Mandarin Oriental has extended its employee Inner Strength – Outer Strength wellness initiative to guests across its 28 global spas. The concept is designed to help spa-goers to use this time of disruption to create positive changes and build strength both physically and mentally.
“The adversity in 2020 has led all of us to re-prioritise personal wellness,” says Jeremy McCarthy, group director of spa and wellness. “Developing our strength reserves during times of uncertainty is crucial when it comes to to avoiding illness, managing stress and enabling us to better support others.”
Through this initiative, hotel and spa guests can focus on developing their own inner strength by taking time for silence, contemplation and mindfulness, while building outer strength through boosting physical vitality with exercise, movement and healthy food.
Mandarin Oriental originally launched the programme in June 2020 as a four-week mental wellness programme to support staff returning to its reopened hotel and spa destinations. The new guest version sees properties tailoring the packages according to their own specialities and guests needs.
Select sites have tapped into the brand’s long-standing partnership with Aromatherapy Associates and is using its Inner Strength essential oil blend to anchor this new programming.
Geraldine Howard, the late co-founder of Aromatherapy Associates, originally created Inner Strength oil to bring her comfort when fighting cancer. The two companies previously collaborated to produce a signature treatment using the oil which McCarthy says is now a part of the new mental wellness packages.
Inner Strength – Outer Strength examples • Mandarin Oriental, Macau, is featuring the Inner Strength spa treatment by Aromatherapy Associates, combined with a variety of fitness classes, including yoga and personal training
• Mandarin Oriental, Marrakech is running workshops on essential oils along with complimentary fitness assessments with its certified coach
• Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok is pairing advanced yoga nidra techniques such as pranayama and mantra chanting with intense fitness activities, including guided runs and boot camps
• Mandarin Oriental, Milan is presenting yoga and singing bowl sessions along with private aqua gym and stretching classes
• Mandarin Oriental, Canouan is offering yoga and guided meditation plus outdoor activities such as kayaking and hiking.
Remote access Exercises, reading recommendations and advice are also available to support guests unable to reach Mandarin Oriental destinations. This service uses virtual assessments to help people understand which of their inner and outer strength areas need improvement. Possible inner strength areas to focus on include mindfulness, character strength, gratitude, resilience and willpower. Outer strength options feature muscular strength, mobility, power, endurance and breathwork.
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
View contents of Spa Business 2021 issue 1
Editor's letter: Healing the world
With the impact of COVID-19 affecting millions of people globally, spas have a special role to play in the recovery movement
Spa Programmes: On the menu
Healing heartache retreats at Chablé Mexico and Czech spas using mineral water to treat long COVID feature in our latest programming highlights
Programming: Kevin Kelly
Four Seasons’ Sensei retreat in Hawaii taps into wearable tech and biometric data
Programming: Jeremy McCarthy
Mandarin Oriental rolls out it Inner Strength Outer Strength mental wellness course to guests
Interview: Emlyn Brown
Accor’s global vice-president of wellbeing talks to Katie Barnes about business strategies following COVID
Everyone’s talking about: Local markets
How are spas adapting their business model to attract locals? And what happens when international tourists return? Spa Business magazine reports
Trends: Spa Foresight™ 20/21
Touch hunger, lung health, resilience and COVID cool spots all feature in future predictions from the Spa Business team
Sponsored: G.M. COLLIN: New partnerships
Skincare brand GM Collin is
re-energising its sales network and looking
for new distributors from across the globe
to drive its business network
Insight: Hindsight 2020
Mia Kyricos looks at the harsh lessons that spas can learn from the last year
Analysis: On your marks
Analyst Jan Freitag suggests a timescale for global hotel recovery and hotel spas
Research: Eyes on Ireland
An Irish Spa Association snapshot survey shows the impact of COVID on spas across country
Promotion: Artofcryo.com: Chill factor
Artofcryo.com provides evidence-based whole body cryotherapy solutions,
offering effective solutions for guests and an attractive ROI for investors
Fitness: Harley Pasternak
The celebrity trainer and nutritionist shares his vision of fitness and health in the age of coronavirus
Promotion: Iyashi Dôme: Optimal solution
Iyashi Dôme Japanese saunas offer a versatile treatment solution for spas searching for quality touchless treatments backed by science and Japanese technology
Finishing touch: Watch out
UK researchers launch a new study to explore how digital nature experiences can be good for us
Mandarin Oriental has extended its employee Inner Strength – Outer Strength wellness initiative to guests across its 28 global spas. The concept is designed to help spa-goers to use this time of disruption to create positive changes and build strength both physically and mentally.
“The adversity in 2020 has led all of us to re-prioritise personal wellness,” says Jeremy McCarthy, group director of spa and wellness. “Developing our strength reserves during times of uncertainty is crucial when it comes to to avoiding illness, managing stress and enabling us to better support others.”
Through this initiative, hotel and spa guests can focus on developing their own inner strength by taking time for silence, contemplation and mindfulness, while building outer strength through boosting physical vitality with exercise, movement and healthy food.
Mandarin Oriental originally launched the programme in June 2020 as a four-week mental wellness programme to support staff returning to its reopened hotel and spa destinations. The new guest version sees properties tailoring the packages according to their own specialities and guests needs.
