What was once a mere trend has grown into a fully-fledged travel segment – health and wellness travel is an area that no luxury hospitality brand can afford to fall behind on.
A new insight report by Reuter: Intelligence, the leader in luxury insights & research, has been created in partnership with ILTM, the luxury travel business event specialists.
The report manages to both leave no stone unturned and doesn’t pull any punches – in real terms, the research looks at diverse sectors of the wellness industry and calls out luxury brands for having fallen behind in the crucial wellness sector.
While a ‘fitness centre’ and some massage rooms may have been the sum total of the wellness offering in years gone by, some pioneering brands are now offering retreats backed by holistic wellness, featuring cutting-edge techniques and technologies.
The research in Reuter: Intelligence’s report looks at the sectors of sustainability, dining, exercise, spa, women-only, cruises, technology and bespoke programs, finding out how new products, services and APAC consumer preferences are set to impact luxury travel brands, who need to significantly up their wellness offering, and fast.
The new health & wellness mindstyle
Health & wellness is not a niche category but a key aspect in the lives of the luxury consumer demographic. In researching the drivers behind the wellness industry, the report discovers that health & wellness is top of mind in diverse areas of daily life.
With wellness both the mindset and lifestyle, the defining word is ‘mindstyle’, which means ‘the cumulative attitudes and consistent habits of thinking that a person develops about her or his chosen lifestyle’.
Mindstyle is the ideal label to frame the wellness world – put simply: during luxury travel, your customers expect the same health & wellness experiences – or further elevated versions thereof – as they already have around them.
The next level of wellness
The time has arrived for luxury travel brands to move beyond simple concepts of a gym and a spa, to rebrand, reconstruct and reposition their offering as a destination for holistic, integrated wellness. Luxury hospitality and travel brands must be at the forefront of this vital industry or risk being ignored by luxury travellers who have sky-high expectations.
Find the full report here, available for free.
