A question that guides our approach when the two of us are working with hotel owners and executives to achieve their financial goals is: What’s your property’s reason to visit? Traditionally, this has been a feeling or a desired emotional outcome, while more recently centralized and structured data from across the guest journey can allow a hotel or brand to quantity this reason to visit in order to use data to guide operational improvements or capex. The acronym for this that we are promulgating is R2V.
While for many hotels, R2V is locked into an optimized mix of location, price and chain or association distribution, for the luxury, boutique, design and resort properties it can be much, much more and act as a north star for punctuated growth in ADR, ancillaries, loyalty and earned media. This is a hotel’s raison d’etre or completing the sentence from the guest’s perspective, “I’m willing to pay more for this particular hotel because…”
Not really anything revolutionary of a concept, this R2V can be the cuisine, a historic building conversion, flawless service, activities, the spa or something fun. Another way of looking at this is through the lens of ‘peak experiences’ which are those that are truly one-of-a-kind and highly memorable, often bordering on transformational – that is, eliciting a new perspective on life or change in one’s regular habits.
Peak experiences are often awe-inducing, like visiting Zion National Park for the first time, beyond relaxing, like taking a full day away from the computer (digital detox) to laze about a secluded beach, delightful on the tastebuds, like experiencing a Michelin omakase menu for the first time, or having the hotel curate a guided tour of a famed nearby attraction. Peak experiences can also be more intimate, such as having truly bespoke, luxury service and knowing that the hotel team is a genuine host that cares.
Above all, peak experiences are rare (or exclusive), personal (or private), geographically specific and difficult to coordinate. They are also important for how our brains store memories, and thus play a role in fostering positive mood and wellbeing. With the right mindfulness or reflective attitude, peak experiences are indeed 100% wellness.
Hence, the design of peak experiences at hotels and the operations that sustain them are a central facet of hotel wellness programming, with the blend of both these disciplines acting as a prime arena for crafting a unique property identity and R2V.
Dare we introduce yet another term here but perhaps this merger requires that we use the phrase ‘peak wellness’ in order to differentiate its methodology from other wellness areas like traditional spa (facials and body treatments), thermal bathing (saunas, steam, cold plunges), yoga, nutritional programs and so on.
Yet this distinction is hardly that clearcut because peak experiences bring together or remix different schools of thought for wellness with an idyllic location or exceptional activity.
Examples abound to help you grasp what can be done:
- During the summer, the Fairmont Banff Springs has set up outdoor yoga classes on its deck next to its thermal bathing facilities so that people can participate in a group class with the wondrous Rocky Mountains in all directions
- Viceroy at Ombria Algarve in Portugal not only sources local honey for tastings – a food renowned for its health benefits in small doses – but lets guests be beekeepers for a day by suiting up at a nearby apiary to learn about how honey is produced
- The Dolomites in Northern Italy are now littered with beautiful alpine resorts, most having their own Finnish cedar sauna with panoramic windows facing out onto the mountains; to give one incredible example of a property that’s transformed its thermal spa into a destination all its own, look up Hotel Hubertus with its cantilevered heaven (openair whirlpools above) and hell (saunas below) layout
- Over in the Austrian Alps, there’s Lanserhof Lans, the first luxury health clinic for this brand where guests undergo a weeklong guided fasting and detox protocol, allowing them to reflect on their connection to food and be mindful of their eating habits
- To mention a stellar urban property, check out the Andaz Mexico City Condesa that has created a dynamic fitness and yoga class schedule with equal attendance by locals and travelers so that newcomers to the city can have the peak experience of actually meeting and connecting with someone from the surrounding community
- In the domain of alcoholic beverages, there’s perhaps no better case study than the Raffles Singapore where the Singapore Sling was proudly invented at the energetic Long Bar which has lineups starting at 11am – and yes, one can argue that even having a cocktail when in such a fantastical, historic location and enjoyed with good company is also wellness!
- Last here and embracing its Bahamian roots, the Rosewood Baha Mar has conch culinary classes where guests learn how to sustainably prepare this local delicacy, followed by meals where people can taste this seafood in five different styles
Yes, these are luxury experiences, but the point is that every hotel can and should learn from the beautiful programs that are being created by hoteliers in this category. By developing its R2V – whether accomplished through the design of peak experiences or otherwise – a hotel can differentiate itself from the herd of accommodation options near and far to generate better returns for ownership.
While some may believe that being in the mountains or next to a beach is enough, more is still needed to not make a property interchangeable with other mountainous or beachfront locations. Peak wellness offers a path towards achieving this by combining the best of what you have (beach, mountains, lake, downtown) with other activities or experiences that help to heal the body or create unique memories to restore the soul. There are innumerable ways to go about this, and that’s why hospitality is such an dynamic industry right now.