Select sites have tapped into the brand’s long-standing partnership with Aromatherapy Associates and is using its Inner Strength essential oil blend to anchor this new programming.
Geraldine Howard, the late co-founder of Aromatherapy Associates, originally created Inner Strength oil to bring her comfort when fighting cancer. The two companies previously collaborated to produce a signature treatment using the oil which McCarthy says is now a part of the new mental wellness packages.
Inner Strength – Outer Strength examples • Mandarin Oriental, Macau, is featuring the Inner Strength spa treatment by Aromatherapy Associates, combined with a variety of fitness classes, including yoga and personal training
• Mandarin Oriental, Marrakech is running workshops on essential oils along with complimentary fitness assessments with its certified coach
• Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok is pairing advanced yoga nidra techniques such as pranayama and mantra chanting with intense fitness activities, including guided runs and boot camps
• Mandarin Oriental, Milan is presenting yoga and singing bowl sessions along with private aqua gym and stretching classes
• Mandarin Oriental, Canouan is offering yoga and guided meditation plus outdoor activities such as kayaking and hiking.
Remote access Exercises, reading recommendations and advice are also available to support guests unable to reach Mandarin Oriental destinations. This service uses virtual assessments to help people understand which of their inner and outer strength areas need improvement. Possible inner strength areas to focus on include mindfulness, character strength, gratitude, resilience and willpower. Outer strength options feature muscular strength, mobility, power, endurance and breathwork.
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
View contents of Spa Business 2021 issue 1
Editor's letter: Healing the world
With the impact of COVID-19 affecting millions of people globally, spas have a special role to play in the recovery movement
Spa Programmes: On the menu
Healing heartache retreats at Chablé Mexico and Czech spas using mineral water to treat long COVID feature in our latest programming highlights
Programming: Kevin Kelly
Four Seasons’ Sensei retreat in Hawaii taps into wearable tech and biometric data
Programming: Jeremy McCarthy
Mandarin Oriental rolls out it Inner Strength Outer Strength mental wellness course to guests
Interview: Emlyn Brown
Accor’s global vice-president of wellbeing talks to Katie Barnes about business strategies following COVID
Everyone’s talking about: Local markets
How are spas adapting their business model to attract locals? And what happens when international tourists return? Spa Business magazine reports
Trends: Spa Foresight™ 20/21
Touch hunger, lung health, resilience and COVID cool spots all feature in future predictions from the Spa Business team
Sponsored: G.M. COLLIN: New partnerships
Skincare brand GM Collin is
re-energising its sales network and looking
for new distributors from across the globe
to drive its business network
Insight: Hindsight 2020
Mia Kyricos looks at the harsh lessons that spas can learn from the last year
Analysis: On your marks
Analyst Jan Freitag suggests a timescale for global hotel recovery and hotel spas
Research: Eyes on Ireland
An Irish Spa Association snapshot survey shows the impact of COVID on spas across country
Promotion: Artofcryo.com: Chill factor
Artofcryo.com provides evidence-based whole body cryotherapy solutions,
offering effective solutions for guests and an attractive ROI for investors
Fitness: Harley Pasternak
The celebrity trainer and nutritionist shares his vision of fitness and health in the age of coronavirus
Promotion: Iyashi Dôme: Optimal solution
Iyashi Dôme Japanese saunas offer a versatile treatment solution for spas searching for quality touchless treatments backed by science and Japanese technology
Finishing touch: Watch out
UK researchers launch a new study to explore how digital nature experiences can be good for us
People taking GLP-1 weight loss medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound
may be losing weight, but they’re also becoming less physically active, according to new
research presented at the ENDO 2026 annual meeting of the Endocrine Society
Abu Dhabi-based investment firm Mubadala Capital has made a binding, fully financed
€1 billion
offer to acquire Pierre and Vacances SA, the European holiday resort operator behind the
continental European Center Parcs business.
Global retreat trade show, Synergy The Retreat Show, has launched a resource called The
Source, which hosts an open-access online Transformation Series programme.
The Standards Authority for Touch in Cancer Care (SATCC) charity has announced its first five-
day Living with Cancer and Beyond retreat, which will be held at Carden Park Hotel and Spa in
Cheshire, UK, between 1 and 5 September.
Patmos Aktis, a Luxury Collection Resort and Spa, has opened in Greece, with a renovated and
rebranded wellness offering called Ansana Wellness and Spa.
The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, an Autograph Collection property in Hawaii, US, has opened its
22,000 sq ft indoor-outdoor Spa at Mauna Kea as the final step in the property’s overall
renovation, which has cost more than US$180 million (€166 million, £140 mill
The UK spa review and discovery platform for consumers, the Good Spa Guide, has announced
it will host the Good Spa Guide Awards 2026 during an event on 16 November at Sopwell House
Hotel in St Albans, UK.
Eighty-four per cent of consumers now say wellness is a top priority in their lives, with this
percentage increasing year on year, according to a preview presentation of McKinsey’s Future of
Wellness 2026 research report.
Mass protests have been taking place since Monday 1 June in Albania over the development of
a luxury resort by Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner.
Global Wellness Day (GWD) marked its 15th anniversary on Saturday 13 June 2026, with the
theme: #JoyMagenta – a celebration of the healing qualities of simple gestures and activities
that spark joy.
