Walk the Talk: Hotel Health & Wellness

As the old adage goes, "you can't love anyone else unless you love yourself first". I believe we can draw upon this saying's underlying lesson when it comes to health and wellness offerings at hotels and resorts the world over. How can we authentically promote health and well-being initiatives unless we ourselves are mindful of, and taking full responsibility for, our own health and well-being?

The pandemic may have turned everything completely upside-down worldwide, yet all is far from lost. The hotel industry is one of the most resilient industries because everyone, sooner or later, needs it. Whether you visit a city to do business, you want to get away from it all with your partner, or you wish to catch up with family or friends, there will always be a demand.

And when something like COVID-19 happens, it all boils down to one thing – what have you done differently during these challenging times?

At the time of this article, our team is preparing to open our resort Alma for the third time in the space of a year and a half. Overlooking one of Vietnam's most stunning beaches, Long Beach, on scenic Cam Ranh peninsula, our resort first opened its doors for business late December 2019. We temporarily closed in April 2020, before re-opening the following month. Due to the recent flare-up we opted to temporarily close for a 2nd time in May 2021.

The team and I have enthusiastically viewed each closure as a prime opportunity to learn, grow and develop. Despite the volumes of research you do before a hotel opening, there are always things you think will appeal to the guests that don't and vice versa. It's so much more difficult to brainstorm, strategize, alter and develop, for example, your spa and wellness concepts and offerings when you're busy attending to the daily operations of a resort.With each closure, there have been so many things our team has had to do to improve our services and guest experience and importantly, our health and well-being. In fact, we are busier than ever, in a surreal way, as we never shy away from a challenge.

And this leads me to my point. We must whole-heartedly take care of our well-being. Doing so ultimately helps ensure we overcome not only the anxiety of the pandemic but also the direct threat to our health. I can safely say our management team has been focusing on properly breathing in the clean sea air around us in abundance. And I cannot stress how important it is for our well-being to learn how to breathe properly. We have been researching about nutritious food and are cautious about what we are consuming.

We have been exercising daily, whether that be walking or jogging on the beach, hitting the gym, practicing our yoga asanas, cycling or swimming laps in one of our 12 swimming pools that spectacularly cascade down to the beach. We have especially appreciated spending quality time with loved ones. Importantly, we have been discussing our success with each other in regards to our achievements on this front and cheering and encouraging each other.

In fact, on my extended health kick that began1 January this year, I have personally lost 25 kilograms so far and feel the best I've felt in a long time. I'm convinced this health kick will last for good because I love feeling this rejuvenated and energized. And proved New Year's resolutions can and do last.

How can we seriously be ambassadors for health and well-being at our luxury hotels and resorts unless we 'walk the talk', so to speak?

Hospitality professionals are special creatures. We work evenings, weekends and during all of the big events such as Christmas and New Year. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about this; if we didn't love what we do, it would never work. We thrive in a hotel environment and, for me at least, as a life-long hotelier, I couldn't imagine working in any other environment. However, research has long deemed "emotional labour" a very real thing in the industry.

The sociologist, Arlie Hochschild, defined emotional labour as regulating or managing emotional expressions with others as part of one's professional work role. Research has found that workers in roles that continually demand emotional labour are at greater risk of anxiety and burnout because, frankly, being forced to smile all day, can be stressful and people come home feeling depleted emotionally. And what can be seen as perks of the job, also require balance when it comes to eating well, ensuring we don't consume much alcohol, sleeping well and, significantly, making time for our health and well-being and our loved ones, who can be easily be overlooked when it comes to all-consuming work commitments.

As a result of the latest temporary closure, our backto-basics approach with our own health and well-being is being emulated through our offerings at our resort. We host a daily morning walk and run for staff that courses through our vast resort and focuses on the right breathing techniques. Upon reopening, we will also offer this to our guests.

We will also provide a variety of meditation and yoga classes to calm the mind and strengthen the body. Following hour-long sunrise and sunset yoga classes

at Alma's yoga room or at the beach, one-hour meditation classes will be held at our yoga room. The meditation classes will focus on the chakra points to harness balanced energy. The yoga and meditation classes are open to a minimum of two people and a maximum of 10 people. In addition to our fully-equipped gym, we also have outdoor exercise stations that encourage guests to get their heart rates up while breathing in the incredible sea breezes we have here at Long Beach.

Exercising the body is one thing, but nurturing the mind is also crucial to holistic living. I have discussed the need for our staff to spend quality time with loved ones, as social interaction is important to our health and wellbeing. Additionally our resort also features a science museum, designed to engage minds young and old. Our Science Museum promotes interactive learning through a host of exhibits focused on mind-boggling wonders such as Bernoulli's principle, electromagnetic induction, viscosity, magnetic fields, electricity generation, optical illusions, and more.

Our resort also ushers talented artists on to its grounds to craft portraits of guests and teach painting classes, as well as hosts artists-in-residence programs in a bid to make art "more accessible" to travellers. As part of the programs, artists interact with guests and create artwork before their eyes and showcase their works at the Lounge. Creativity has a calming effect on the brain and body, helping to reduce anxiety and stress.

We have also developed special new menus comprising solely of healthy, balanced meals as well as freshlysqueezed juices such as refreshing detoxing and digestion juices. Let food be thy medicine. We need to fuel ourselves with nutrition to be as strong and healthy as possible. People who may have previously been sceptical but are now more open to how good they are for us.

As I circle back to that old adage "you can't love anyone else unless you love yourself first", us hospitality professionals can say to ourselves that "we cannot truly promote guest well-being unless we embrace our own well-being first". The silver lining would have to be, in addition to our resilience, a heightened focus on just how precious our health and well-being are.

My team and I look forward to continuing with our good clean living in the form of breathing properly, exercising, eating well and appreciating those who matter most to us. When it comes to keeping our staff, guests and community healthy and safe, it all starts with us. Together with my team, I'm brimming with optimism about what the future holds for our hotel.