The latest trend in hotels isn’t new, but it’s making its way back into the spotlight and quickly taking center stage in the hospitality and travel space: a renewed focus on general health and wellness with travel. Guests are more conscious now than ever about making healthy decisions and traveling with a health-centric mindset.
Today’s guests want access to exercise and wellness facilities, clean dining options and relaxation areas where they can melt away the day’s stress. According to the Global Wellness Institute, wellness tourism was a $639 billion market in 2017 and they project it to reach $919 billion by the year 2022. Additionally, they point out that travelers around the globe made 830 million international and domestic wellness trips in 2017, making up 17% of all tourism expenses.
We see this reemerging trend affecting the hospitality market directly in the addition of wellness facilities such as TWA Hotel’s decision to build the world’s largest hotel fitness center in one of their recent constructions. But hotels can provide guests with health and wellness options and experiences without having to construct a new fitness facility. Let’s take a look at a few ways your hotel can promote wellness without significantly affecting your bottom line!
Note and Share Local Running or Walking Courses
You can keep track of local parks, walking trails, greenways, etc. and share that information with your guests to promote accessible outdoor exercise options. This not only shows your hotel’s commitment to wellness, but also how integrated you are within the local community. Here in Middle Tennessee, where Quore is headquartered, we love the Nashville Greenways trail for walking and biking!
You can keep a list and maps on a little brochure, or, if you use a system like Quore, you can simply log any local wellness areas in the Directory app. This allows you to keep an ongoing repository of area info that your staff can easily access and distribute to guests when needed.
Advertise In-House or Local Spa Health Benefits
Spa treatments have proven to provide a wealth of health benefits. One researcher suggests that massage has been shown to lower blood pressure and even boost immune function; sauna use has been proven to decrease cardiovascular risk; and even short-term exposure the essential oils, commonly used in spa therapies, has a positive impact on heart health and blood pressure.
If your hotel features an in-house spa—or even if you can team up with local spa facilities—promoting these health benefits can draw new guests to your property, build a sense of community and increase in-house spa revenue.
Host a Wellness or Fitness Challenge
One way to promote health and wellness and engage with guests is to host a wellness challenge at your property. It could be as simple as a daily walking challenge to promote 15 minutes of walking daily (which provides another opportunity to share walking trail locations and local parks). Encourage guests to post about the challenge on their social media accounts and tag the hotel—this drives social media engagement and interpersonal connections.
Incorporate Fitness Equipment into Guestrooms
In 2017, Hilton launched its Five Feet to Fitness initiative, incorporating fitness equipment such as exercise bands, weighted balls and stationary bikes into their guestrooms. EVEN Hotels by IHG likewise feature a variety of in-room fitness equipment, as well as workout facilities, group fitness classes and healthy dining options.
You don’t have to provide a bike or treadmill to add fitness opportunities or accessories to a room, though. It can be as simple as adding a set of weights, a yoga mat and/or a free booklet of bodyweight exercises like those found on DAREBEE for guests to reference.
You can even save PDF handouts of some workout examples and offer them to guests at the front desk. If you use a system like Quore, you can keep these PDFs in the Documents app for easy access whenever a guest requests your fitness or wellness options.
Provide Healthy Dining Options
Whether your hotel offers in-house dining or not, you can provide healthy dining options to your guests. If you don’t have in-house dining, you can simply keep a repository of local dining attractions that feature healthy menu options. If you have Quore, you can store this information, along with directions, in the Directory along with your walking trails and fitness locations.
Be sure to make note of places that offer vegan and vegetarian options or cater to food sensitivities! Your guests will be impressed with your inclusivity and attention to detail.
Healthy Guests Make for Happy Guests
Whatever you do to promote health and wellness, remember that the most important thing is that your guests stay happy! And using a cloud-based solution like Quore can help make tracking guest satisfaction easier than ever.
Once you’ve started implementing wellness options, you can log and follow guest feedback in Quore to see how things are going and better understand hotel guest needs. Plus, you and your team can easily manage and track the maintenance of wellness equipment using Quore’s preventative maintenance and hotel work order features. With over 30 features, Quore has a solution for every department of your hotel, so you can streamline your entire operation and keep your guests happy—and healthy.
To learn more about how Quore can support your hotel processes, visit our website. To read more of our industry insights, check out our other blog posts.
