Skift Take
New year, new you — at least that's what a lot of us are telling ourselves this week now that the holidays are over, and so are our days of gluttony (or so we believe). And since we're all collectively tackling that perennial New Year's resolution to get healthier, now is as good a time as any to take a closer look at how hotel fitness and wellness is evolving.
Hotel fitness centers and wellness offerings have come a long way.
Once occupying dingy, windowless basement spaces some now take up entire floors and, in some cases, some hotel companies have even built entire brands around them, like InterContinental Hotels Group, EVEN Hotels, for example. Or other established fitness brands such as Equinox, have decided to test their mettle by stepping into the hotel business.
Fitness, and the larger interest in overall wellness, is a big business these days. In 2015, according to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), the global health club industry alone generated $81 billion in revenue, with 151.5 million members and nearly 187,000 clubs. Fitness and wellness have become a true lifestyle, as evidenced by the popularity of athleisure in retail and fashion, as well as the incredible growth of popular boutique fitness studios like SoulCycle, Physique 57, CorePower Yoga, and many others. SoulCycle estimated it would bring in revenues of more than $150 million in 2016 alone.
Good health, in many ways, has become a new sort of status symbol, too, and luxury hotel brands, in particular, have also taken note, as noted by Six Senses' example.
But hospitality fitness and wellness innovations aren't limited to just luxury brands, as we've seen before. The Westin Hotels brand is a prime example of a more mainstream brand that's used wellness as a crucial part of its brand identity, and those efforts continue today.
Brian Povinelli, SVP and Global Brand Leader for Westin, L
