2023 Travel Trends: Expanding the Definition of Wellness Travel

THE ROAD AHEAD

Wouldn’t it be great to have a crystal ball and be able to predict the future? Like many of you, I’ve read recent articles on 2023 travel trends. I’m interested in the future of travel because I’ve worked in the hospitality industry for over ten years, but I am in an unusual part of the industry: I design transformational experiences.

Whether at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health , the largest retreat center in North America, at pioneering wellness brand,  Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas , or now at one of the most established and legacy wellness companies, Canyon Ranch , I’ve curated and designed programming experiences that transform people’s lives – and as a result, connect guests deeply to a brand.

Programming has changed dramatically in the last decade. In the old days, hotels were hotels, ashrams were ashrams, and spas were spas. Nowadays, it’s all mixed together. A daily yoga or fitness class used to be an innovation, but it’s become table stakes.

Especially at higher price points, people now seek experiences that engage them emotionally, spiritually, and physically, so more hotels and resorts are expanding their programming offerings to meet that need. But the next step is to offer more than just new programming or another retreat. It’s about layering wellness into your guest’s journey where she least expects it.

THE TRAVELER

You don’t need to be an MBA or a psychic to predict that the future of the travel industry is up in the air. This is in part because COVID broke loyalty bonds. When travel options were so limited, people did whatever they could whenever they could, bringing new audiences to new locations in off-peak seasons.

With this change came great opportunities. The lack of loyalty meant all travelers were up for grabs, and it’s still true.

Programming can help you build back loyalty with your existing customers, but even more exciting, it is an effective way of bringing new audiences to your brand. However, programming is not defined by just classes. Rather, wellness has become a way of being in relationships with guests before, during, and after her stay.

Wondering how your brand can capitalize on it?

EXPANDING YOUR DEFINITION OF WELLNESS PROGRAMMING

MORE DIVERSIFIED – AND EXTREME – WELLNESS

Like in any growth industry, wellness travel is diversifying with new “products” and new audiences. Most of the 2023 trend articles I read focused on all the new types of programming topics.

Because the basic tools of wellness - yoga, meditation, breathwork, self-care – are by their very nature tools of evolution, it makes sense that after a taste of these “gateway drugs,” the wellness traveler would want the harder stuff of psychedelic retreats, ice plunges, IVs, and shamanic soul journeys.

This ever-accelerating trend is fed on both sides of the equation. On the guest side, the traveler who has already done a couple of yoga or meditation holidays wants novelty and unique experiences to take her deeper into herself.

On the hotel side, teams must brainstorm new offerings to stand out from the competition.

Whether it’s the sophisticated diagnostic tools that Aman NYC offers or extreme medical wellness, what Wundermann Thompson calls “hospital-ity,” brands are reaching far beyond wellness basics to appeal both to the sophisticated and experienced wellness traveler as well as to the journalist or magazine who is looking for something more compelling to write about than another yoga holiday. It’s a nice flywheel effect that is pushing the industry forward as early adopters demand ways to dive more deeply into their belly buttons.

But “extreme” wellness travel can be very niche. You can’t send an email to your entire email list about these travel “products” as the audiences are very narrow. They are often discovered by a hard-core fan or highly interested traveler doing her research so SEO and google AdWords can effectively find a match.

Or, as you start to do more wellness programming at your resort, ensure you have a way to tag guests by interest in your CMS so you can email a segment of your list (what Netflix calls “taste clusters” or communities of people with similar interests), with your unique offer.

EXPERTS ARE THE NEW TRAVEL INFLUENCER

As wellness travel becomes more niche (menopause retreat anyone?), thought leaders are replacing traditional travel influencers. The woman in a bikini sitting by your pool doesn’t cut it compared to an actual athlete. For example, Kerzner’s SIRO Hotel in Dubai offers fitness-focused experiential vacations. Therefore, they partnered with top athletes like professional boxer Ramla Ali and British Olympic swimmer Adam Peaty. Similarly, Canyon Ranch brought Olympic runner Jenny Simpson to their Mastering Sleep immersion. Her posts on how the program improved her sleep yield far greater authentic influence, which can help you find the right audience for your unique offering.

