You don’t have to cast your mind too far back to remember hotel gyms that typically consisted of an ageing treadmill or two in the corner of a small room, perhaps accompanied by a Swiss ball and a few dumbbells. It was always a bit of a token gesture, wasn’t it, the hotel gym? A tick in the box for those guests who really wanted to work out, but nothing to write home about. Nothing that added any real value to the hotel brand. Certainly nothing stood out as experience guests would remember and actively choose to stay at the hotel again.
But all that has now changed, and guests’ expectations are more than keeping pace.
Even pre-pandemic, with the renewed focus this brought to health and wellbeing, wellness tourism was on the rise, while the vast majority of business travellers were already considering the gyms and wellbeing activities on offer before selecting a hotel (83% according to travel management company CWT).
Back in 2019, in a wellbeing report by hotel group Accor, Emlyn Brown – now the Accor’s Global VP of
Wellbeing – observed: “The data shows that how well we meet [guests’] wellness needs influences how ‘delighted’ they feel about their hotel stay, and how likely they are to return.”
“No longer a trend, no longer an option. No longer a commitment just at home, or in waking hours; wellness is the standard our guests have come to expect,” added François Dung, Accor’s Senior VP Consumer & Market Insights, in a second foreword in that same report. Accor is a global hotel operator and franchisor. They operate more than 2,200 luxury and economy hotels and more than 3,000 franchise hotels.
Fast-forward to today and wellness is at the centre of almost every hotel and hospitality conversation: we’re seeing operators around the world investing significant sums in fitness and wellbeing facilities that deliver the experiences travelers are now looking for – namely, experiences that are at least as good as the ones they’re used to back home.
Nowadays, a high-quality fitness and wellbeing offering is the price of entry, a competitive necessity. It takes a world-class offering to set your brand apart in consumers’ minds – and drive revenues in the process, with guests willing to pay more for a hotel that meets their wellbeing needs.
So, where do you start?
In-Room Fitness
Of course, in a world in which fitness and wellbeing has to be 24/7, the model remains a self-service one for the majority of hotels – all of which plays strongly into the hands of digital provision, not only in the gym spaces themselves but also in-room and on-the-go.
Let’s start with in-room and an observation that a number of hotel brands now provide a small selection of fitness equipment in their guestrooms, alongside on-demand workout and wellbeing content via an app or in-room TV.
It isn’t hard to do, either, because you don’t have to start from scratch in creating all this technology – or even the content. You just have to choose the right partner, and this is where we specialise.
Let’s start with the Wexer Web Player, a white labelled digital platform that offers 1,500+ on-demand classes spanning everything from meditation, yoga and stretching to HIIT, strength, dance, indoor cycling… The list goes on. One of our global content partners, Sweat Factor, has even created a Self Care series comprising audio-only guides – guided meditations, walks and movement – with many of the sessions suitable for guests to do while they’re out enjoying your grounds, or perhaps on their way to a business meeting.
Notably, the Web Player also features a section called Connect, where your hotel can upload any fitness or wellness content you’ve created yourself. This represents a great opportunity to create a wellness USP for your hotel brand, but crucially, this signature content is made available to guests on the same white labelled platform as all the third-party content. This ensures there’s something for every guest, no matter what their fitness and wellbeing requirements, all within one branded space that you can own, ringfence for guests only – and monetise, should you wish.
Alternatively, if you already have your own app – or indeed smart TV or other smart technology – our Wexer SDK and Wexer API solutions allow you to cherry pick from our globally aggregated and constantly refreshed content, flowing it into your own digital ecosystem for guaranteed strength in depth of wellbeing and workout content at all times, all within your existing guest experience.
Whether in-room or on-the-go, our technology and content ensure the hotel wellness offering delivers what your guests’ want and fulfill their wellness needs.
Virtual Group Classes
Meanwhile, if you’re looking to bring a new dimension to the fitness experience in your hotel gym itself, there’s Wexer Virtual – the market-leading, big screen virtual class solution that’s perfectly suited to either a dedicated group exercise studio or a group fitness space on the gym floor.
Once again, with 1,500+ classes from which to choose, there’s a world-class workout waiting for every guest, at any time of day. And with the newly launched Virtual Connect, you can now upload your self-produced content into the platform too, allowing you to complement the exceptional workout content from Wexer’s global partners with any signature wellbeing content you feel your guests would enjoy in the communal fitness space – in the process even further enhancing their brand experience with you.
And it’s all delivered via Wexer’s incredibly robust, reliable platform. Commercial grade; built, supported, monitored and constantly enhanced by us; and boasting an unparalleled 99.9% uptime, this is the system you need if you want to offer 24/7 fitness and wellbeing in total peace of mind.
Find out how Wexer can enhance the your hotel wellness offering at your hotel, contact us at laura.phillips@wexer.com