Although many companies are asking teams to return to the workplace, the digital nomad market continues to see strong growth.

Some stats:

Travel Habits of Digital Nomads

By 2025, there are expected to be approximately 36.2MM digital nomads globally although some believe that number to be closer to 1Billion.

  • On average, they make $118K/year but just under 10% (3MM people) make between $250K – 1MM.
  • 51% of digital nomads stay in hotels.
  • More than half of digital nomads stay between 7 and 30 days in one place.
  • 20% of digital nomads are women (approximately 7MM people).
  • Among female digital nomads, the most popular jobs are in creative and marketing.

When it comes to Wellness, the Digital Nomad cares a lot.

— Source: Canyon Ranch®— Source: Canyon Ranch®
— Source: Canyon Ranch®

Now, that is a lot of wellness-seeking individuals roaming the world, looking for healthy spaces to set down their laptop and do their work.

Over the last couple of years, there have been some interesting start-ups targeting digital nomads. Their messaging focuses on intentional socializing, interesting local history experiences, and taste of place culinary offerings.

Some noteworthy examples include: Noma Collective, Boundless Life, and Startup Madeira, a location created by the regional government of Madeira to create the ultimate digital nomad location, requiring a minimum 30-night stay.

As locations and hotels try to attract digital nomads, I believe there is an opportunity for spas to also target and serve this growing market with what they alone do best, especially as wellness continues to grow as a priority for this customer.

Can you imagine… a soak in a whirlpool before your first meeting? A yoga class and then a steam during your lunch break? A healthy meal that someone else has prepared for you? A massage at the end of a long day of calls? And all within walking distance?

Why Work from Spa? The Secret Sauce for Enhancing Creativity

First, why should digital nomads consider Spa stays? Spas have been a secret weapon for creative people throughout the ages. Both Beethoven and Mark Twain wrote and composed when they “took the waters” and came out with incredible works of art. I recently spent three weeks at Canyon Ranch Tucson, working from spa and discovered how true this is. Although I did not write any sonatas during this time, I noticed surprising benefits to my creativity.

I researched the mechanisms behind the key elements of spa and discovered there is quite a bit of science behind what felt like an extremely unscientific experience.

This story begins with the power of stress to shut down creativity. If your job is full of deadlines and pressure, the space needed to be creative is often the first to go because stress puts your brain in survival mode. In caveman days, the source of stress was the tiger outside your cave. Today it’s the avalanche of emails, slack messages, and the angry look on your boss’ face.

Working from spa is a way to choose a workplace that is truly designed for self-care and stress reduction.

Closed v. Open Brains

A lot of people believe that concentrating on a task is the way to come up with the best answers, but it may not be true especially when you’re looking for a creative solution, and the majority of digital nomads, especially females, are in creative fields.

When you’re focusing on something, your prefrontal cortex (your brain’s command center) has to shut down other areas to do this. Concentration is like a doorman who won’t allow new and creative solutions into the room because it is only looking for that one celebrity.

When we relax, this prefrontal cortex relaxes too and we enter something called our default network. When this network is activated, it opens up pathways so new connections can be made. It’s like the doorman opened the door and all those ideas can now come in and mingle at the party in your brain and it’s those connections between seemingly disparate ideas that lead to creativity.

Time Wasted is Time Well Spent

Albert Einstein said, Creativity is the residue of time wasted. Spa is full of wasted time. But as we all know, it’s not really a waste to let our brains wander, rest and be bored because these are the ways that our brains can relax and that doorman in your brain can let down the velvet rope and allow that inner stream of ideas to flow in.

Companies are now layering in spa-like experiences. Airports have yoga rooms and hospitals like Cedars-Sinai have created Serenity Rooms which are spa-inspired spaces with massage chairs and soothing music for nurses to use during a break.

We know that our nurses can’t pour from an empty cup, said David Marshall, JD, DNP, RN, Senior Vice President and, Chief Nursing Executive.

De-stressing is key to enhancing creativity, not just for artists but for all of us who like artists are often looking for a new answer whether that’s for a strategic plan for your business unit or a new idea for a marketing campaign.

Spas are the secret weapon for increased creativity and to help your mind relax, your body rest, and create the space for those surprising and new ideas to float up in your mind.

Strategies to Position Your Spa to Attract the Digital Nomad

Digital nomads are a great target customer because they can travel when others can’t. Targeting them during your shoulder seasons with unique and relevant offers is a great strategy for filling slower months.

Creating a special package for the digital nomad is a way to help guests understand the value of what you have to offer. An Expedia report found that hotel guests who purchase packages spend more on their rooms – and book more room nights – compared to those who opt for standalone rooms.

They also found those who opt for a package paid around 30% more in average daily room rates (ADRs). By designing a unique offer with the digital nomads needs in mind, you are able to increase both the perceived value of their guest experience and the financial yield from their bookings.

What can you include? Here are some ideas:

Bandwidth

If you’re a spa and want to attract a digital nomad for a week or longer stay, bandwidth is table stakes. Obviously, the remote worker needs high-speed WI-FI. By selling the powerful benefits of spa for creativity, productivity and mental health along with high-speed wifi, you can put two ideas – remote work and spa – together in your potential customer’s mind.

The Spa Workstation

How is the desk and chair in your hotel room? Is it comfortable enough to sit in for hours on end? If not, consider upgrading these items with highly functional alternatives.

Can you create an outdoor office in a beautiful spot, somewhere with a view? Remember to have some shade, WIFI connectivity, and a power source. If your outlets don’t make it to the beach, can you use solar power strips?

Free food delivery to their “office” if they have a busy day is also a perk.

If you have the space, designating a sunny room as a co-working space with comfortable chairs and desks plus coffee, water, and brain-boosting snacks is a great selling point too.

Ways to Unplug and Socialize

Digital nomads travel to work in interesting and beautiful places. Help these unique customers connect to the local community by offering evening experiences and trips to local restaurants as they are working during the day.

Create a coupon book of local businesses with special offers for digital nomads. Not only does this give them fun activities in the evening when the workday is done, it also creates opportunities for fellow travelers to connect over shared experiences. If there are enough interesting activities going on, your chance of extending your digital nomad’s stay increases.

The Marketing

There are some key elements you can leverage to target this customer.

Unique Landing Page: Savvy spas can promote all their benefits to this market by creating a landing page targeting digital nomads. Include content around the power of spa to promote creativity along with the more commonly known health benefits.

Show pictures of your ergonomic chairs, usable desks, co-working spaces if you have them, healthy snacks, and washing machines. Then, any marketing you do can drive traffic to this page.

Replace Influencers with Experts: When it comes to influencer marketing, instead of collaborating with a travel influencer to promote your spa, consider finding a creativity expert or executive coach to come in and share her story about how spa improved her ability to get important work done.

Consumer-Generated Content: What about consumer-generated content where your guests share the projects they’re working on from spa? How about bringing in an artist or writer in spa-residence who can document her work and how the spa experience is supporting her creativity? This would help audiences understand that spa is a great place for creative work.

Partnerships: Consider partnering with travel-adjacent brands like millennial focused luggage companies, athleisure clothing companies and other products and services popular with digital nomads for cross-promotions.

CONCLUSION

Spas are inherently performance enhancing because they are stress-reducing. Helping digital nomads understand this in your messaging and marketing as well as in your experience and offer design helps rebrand your spa as a unique and delightful remote work option. Spas can be workspaces as well as “get away from work” spaces so digital nomads can getaway to work and play and replenish.

Susie Arnett
Canyon Ranch®

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