How Hotels Are Responding to the Glowmad Trend: Three Approaches to Local Beauty Experiences

A traveler arrives in a new city. Alongside planning museums, restaurants, and attractions, they may also look for a local skincare brand, a trusted beauty specialist, or a wellness ritual connected to the destination. This type of travel behavior has been described by the term Glowmads that travelers incorporate beauty and wellness experiences into their journeys.

According to Skyscanner's travel trends research, 32% of travelers want to experience local beauty culture during their trips. For hotels, this represents one way to enrich the guest experience. The question is how to translate local beauty culture into something guests can discover during their stay.

Several hotels have explored different approaches:

1. Partnering with Local Skincare Brands and Artisans

One approach is to collaborate with local beauty brands that represent the destination's ingredients, traditions, or craftsmanship.

At AVA Spa at Four Seasons Hotel Prague, guests can experience treatments featuring Mcely Bouquet, an organic Czech skincare brand inspired by botanical ingredients from the region. The partnership incorporates local beauty knowledge into the hotel's spa offering while introducing guests to a Czech skincare brand.

2. Recommending Trusted Local Beauty Specialists

Hotels can also serve as a link between travelers and established beauty providers in the surrounding area.

The Portofino Hotel & Marina partnered with Beauty at the Bay, a local medical spa located minutes from the hotel, to provide guests with access to skincare and aesthetic treatments. Through this model, hotels do not need to provide every service directly but can help guests discover reliable local options. For travelers seeking specialized treatments, recommendations from hotels can provide additional convenience and confidence when exploring unfamiliar destinations.

3. Creating Treatments Inspired by Local Wellness Traditions

Another approach is developing beauty and wellness experiences based on regional characteristics.

Montage Hotels & Resorts has incorporated destination-specific elements into its Spa Montage properties through regional skincare partnerships and wellness concepts. Its Elements of Wellness Signature Experiences and Therapies draw on European spa science and ancient wisdom traditions, combining established wellness practices with personalized treatments. This approach connects beauty and wellness services with broader cultural traditions, allowing guests to experience treatments shaped by different philosophies of care.

A Shared Strategy: Turning Local Beauty Culture into Guest Experiences

Although these examples take different forms, they reflect a common strategy: hotels are using local beauty culture as a way to create more destination-specific experiences.

This strategy can include:

• Partnering with local skincare brands and artisans to introduce regional products and ingredients.

• Recommending trusted clinics, spas, or beauty specialists to help guests access local expertise.

• Creating treatments inspired by local ingredients or wellness traditions to connect services with regional culture.

• Curating beauty retail that reflects the destination's identity, allowing guests to take part of the experience home.

For hotels, the Glowmad trend highlights how beauty can become another lens through which guests explore a destination. As travelers seek more locally connected experiences, beauty may increasingly become part of the story hotels help tell about a place.