.
To date, the industry has been obsessed with diagnostics, metrics and aesthetics. We will enthusiastically dedicate ourselves to measuring how many steps a guest takes in a day, how much of each hormone is coursing through their system, their vitamin D deficiencies, how much cholesterol has accumulated and how much elasticity they have in their skin.
Track them—these are all good and healthy metrics. But let’s be honest: tracking physical data is not going to result in the profound promise of “transformation” that is currently being marketed ad nauseam.
And look at how things are shifting…the developing conversation is all about screen exhaustion and human connection.
When you understand the human condition, you understand that the quality of one's thoughts, beliefs, and emotional baggage are the actual seeds that cause chronic stress symptoms in the physical body. What we are currently calling ‘wellness’ is mostly transient, skin-deep, and ultimately short-lived.
Luxury wellness resorts offer privacy. They offer a rare place to step entirely outside of the day-to-day routines of life. What better place for a person to go into the darkest recesses of their own operating systems, than a sanctuary that balances that heavy internal excavation with the beauty, care, and safety that only elite hospitality can provide?
There is an abundance of qualified, impactful and highly specialized wellness professionals literally everywhere who would love to work within elite resorts and private membership clubs. It is time for resort operators to remove the administrative firewalls and grant residency to these specialized experts.
We put the primary focus of wellness on what exists on the outside, when what guests are really trying to do is feel good on the inside—and not just in their digestive tract.
Properties have not only an opportunity, but all the resources needed to provide true, lasting transformative experiences. When I am designing a retreat or social wellness experience, I don’t think only about what will feel nice in the moment for the guest. I think about how transformation can be operationally structured into an experience that the guest will continue to live long after they leave the property. THAT is impactful.