Finding thought leaders who are aligned with your brand values creates credibility. Because this type of influencer marketing leverages experts, hotels can take advantage of this expertise in a variety of ways.

For example, you can request articles written on property that both the hotel and the thought leader can share on their social channels, driving a richer type of engagement. Or, experts can lead in-person workshops or retreats.

When I’ve connected brands to experts like biohacker Dave Asprey or spiritual teacher Marisa Peer, their promotion of a property or event drove thousands of views to hotel posts and websites, which can be converted into list-building or bookings.

These non-traditional partnerships expand the definition of programming beyond property walls and become brand-building and audience-expanding.

PROGRAMMING DURING THE STAY: THINKING BEYOND THE SCHEDULED ACTIVITIES

Another opportunity exists in the migration of programming outside the program room. If Level 1 of wellness travel means a daily yoga or fitness class at your resort, what other parts of the day or places on the property can be programmed with wellness?

Can you program your guest’s in-room experience?

With attribute-based shopping, room attributes can become programming. For example, could your room come with a mini-fitness studio? This can be a valuable option for a business traveler who doesn’t have time to work around a gym schedule. Or Is your mini bar a holistic pharmacy or CBD dispensary?

Canyon Ranch has a popular pillow library. Or what about leaving a CBD-infused sleep patch on the pillow as part of your turn-down service? Can you leave a new bestselling book on a nightstand? Or a journal that all guests staying in that room add to? What about a QR code printed onto the bathroom mirror with a link to a Yoga Nidra audio meditation they can listen to if they’re having trouble sleeping?

As you look at each step of your guests’ stay, you can transform each moment from a transaction into an experience.

These small touches engage your guest with your values and, by layering wellness into surprising corners of their stay, create an element of delight and surprise that will help your guest better remember her stay. Research from the Princeton Neuroscience Institute has shown that surprises, unexpected experiences, and novelty can help people remember better.

BONUS: PROGRAMMING POST-STAY

Many of us in wellness travel think a lot about extending our traveler's wellness experience after their stay as well. Are there ways you can help your guests savor their stay after they leave? Can you create an opt-in tool that would randomly send your guest a photo of their fantastic peak experience six months later?

At Canyon Ranch, our telehealth program has been a way to provide ongoing health and wellness coaching and accountability for people after they leave. A weekly call with a Canyon Ranch coach helps our guests stay on track. It also keeps the brand in mind when planning their next trip.

There are many ways to become a trusted friend to your guest post-stay beyond telehealth options. Valuable content related to her interests is one way. Can every guest receive a personalized bundle of content at check-out – meditations and inspirational talks – that she can listen to on her flight or car ride home?

CONCLUSION

I watched Studio 54: The Documentary recently on Netflix. It was the first nightclub to use a set designer to design a club interior. It brought a level of theatricality that heightened the experience.

Our hotels are also sets, and our guests are the heroes in their own stories. We’re here to help them feel things they may not feel in their daily lives – awe, rest, being cared for, passion, excitement, and curiosity. Programming is the delivery system for manifesting these feelings.

Remembering that any moment can be programmed, from how someone checks in to the drive to the airport after the stay, can help your hotel or resort expand its definitions of wellness programming, deliver greater impact, and help your brand become more memorable.

There’s great competition and less attention span. Everyone wants the shiny, new thing. If you’re not launching unique hotels every week, how do you make your tried and true shiny and new? Only with the power of transformational experiences because it’s our jobs in hospitality to craft time and space into fantastic experiences and lifelong memories. It’s never just a stay.

It’s self-love.

It’s a reminder that I’m more than my job.

It’s a way of loving my kids.

It’s building bridges.

It’s freedom and adventure. 

(100% written by a human.)