Wellness is the new luxury

European Spa meets Sonal Uberoi to discuss her new book, The Wellness Asset, designed to help hotels and resorts maximise their spa and wellness revenue

As a respected wellness expert and founder of boutique consultancy Spa Balance, Sonal Uberoi has worked with hotels across Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific to help them to tap into the full potential of their wellness offering.

Having honed her business and financial acumen while working in London for global investment firm Goldman Sachs, Sonal’s work with major hotels focuses on attracting a more discerning guest and retaining the highest quality team while increasing profitability.

Sonal Uberoi, author, The Wellness Asset

Her recently published book, The Wellness Asset, is well timed to help businesses progress following the difficulties of the last 18 months. European Spa asks for her thoughts on how to maximise a wellness offering:

What inspired you to write The Wellness Asset?

As we emerge from the pandemic, we have the opportunity to take wellness and hospitality to another level. I wanted to show hoteliers, even the most sceptical ones, that incorporating wellness services in a meaningful and coherent way can yield substantial dividends.

The Wellness Asset is available to buy now from Amazon, all good bookshops and direct from www.spa-balance.com

How can wellness services enhance hotels and resorts?

Business and leisure travellers want landmark experiences that feel can transform their overall wellbeing, even if in a simple way. This can be delivered by making wellness an integral part of the hotel’s asset ecosystem. Done well, wellness can really be a game-changer for your investors, your guests and your team members.

What are the ‘harsh truths’ you feel operators must face now?

Firstly, no matter how great your facilities are, the most important piece of the puzzle is you! Also, there is no one treatment or product that will generate the return you want from your wellness offering. Finally, wellness can only be achieved through the wellbeing of your people – you can’t heal your guests with an ‘unwell’ team.

Where should hoteliers focus to successfully leverage wellness?

Innovative and forward-thinking hoteliers should strive for a clearly defined wellness concept, with a unique, proprietary way of delivering wellness in their hotel. Building a solid asset ecosystem is more important than optimising every square metre. Getting the right expertise is also vital.

Word of mouth from guests is an essential part of fostering a successful wellness offering

Finally, investing wisely and maintaining the right facilities means your team stays loyal to their concept and delivering landmark experiences. Your wellness offering allows you to go the extra mile and deliver more than the landmark experiences. It allows you to actively participate in your guests’ wellbeing transformation.

What are the factors influencing success in wellness delivery?

The influence your customers have in spreading the word about their experience is huge. I call this the ‘S’ number. Each guest has the power to share their experience with their network. If the ‘S’ number, is, for example, 10 or 15, then every guest can influence 10 or 15 more people to visit as well as being more likely to stay again themselves. If your hotel’s ‘S’ number is below one, then you’ll have to spend money on advertising and marketing to make up the difference.

How can spas achieve a positive ‘S’ number?

What makes your guests want to happily share is when the experience is truly special and transforms them or something in their lives.

Wellness businesses should strive to offer guests something extraordinary

Tell us more about your ‘Essence’ model for profitability.

‘Essence’ is a unique methodology I’ve created and honed over years of working with some of the best hotel wellness projects in the world. When I work with clients, I take them through the seven key stages of the ‘Essence’ model and show them how to create wellness offerings that add value to their hotel’s ecosystem without breaking budget or building facilities that become outdated before recouping investment.

The ‘Essence’ model is a fast track to profitability. It is a stepby-step process that shows hoteliers how to build a successful wellness offering; from a rough idea to a profit-generating wellness asset.

www.spa-balance.com

SONAL UBEROI'S FIVE TIPS FOR DELIVERING WELLNESS HOSPITALITY

1. Go back to basics Get to know your guests and their wellness needs and goals.

2. Revisit your wellness concept Make sure it fulfills the aspirations of your guests.

3 Set your team and yourself up for success Take the time to develop effective strategies.

4. Tune and re-tune You’re not going to get it right first time so you’ll need to constantly fine tune your concept and operations.

5. Go the extra mile Strive to deliver the wellbeing transformation your wellness guests are searching for.