(hotel business) -- It’s June—and that means Hotel Business is heading to HITEC.
Both Managing Editor Nicole Carlino and Senior Editor Gregg Wallis will be there, attending sessions and walking the floor, looking for the new and noteworthy tech innovations being unveiled at the annual trade show.
This month also marks Global Wellness Day, a day to promote physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.
A number of hotels and hotel brands are celebrating which will offer complimentary educational and experiential wellness activities for both locals and guests at its properties around the globe.
Events include jogging through the streets of Paris with Four Seasons Hotel George V followed by a foot reflexology session; self-meditation and a sustainable living discussion in the Chef’s Garden at its Resort Rancho Encantando, Santa Fe; a three-day fitness retreat, boot-camp style, at Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire; and a Resident Healers Program, including yoga and sound therapy at Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown; among others.
And while wellness is being celebrated on this specific day, living well is an everyday goal. Wellness and well-being, mental and physical fitness—it’s a lifestyle—and one that more and more people are adopting.
And for more than a day and beyond home base. Guests want memorable experiences—we all know that—and these experiences are, more than ever, related to unwinding, and connecting more deeply with the destination through locally relevant programs, especially those that restore the mind, body and spirit.
Whether it’s business travelers looking to remain true to their routine and lifestyle while on the road, or it’s leisure travelers looking to enhance their journey of living well, wellness opportunities are quickly becoming the key to creating a hotel environment that captures guests and makes them want to return, in turn, creating a healthy bottom line.
And technology—although many, at first glance, think it’s counterintuitive to the idea of wellness, i.e. being unplugged—is actually the key to enhancing the performance and scope of health, fitness and even mindfulness offerings.
Technology helps us improve ways to integrate wellness strategies into our everyday lives and helps us monitor our approach and improvements. The hotel industry, while sometimes slow to adopt new technologies, is beginning to jump on board, investing in products and programs that help guests invest in their well-being.
Our cover story, which starts on page 36, explores just how wellness can not only coexist with technology but how, in fact, it can benefit from it.
