A tremendous opportunity exists today for hotels and resorts to once again raise the bar and incorporate experiences crafted around trends that are presently driving the fitness industry. Today's best operators know that the lines between the commercial health club offering and the hospitality based fitness center are becoming increasingly blurred. In the world of fitness, two significant trends are driving the landscape by which new facilities are born, and existing spaces re-imagined: Functional Training & Technology. Together, these two factors are powering the emergence of socially driven exercise and virtually guided training sessions that are shaking the landscape of nearly every aspect of the fitness industry. READ MORE

Travel and tourism remains one of the world's largest industries, representing over 10% of global GDP and forecasted to grow 3.7% in 20179. Wellness Tourism, or travel associated with the pursuit of maintaining or enhancing one's personal wellbeing, is growing twice as fast as the overall sector, and exists at nearly a $600 billion global enterprise. In her annual contribution to the Hotel Business Review, Mia Kyricos, an expert in wellness-driven hospitality, gives us the status of the wellness tourism industry as we know it today, as well as a glimpse of what new opportunities exist on the horizon. READ MORE

Properly operated hotel spas provide an owner the opportunity to boost property profits while driving additional value through the implementation of robust Social Media and Public Relations programming, and the sale of incremental, attractive room packages. The question is: are you providing your spa with the support and experience necessary to achieve these objectives? Unfortunately, it is all too common for Hotel Spas to be under-performing in some, if not all, the above categories. If that is the case, a spa asset manager may be a worthwhile investment for your property. READ MORE

At Viceroy Zihuatanejo, in 2015, I began forming a new vision for our resort spa to help guests achieve true wellness. I knew we needed to offer much more than just providing traditional spa treatments and services because achieving true wellness would require a resilient attitude and rejuvenating lifestyle to help balance our guests' physical, mental and spiritual energy. In other words, true wellness encompasses an on-going vibrant, stress-reducing way of living that leads to happiness and contentment. I also realized that just dispensing healthy facts would not necessarily lead guests to adopt healthier, wellness-oriented lifestyles. Instead, guests seeking wellness would need to feel inspired and empowered as well as being educated. READ MORE

With the summer storm season upon us, it's especially important for hotels to be prepared for hazardous waste emergencies caused by severe weather. Preparation for such events is crucial for safely and compliantly handling emergency spills. Not only is proactive planning for environmental emergencies valuable from a compliance standpoint, but it can help minimize the damage inflicted within your hotel and the surrounding area, as well as reduce the risk to the health of your guests and staff members. READ MORE

If your hotel has a reasonable amount of meeting space (+10,000 ft) and your banquet business is a significant contributor in your Food and Beverage Department (+20% of F&B revenue), you are going to want to separate local banquet business from group banquet business on all of your financial statements, forecasts, budgets and daily reporting. At this moment you may be asking, “Why would I want to do that? That sounds like a lot of work.” There are some very good reasons to make this practice a standard in your hotel. I see many hotel financial statements and most are missing the boat because they do not separate group and local banquet revenues. Separating this reporting and setting it up properly provides powerful information you can use in your hotel to make better decisions and ultimately be more profitable. READ MORE

Is "Challenging Assumptions" the key to cracking customer experience? Booking.com thinks so and others do too. Love them or hate them - and yes hotels over the years have had a pretty tetchy relationship with booking.com – but few could dispute how successful a company the Amsterdam upstart has been. For successful tech companies building a solid and loyal customer base is far less about trusting your gut than having the right data and testing and learning from it. Flattened company hierarchies are also seen as important in getting the best from teams and, as a result, building more successful customer relationships based on personal preferences. READ MORE

The global spa movement, which includes wellness tourism, amounts to upwards of $3 trillion dollars per year. What physical and strategic elements are key to driving bottom-line performance at traditional and wellness-focused spas? Relaxation and a sense of wellbeing are at the heart of the spa and wellness market. Hence, it's no wonder that hotels, resorts, and spas have begun to reorganize their operations around wellness. The benefits, in the form of a stronger bottom line and appeal to demand segments, extend not only to guests but to hoteliers and hospitality companies, as well. READ MORE

How many of us would admit that we are addicted to our screens? The need to be in the know is a habit that is hard to break. Parents, recognizing this addiction in themselves, and the effects on their well-being are increasingly concerned about the effect screen addiction will have on their children. To counteract this, parents are investing time and money in helping their kids develop better habits; this is where spas can play a key role. Encouraging children to connect with wellness for prevention ensures they grow-up with the knowledge and passion to remain in the best health. READ MORE

In the last decade, we have seen an increased willingness of hospitality and spa companies to cross geographical and cultural divides and move into markets outside of their traditional regions. It is really a function of and a result of globalization, which is impacting all business sectors. One geographical jump that seems to be getting a lot of attention these days is the Asian hospitality market. Big investors in the East are diving head-first into the Western wellness boom by buying landmark spa properties in the United States, recruiting top executive talent to lead their spa divisions in Asia, and integrating their traditional spa modalities with modern wellness culture. READ MORE

Many luxury, five-star beach resorts on the world-famous holiday island destination of Bali put their spa and wellness services and facilities as among their top features. Many also promote their spa and wellness features as ‘one-stop' retreat highlights, with all-round spa-and-stay packages available, tailored to cover the essentials, ranging from health-conscious dining (oftentimes with calorie counts and other nutritional aspects taken in), various fitness and recreational activities to be had on the resort grounds, with treatments at the resort's dedicated spa facility or onsite beauty clinics. The trends in spa and wellness have recently gone further with science-based aspects included. READ MORE

Wellness tourism not only drives revenue, it is a required service for any luxury property. Total revenue for the spa industry surpassed $16 billion in 2015 and is anticipated to exceed $20 billion by 2020. Further encouragement, a recent ISPA study showed that 56% of millennials have visited a spa within the last year; never have we seen a demographic so involved in wellness. Guests are savvier when it comes to healthy hotel concepts and hold higher programming expectations. Thus, as the hospitality industry commits to developing wellness platforms, the rewards of investing in guest health far outweigh the risks. READ MORE

When does a hotel customer become a “guest”? Is it at the point where they book a reservation? The moment they walk through the doors into the lobby? Somewhere in between? Our team at TrustYou set out to identify the guest experience through the lens of guest communications, running a survey and observational study that encompassed nearly 1,000 participants. We identified the likes and dislikes of these guests. Along the way, we found some very interesting numbers relating to how travelers like to communicate with their hotel, and how these communication methods impact satisfaction levels. READ MORE

Time pressure is a significant driver of human decision-making. Time pressure is both artificial and natural. Time pressure is popular with airlines, hotels and sporting tickets. When purchasing an airline ticket it is likely that you have encountered a message that stated, “time remaining to purchase”, or “seats reserved for”, followed by a clock counting down. Ticketing agencies such as Ticketmaster and online retailer eBay are known for their time pressure sales methods. The high time pressure used by airlines, hotels and ticketing agencies are overt and intentional; however, not all time pressure is overt or intentional. READ MORE

Today's hoteliers face mounting pressure to increase their hotel profitability. From acquiring brand new customers to driving repeat business and loyalty, making the right operational decisions and running a hotel with optimal efficiency continues to be an ongoing challenge for top hotel executives. However, with increased scrutiny focused on the best ways to drive total hotel profitability, what exactly do the industry's c-suite executives need to know about revenue strategy and profit optimization? READ MORE