Luxury hospitality and wellness pioneer Jeremy McCarthy has launched Leisure Alchemy, a digital platform that will provide professionals with strategic guidance on how to build transformational leisure experiences that drive profit.

McCarthy has more than three decades of experience in the wellness and leisure industries and an academic background in applied positive psychology. 

In August last year, McCarthy left his role at Mandarin Oriental as group director of spa, leisure and wellness, a position that he had held for 11 years. He has also held senior roles at Starwood Hotels and Four Seasons.

Leisure Alchemy

The platform’s name represents its goal – to convert free time into transformational experiences (leisure) while acknowledging the complex business reality of making a profit. Content will address the key ingredients required (alchemy) – such as creativity, strategic thinking and understanding human psychology.

Leisure Alchemy is designed for C-suite executives, entrepreneurs and thought leaders across the leisure economy – including resort general managers, spa directors, private equity stakeholders and founders of specialised leisure and wellness concepts.

McCarthy told Spa Business: "The hospitality industry is evolving and is on a quest to provide more meaningful leisure experiences for consumers whose time is their most precious commodity. It took a long time for operating brands to embrace spa and now it's a cornerstone of hospitality businesses. The industry expanded when it turned to wellness after seeing how spa engaged customers and attracted an affluent clientele – giving guests a reason to stay longer at hotels. More recently, longevity has become the focus and operators are looking for new ways to deliver transformational experiences. The Leisure Alchemy platform is an exploration of these ideas, including the science behind how people choose to spend their free time and how businesses can tap into that to build their business strategy.”

The platform’s content is organised into five areas:

• Philosophy and culture – the why
• Science and psychology – the how
• Business and strategy – the bottom line
• Innovation and design – what’s next
• Destinations and communities – the where

Subscribers will receive a weekly briefing called The Leisure Roundup, which will be delivered to subscribers in the form of a peer-to-peer conversation about how human behaviour drives leisure experiences and how to monetise them. This weekly report will highlight the biggest news, trends and innovations shaping the leisure, wellness and hospitality sectors.

Emerging leisure trends McCarthy expects to focus on include those affecting senior living, residential wellness, intergenerational travel and family programming experiences.

The platform will also provide a monthly deep-dive essay called The Alchemist's Notes on a topic at the intersection of leisure, science and business strategy. This will be written from the perspective of a seasoned operator.

McCarthy continued: “We're at a critical inflection point where innovation and AI give us a unique opportunity to dramatically expand human discretionary time. Our vision is to empower people to enrich their free time with experiences that are genuinely meaningful, fulfilling and even transformational. Leisure Alchemy strives to be the intelligence layer for the leisure, wellness and hospitality leaders building that future.”

Jeremy McCarthy is a columnist in Spa Business magazine. Read more here.

Learn more about Leisure Alchemy here.