Susan Harmsworth, founder of ESPA, believes if you can’t do wellness well, then you shouldn’t do it at all.

Speaking exclusively to Spa Business, Harmsworth said that wellness can mean many things to many people, depending on the type of facility, its geographical location and the wider culture.

“It’s difficult for the consumer to differentiate between the many meanings of a word that is not clearly defined,” she said.

“Today’s consumers are educated, and their expectations are very high, so you can’t afford to play around with wellness,” she continued. “Consumer confusion is dangerous for the industry, and if you’re going to deliver a product or treatment, it has to be delivered with integrity.”

Harmsworth also feels that there’s a distinction to be made between the offering of traditional wellness destinations with doctors on staff, as opposed to the integrative wellbeing approach that’s growing within the spa industry.

She warns: “When working with complementary practitioners, it’s important to define what modalities are accepted and insurable within each country of operation.

"Every geographic area of the world is different, so before you start putting together programmes that require specific practitioners, you need to know whether those practitioners can be licensed and insured there. The higher up the medical ladder you go, the harder it is to obtain the right insurance.”

Her advice to mainstream spas looking to deliver a wellness offering is to really think about who you are, what you’re trying to do, what your commercial equation is - and ultimately, if you can’t do wellness well, don’t do it at all.