The $900 Billion Wellness Tourism Trade - and What Luxury Hotels Are Really Selling Now

Welcome to the Experience Strategy Podcast with Dave Norton, Joe Pine, and me, Aranza Savas. Today, we're going to talk about a recent article from Forbes. The title is, Wellness Tourism Could Topped 900 Billion in 2030. And it's a good idea.

luxury hotels are racing to keep up. I highlight 12 luxury hotels that are leading the luxury travel shift through, and this is important for our purposes, immersive white lotus style wellness programming, longevity driven design, and destination spa experiences. I mean, it's a lot of, you know, luxury architecture porn in this article. So if that's your thing, you should definitely read this.

I want to go to all of these places now. So sold. Thanks for influencing me, Forbes. Beyond that, though, to our point here on the Experience Strategy Podcast, I think there are a few things we really need to talk about.

Number one is luxury, which we've talked about a lot on this show. Number two is what the immersive aspects are and how important that is. Number three, the influence of the media. They talk about these being influenced by white lotus style wellness programming.

And we think about the power of media to influence behavior and change. So I think that's super interesting. We should touch on longevity driven design. And then this last one, destination spa experiences, the thing that jumped out to me most of all, as I read this article, was how location specific the offerings were.

And so really, I don't think what the article was about, but for me, the key takeaway in this trend is that these top destinations are the ones that are leveraging their authentic environments and repositioning those as a wellness solution. And so if you're in Sedona, it is all about the healing rituals. If you're in Greece, it's about the water, which seems a little bit obvious, but it really feels like they are telling a story here that says, we immerse you in a film, in a script that is an aspirational lifestyle, both in terms of luxury, but also a place where you can imagine yourself living out the fantastical experiences that you've seen on Netflix.

The fact that that now is valued at close to $900 billion or on its way to $900 billion, I think, again, we did a couple of weeks ago, we talked about YouTube and how it's really changing how people think about media and entertainment. And I think this is the next piece of that story. So yeah, the YouTubers are going to make some money, but who else are they going to make money for? And where are we going to spend because of the stories we are told to buy through media?

Joe, I'll pass it to you. You're nodding along enthusiastically. The one surprise when I look through all those hotels, actually, you talk about the authenticity of place was the aria hotel in lat vegas which i think which i think the place is we will keep you so pampered you won't want to go outside in 100 degree heat in the summer so stay here but if it's so nice will you really want to go down and spend your money and yeah i don't know well i guess it's for the person who isn't the gambler maybe to keep them distracted i gotta be honest i've been to the aria hotel it didn't do it for me no well i also I wasn't on the wellness floor and I wasn't there recently.

That's true. Because I think what they're saying too, and this is probably one of the things to note, is that a lot of these places are reimagining their services to be both more luxurious and more focused on wellness. So it's a different destination than it was when we were there. So on the last podcast, we went back in history.

So I'm going to take you back in history again, right? After the Experience Academy came out. We need a special sound effect for this guy. Right.

2000, 2001, 2002, I worked with MGM in Las Vegas and did a lot of work with them. And one of the things I told them was that there will come a day, right? It might be 15 20 years but there will come a day when you will make more money off of the non experiences that you staged and you will off the gaming And they were like ah you crazy right And I said and then a day after that will come where you make more profit not just revenue off of them And that day is here. And it was actually, it took, it was before 2010 that the line switched.

They made more money off of non-experiences, right? Because of the rise of the experience economy, because it is the experience capital of the world. today they they i haven't seen this number but i but i i'll guarantee you they make more profit off of non-gaming experiences a hotel too so arancis to your point they don't care if you go to the spa instead of gaming anymore there's so much profit there's so much uh in that spa that the average per minute right the money value of time as we called it in the 2020 uh re-release of the experience economy is measure your money value time and it's higher for the spa than it is for for gaming, you know, that they're getting.

So, and obviously this is also part and parcel of the trend towards the transformation economy, that it's not just about the memorable experiences or meaningful experiences or the transporting experiences. And what you're saying, Arancis, is a lot of these places, you know, the Greek ocean and the rock and was another one, the rock and desert and others, right? These are all inducing places. These are not just memorable and meaningful.

These are transporting experiences. And within those, you can then have these transformative experiences of going through this and going on a wellness journey. Or often it's you're already on this wellness journey and you're going on vacation and you're going to use this to take the next step on that journey. The hotel and spa is almost like a chrysalis between what you were before and what you're going to become.

