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Opinion Articles

Opinion Article

Beyond the Spa: How Strategic Wellness Audits Help Boutique Hotels Find Their Niche and Drive New Revenue

Wellness is no longer confined to the spa. Today’s travelers are seeking experiences that enhance sleep, reduce stress, and foster connection, which is shaping where they choose to stay and how much they spend. For boutique and independent hotels, this represents both an opportunity and a challenge: how to define their wellness identity authentically and profitably, without heavy capital investment.

Emily Johnson
By Emily Johnson, Founder and President, Elevate Wellness Collective
Opinion Article

The ROI of Wellness

Wellness is reshaping hospitality and real estate. It is no longer a luxury; it is a global economic force and a core business strategy. The global wellness economy reached $6.3 trillion in 2023 and is projected to hit $9 trillion by 2028, according to the Global Wellness Economy Monitor by the Global Wellness Institute (GWI). Of the 11 categories of wellness, the three (3) key growth areas include Wellness Real Estate, Wellness Tourism, and Mental Wellness, sectors now recognized as essential drivers in hospitality and real estate.

Amy McDonald
By Amy McDonald, Principal & CEO , Under a Tree Consultancy, Under a Tree by Amy McDonald
Opinion Article

The Rise of Mara-Cations

While it’s no secret that demand for wellness continues to increase across all sectors, today’s travelers are redefining what that means within the hospitality space, seeking experiences that extend well beyond the traditional spa treatments and fitness classes.

Annajane Güzel
By Annajane Güzel, Global Director of Brand Marketing, Generator & Freehand Hotels, Generator
Opinion Article

The Role of Hotel Spa Departments

Spas are an expected amenity for most luxury and ultra luxury hotels, and properties with savvy operators are benefiting greatly from luxury travelers increasingly willing to spend on spa. Spas are also mandatory under the brand standards for certain luxury and ultra-luxury brands, as well as a requirement to comply with Forbes Five Star Standards.

Robert MandelbaumAndrea Grigg
By Robert Mandelbaum and Andrea Grigg
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Opinion Article

EHL Innovation Rewind: Dr. Felicitas Morhart on Longevity, Luxury, and the Future of Human Hospitality

During the EHL Open Innovation Summit in Lausanne, we had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Felicitas Morhart, Full Professor of Marketing at HEC Lausanne, to explore how the emerging field of longevity is starting to reshape luxury hospitality. Our conversation touched on the intersection of biotech wellness, status-driven self-optimization, and the evolving role of luxury as a space for beauty, presence, and what it means to remain human in an increasingly optimized world.

By Dr. Felecitas Morhart and Simone Puorto
Opinion Article

The Overlooked Amenity: Why Air Quality is Essential for Guest Experience

The wellness travel sector is experiencing unprecedented growth, with the Global Wellness Summit predicting spending on wellness tourism to reach $9 trillion by 2028. This surge reflects an evolving consumer focus on health, relaxation, and holistic well-being, as travelers increasingly seek experiences that allow them to recharge mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Haley Payne
By Haley Payne, Head of Commercial, Pure Wellness
Opinion Article

Touchless Wellness Triumph at the Carillon Miami Wellness Resort

Sitting down for breakfast with Tammy Pahel, Vice President of Spa and Wellness Operations at the Carillon Miami Wellness Resort (hereafter abbreviated as “the Carillon”), offers nothing short of a world of insight in the vast and restorative power that comprehensive wellness programming can bring to a hotel. Touching on all subject matter from nutrition, sleeptech and advances in fitness through to transformative wellness group retreats, energy healing and the future of the spa industry, two hours fly by before it’s time to head off to experience one of the hotel’s signature touchless therapy circuits.

Adam MogelonskyLarry Mogelonsky
By Adam Mogelonsky and Larry Mogelonsky
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Opinion Article

The Rise of Longevity-Focused Hospitality: Redefining Luxury in the Age of Wellness Tourism

As global wellness tourism nears the staggering $1 trillion mark, a powerful transformation is reshaping the luxury and lifestyle hospitality sectors. No longer confined to indulgence or relaxation alone, luxury travel today increasingly centers around health optimization, life extension, and holistic well-being.

Nicolas Frangos
By Nicolas Frangos, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Luxxie Lime - Luxury & Lifestyle Hospitality
Opinion Article

AI to Improve the Hotel Spa End User Journey

The best way to come to grips with artificial intelligence (AI) for spa and wellness is through the phrase ‘technology-adjacent therapies’. That is, for our industry where human-to-human contact is ever-so-centric to guest satisfaction, it’s not that automation will supplant practitioners but that these contemporary tools will offset the undesirable, repetitive tasks to augment the experience. Hence, hoteliers and managers shouldn’t necessarily look to how AI can boost the guest journey but to their own teams’ experience, otherwise known as the software’s ‘end users’.

Larry MogelonskyAdam Mogelonsky
By Larry Mogelonsky and Adam Mogelonsky
Opinion Article

Revolutionizing Wellness in Hospitality: Scaling Well-Being Across Brands

Wellness is no longer just a trend—it’s a movement reshaping industries, and the hospitality sector is no exception. In an era where sustainable self-care and mental health take center stage, global hospitality leader Accor is at the forefront, revolutionizing what it means to truly care for guests. This is not about spa retreats; it’s a paradigm shift that integrates well-being into every element of the guest experience.

Bianca Lüthy
By Bianca Lüthy, Corporate Content Manager, EHL
Opinion Article

Unlocking Value for Hotel Wellness at Lotte New York Palace with a Robo-Massage

If you would have asked us a year ago whether or not a robotic massage would work at a hotel wellness center, our answer would have been, “Only rarely.” Our judgment didn’t completely rule out these automated treatment tables from the welltech conversation, but we firmly believed that a great massage is achieved from both the physical pressure on muscles in combination with the psychological restoration that comes from the patient-therapist relationship.

Larry MogelonskyAdam Mogelonsky
By Larry Mogelonsky and Adam Mogelonsky
New York, United States
Opinion Article

Nothing Artificial About It: AI has Found Its Place in Wellness

With so much to worry and wonder about these days, the widely publicized, albeit imagined scenario that sees artificial intelligence one day becoming so darn smart that it destroys all of humanity is probably not top-of-mind for most wellness seekers. Instead, those in the know should be contemplating the many ways that AI has turned the page to a new chapter of personal health management, and how they can take advantage of technological advancements to reach their desired state of wellbeing.

Tammy Pahel
By Tammy Pahel, VP of Spa & Wellness Operations, Carillon Miami Wellness Resort