The bad news for spa managers and operators starts with this slap in the face: you don’t know your competition.
That’s because research shows that the spa product on offer at most destination spas and also the high-end hotel amenity day spas just isn’t what millennials want.
It may not even be what Gen X and Boomers want anymore.
Pampering as an end is no longer good enough. It just isn’t. And yet that is what most spas persist in trying to market.
Find this research in a landmark, provocative presentation by Well + Good founders Alexia Brue and Melisse Gelula at the Global Wellness Summit in October. Their PowerPoint is based on the company’s own research and it’s a powerful wake-up call for spa managers.
Personally I have been involved in destination spas for 15 years, essentially since the industry’s beginnings, and I have worked with clients on multiple continents. From that vantage I can say I largely agree with Brue and Gelula. And what they are saying boils down to a bold assertion that we are missing the mark with millennials who of course are the next wave of high-end travelers.
Here’s good news: 66% of millennials say they are planning to go on a wellness retreat in the next 12 months. That’s two in three. That’s a huge potential.