And they're helping you do that. And if you think of your place as a chrysalis, whatever it is, then there's so much value in thinking about how you help people on their journey. I first came up with that idea at a third place summit in Rotterdam in January, where all these third places, surprisingly, a lot of them were libraries. But the libraries consider themselves third places as well.

And I told them that this is what you need to do is think of yourself as a chrysalis. Everyone coming through there is on a journey. and how do you help them reflect and push them forward to the next part of the journey. And when you're actually providing the daily fitness regimens, the longevity and the energy programs, the luxury skincare, all the anti-aging supplements, doing the spas and massages, you can just do a tremendous push forward on those wellness journeys.

Well, and I think the longevity piece of this is especially relevant, right? Because a lot of these other things like a massage, you know, in our research with people in terms of their definition of transformation, we came to understand that it was less expansive than we might have initially thought. That they really were looking for that sustained impact and something more profound than a massage or a facial could ever give them. But longevity, that's true transformation.

Right. And so I think that, and I kind of think that this like ability to step into imaginary worlds is creating an impression of transformation, even if it's not actually delivering transformation. So I think that's kind of interesting. You know, it's fascinating to think about what transformation means.

high-end, elite, luxury transformation. What does that mean? You're going to live years longer. You're going to be stronger.

You're going to be more in balance. You'll be more healthy in the years that you live is one of the key things. Yeah, right? That's a fascinating...

Yeah, well, I think all of that is... And how much money you spend on the longevity. Irrelevant, irrelevant. You can't logic emotion, Joe.

But I think that that's a fascinating kind of thing to take a look at because it is kind of that convergence of things like GLP-1s and biometrics and prevention and hormone optimization. Or in fitness tracking. All of these different tools. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. That's one ugly trick. It looks maxing. Ugly, ugly trick.

Yeah. Yeah. I love it when we interrupt ourselves with a different episode we wanted. But you've got all of these different things that are kind of converging at the same time and creating this luxury experience.

You know, luxury used to be about exclusivity. Only a few people could participate. And maybe to a certain degree that still the case certainly the cost is prohibitive for some people But what I understanding now is it not like who has the biggest diamond It's not like who has the nicest car. It's like, who can go to Greece and enjoy the waters of Greece, really feel the blue that's associated with everything Greece, and eat the food and walk away with their sleep better, their biometrics better, fully prepared for the next wonderful experience that they're going to have.

And like really when you present it that way, just like sit with it for a second. I think it makes so much sense that we're willing to spend so much more on that. Yeah. Because it is lasting.

It is. It's an actual transformation instead of just a temporary visit to a destination. Yeah. It's a fascinating thing.

It's a much bigger promise and it holds much higher value, which is the whole premise of the transformation book. It's interesting that the number one thing we think that you could do to make the value increase is cost free. And that's just a little bit of reflection. So like you give them all of these, you do the biometrics, you do the prevention, you do the hormone optimization, do all of that right there in Greece.

but you got to get them to reflect which is cost nothing but if you do it it makes all the difference right remember we were at the arrival uh travel uh event last september in dc right and working on that we came up the idea that that the understanding rather that reflection automatically and retroactively increases the value of the experience right if you just get people to reflect on it, to understand what the highlights of it were, then it cements those memories in it. It understands the impact it's having on you now, which then helps you cement your aspirations and what you're trying to become.

And then think about what the possibilities are in the future, which include, man, I got to do this again. And I got to tell my friends about it and so forth. So you're increasing the value of getting your guests, I'll say, and your aspirants to reflect. It's one of the number one things that experienced stagers don't do today that should be good did you guys watch white lotus no i've watched a couple of i've watched a couple of episodes i've seen the whole season one so most recent series really focuses on the power of the guide both for for good and bad right so you're gonna say don't people die in this thing i thought that's yeah yeah yeah that's part of the thing but not from the treatments right the guides right like and there's all there's always guides so in every season um and so like in this most recent season there is a guide um who is a destructive force but there also are guides which are highly productive forces and you actually see as a part of this imagined landscape you see what it might be like to actually have essentially a therapist with you on your holiday that's crazy um it does sound crazy and yet it's actually sort of beautiful and they kind of demonstrate how intimate this relationship can be in this sort of transformative setting right you have a character on a hero's journey on a mission and you have this guide there to both counter their base influences uh and to inspire their there are better choices and sometimes that goes well and sometimes it doesn't but i actually think um for folks who are trying to understand this the potential of the transformation economy i think it's a pretty interesting way to to start imagining and envisioning what's possible did you say it's on netflix i think it's netflix it's an ex i think it's hulu isn't it i think it's I thought one of the reasons I didn't watch it was Ron Sunmel.

