Industry figure and founder of Spa Balance Consulting Sonal Uberoi has penned a new book, named The Wellness Asset: How wellness can transform and future-proof your hotel.

The book guides readers through Uberoi’s unique Essence Methodology – a step-by-step process that shows hoteliers how to build a successful wellness offering.

The book is designed to show all hoteliers that wellness makes business sense, and no matter how urban or midscale their property is, incorporating wellness into it in a meaningful and coherent way will yield substantial dividends.

Uberoi said: “Hospitality is at a crossroads and the old business model is broken – much of the income hotels used to rely on has gone, and the hoteliers of the future know this. They aren’t sitting around waiting for the clock to turn back, they see this situation as an opportunity to strengthen their business by putting wellness at the core.

“My aim for the book is to give as many people in our industry as possible hope and a new and exciting pathway into the future – I hope I’ve been able to do my little part in shaping the future.”

The launch marks Uberoi’s second book, following her previous publication – How to Open a Smart Spa – providing a comprehensive roadmap on how to start up and operate a spa.

Spa Business spoke to Uberoi to hear her top five takeaways from The Wellness Asset:

1. Stronger together
“There is tremendous power at the intersection between hospitality and wellness, and no other convergence of two industries has such power to profoundly and positively impact people. When we thoughtfully and meaningfully consider wellness within all our guest experiences, that is when the magic happens.”

2. Wellness is the new luxury
“Wellness has become the new luxury that today’s consumers are looking to our industry to provide as they pursue a state of wellbeing that allows for a fuller human experience than traditional hospitality typically provides.

“Our guests’ needs have evolved and today’s business and leisure travellers want more than the standard hotel room, decent breakfast and beautiful facilities. Instead, guests now want experiences that are fulfilling, memorable and shareable, and that transform their overall wellbeing, even if it’s in a simple way.”

3. The importance of a hybrid model
“Our bricks-and-mortar business model no longer holds in today’s increasingly connected and digitised landscape – when the pandemic hit we were at zero revenue because our guests couldn’t physically come to our hotels or spas.

“The only way we can break out of this is by adopting a more hybrid model, focusing on prolonging the customer journey – in particular on the all-defining pre-arrival and post-departure moments – and adding value throughout their journey, instead of only focusing on when they’re visiting our facilities. An integrated wellness offering will allow us to do that - to add that value.”

4. What’s going wrong with wellness?
“The three fallacies:
– Traditional hoteliers know wellness is something they need to offer, but they haven’t quite figured out the right formula to tap into its full potential
– They struggle to define their wellness offering in a way that helps them stand out from the competition and also makes them money without a sizeable capital outlay and no return on investment
– They struggle with these areas because they’ve fallen victim to one or more of the three common fallacies around wellness in hospitality: false perceptions, false economies and false profits.

“Each of these fallacies, along with its own set of associated myths, is the result of a traditional mindset that has led hoteliers down unhelpful paths.”

5. Examples of how wellness and hospitality can thrive together
“My book also provides real-life examples of how the innovative and forward-thinking hoteliers are transforming their business by putting wellness at the core.

“This exemplifies how hoteliers have successfully used wellness as a tool to:
– Create success stories, particularly in the boutique hotel segment
– Stand out from the crowd
– Carve out a niche in an incredibly challenging location
– Boost footfall and pull in a new customer segment that is spending.”

To get full access to all detailed insights from The Wellness Asset, head to this link to buy your copy.