Top Strategies for Post-Crisis Planning in Urgent Times of Wellbeing and Health
Wellness, Lifestyle and Spa
— 8 experts shared their view



Founder & CEO at WE Consulting Spa & Wellness
The Caribbean, a region primarily reliant on tourism, will continue to be majorly impacted over the next several months during the pandemic. Destinations are not only impacted by the loss of overnight guests but additionally by the 12 million travelers who take excursions by Cruise Ship annually, where small businesses rely on the cruise travelers daily spend. The positive news is some destinations are reporting complete recovery including Anguilla & Bonaire, ensuring that they will be highly sought out places to visit after the travel-ban is lifted. see more

Chief Wellness Officer at The WellSpring Group
We currently have the benefit of time; how we use it to prognosticate and plan for the copious scenarios we may face in the months and years ahead will ultimately determine the path forward for our industry. A few suggested initiatives that we should consider as high-priority in our post-crisis planning should be: see more
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Principal at CSC Consulting
The topic of mental health has long been stigmatized in the U.S. and other parts of the world. In 2018, the World Health Organization issued a report that identified mental illness—that is, any mental disorder—accounts for more disability in developed countries than any other group of illness, including cancer and heart disease. Pre-COVID-19, it was said that more than 160 million people in the U.S. alone were struggling with mental health conditions. One does not need to imagine that at this time, that number is far greater. see more

Founder & Managing Director at Soul Luxury
A New Era Gives Birth to New Values
In almost no time, the world has changed beyond recognition. Rapidly and without much prior warning, we all continue to have to learn to adapt to something we can't yet really imagine. see more

CEO & Co-Founder of Heath Tourism Worldwide
This is time to revisit what the hospitality industry called wellness and how it marketed and operated it. Glorified spas re-branded as 'wellness centers', low calorie ice cubes sold on line, etc. We have to stop wellness-washing and need to come up with proper value propositioning. Not USP but UVP. Not UX but WX as in wellness experience. Brands as well as individual providers can all apply this approach and (re-)define what they stand for in term of improving the wellness of their guests/customers. Some may think that welltertainment, e.g. beer yoga is a cheap option and should be avoided. That can be true. But can also be wrong. Large number of prospective customers who would not consider services if those we called 'wellness'. But happily would try them if they were called something they actually can associate value to. This may seem to be a paradox. I do not think it is. Instead, the industry needs to think of ways in which it can introduce wellness-improving services but not labeling them as wellness.

Managing Director HVS and Principal Spa and Wellness Consulting
The COVID-19 crisis has had an immediate and traumatic impact on our way of life, beyond the walls of our working environments. As we navigate strategies for repositioning properties, restructuring operational protocols to create stronger internal systems that back employee mental health and wellbeing present valuable coping services. Easing employee anxiety is central to the enhanced management of teams, reorganizing returning guests and guest experience assurances, moving forward. see more

We are starting to envision the world beyond the pandemic and to the new normal of radically shifted travel consumer expectations and preferences. I will leave the increased demand for improved wellness, “health is the new wealth”, to other panelists and focus on how technology expectations will change forever. The future of hospitality has always been Mobile--but Covid-19 will accelerate this trend from a nice-to-have to a must-have for hoteliers. see more

Group Director of Spa & Wellness at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
The travel industry (and the world, for that matter) has never seen a situation like the current pandemic. For that reason, I think it is important to acknowledge that there are no “experts” on this topic. Just a group of industry colleagues trying to figure out how to best navigate a very difficult and very unpredictable situation. In my role as the Group Director of Spa & Wellness for Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, I do see a few opportunities to leverage our wellness positioning as a way to aid in the recovery: see more