I couldn't tell you. There is, for me, no differentiation between the streaming platforms. So that's the next episode, too. Yeah, we're going to do that.

But a little piece of, a little factoid for you. The creator of White Lotus, do you know what he does for his transformational experiences? he's a survivor person he's been on survivor multiple years this year he's he got voted out awfully early but uh but uh i'm blanking on his name right now yeah i am too i've read a lot of stuff with him he kooky dude yeah yeah he on survivor and so that the exact opposite right You are in hospitality and I sure there other situations including third places in that Think about also then taking the next step, Arancis.

You talked about the power of the guide. So reflection is the third step of this encapsulation, as I call it in Chapter 4 of the Experience Economy. The number one model for experience stagers to become transformation guiders. And it starts with preparation, which some people, academics call pre-flexion, right?

So do the pre-flexion before the experience. Then you have, that sets them up, primes them for it. Then you have the experience, then you do that reflection. And then the final step is integration, right?

Which is after they leave your place, how do you still help them integrate them into your, you know, this experience into your life? And I read an article, I think Wall Street Journal, but maybe someplace else sort of last fall, that talked about several hotel, luxury hotel destinations that had integration therapists, right, that specifically to help you with integration on transformations that you're undergoing elsewhere and there. And it's just like, you know, it's the next step to be able to add that part, not just a reflection part to your experience.

yeah i've heard about that a lot with like ketamine therapies and plant medicine that people are using integration therapist for that but i hadn't heard about it other ship in i don't remember it's in brooklyn yeah yeah yeah and first in toronto right i mentioned them in the book because that's one of things they do as well is that people go in an ayahuasca thing and you come here no drugs in here but we can help you integrate whatever it was that you experienced out there in in the desert and have it actually make a difference in your lives.

Really smart. Love it. Love it. So you guys, I have updates on the personal end.

My daughter has chosen a college. Ooh. And every time somebody asks her what she wants to do when she grows up, she says, I want to start a third space for creative young people. Great.

Wow. So there you go. She takes after her mother just a little bit. I swear I had no influence.

Right. Sure. I really didn't. It was someone who created third spaces that influenced her.

And she had no idea that I had anything to do with anything similar to that. You don't have to name the place, but where is it? Oh, I'll name the place. It's great.

She's going to Ithaca. It's huge. Ithaca. Okay.

In New York. Ithaca. It's beyond the East Coast then. Yes.

I'm really glad she had planned to go. So Pacific Northwest and before that, talking about Ireland and Scotland. So the fact that it's a four hour drive is a real relief. I don't know.

Like, who are we with one of the members of our family missing? I'm going to need some integration therapy. It's a new family identity. It absolutely will be.

I guarantee you. When our oldest Becca was a senior in high school, she became really like the worst person you wanted to hang around. And my wife, Julie, always thought she was like her way of separating. Right.

Was that to create this separation because she was she was shy and so forth. And we told her she couldn't go more than four and a half hours away, you know, because we had to be able to come and get her should something happen. And it really changed her. And she actually went and said, I'm going to my words transform into not being so shy.

Right. And she did that and it was effective and it was wonderful. But by the end of that senior year, we were happy to see her go. It is interesting watching that progression happen.

This, like, actual separation. It's like you can almost see it happening. She's already started packing. Oh, really?

For September? We're over. Yeah. Yeah.

She's ignoring her wardrobe. The apple has not fallen that far. let's be honest let's be honest i see a lot of rancis in this story so i'm flattered i really like her a lot um thanks guys it was really good to see you for those of you listening um i i hope you fast forwarded through that or it was interesting to you okay and if you have kids going to college reach out because i i need a support group start to support um uh if there's a topic you haven't heard us talk about that you wish we would talk about, tell us.

Because we're really interested in talking about what you're interested in. So find us over on Substack. I think by now, hopefully you know where to find us. The Experience Strategy Substack is the easiest way to connect with all three of us.

Reach out there. Let us know what you're reading. And then we'll talk about it. And then we can all talk about it.