Shaping Up

A new generation of lifestyle hotels are raising the bar with their fitness facilities, developing gym concepts that integrate design, programming and nutrition.

Words: Ben Thomas

The hotel gym has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, with a new generation of lifestyle brands elevating their fitness facilities to USP status. Setting the pace with forward-thinking concepts that raise the bar, these innovators are combining mindful interiors with an understanding of training types, top-of-the-range equipment and nutritious cuisine to tap into the needs of today’s health-conscious traveller, who want to maintain, and even improve, their physical wellbeing on the road.

As reported in issue 96 of Sleeper, a handful of properties were already putting serious thought into the design of their workout spaces – Sir Victor Hotel in Barcelona uses natural materials and plenty of daylight to create an appealing environment for training, while White City House in London features multiple studios and zones for classes, weightlifting and TRX workouts – but it wasn’t until luxury fitness group Equinox announced its entry into the hotel sector in 2019 that the movement really gained ground; the brand’s first property at Hudson Yards in New York – housing the largest club in its portfolio at 60,000ft2 – set a new standard with its facilities and services.

“We don’t just build rooms on top of a gym,” said CEO Chris Norton at the International Hospitality Investment Forum earlier this month. “The idea is that our hotels are positioned at the luxury end of the market.”

With growth on the cards for Equinox in Los Angeles and Chicago after its success in the Big Apple, others around the world have followed suit by replacing plastics with leathers, introducing organic materials such as timber and stone, and providing plenty of daylight and greenery. Oku Hotels for instance, which recently launched its first property in Ibiza, has kitted out its gyms with handcrafted wooden equipment by NOHrD that works in harmony with its bohemian aesthetic.

So why was the hotel gym so frequently overlooked in the past? According to Matt Aspiotis Morley, founder of gym design and advisory firm Biofit Health & Fitness, it really comes down to numbers: “Floor space in any hotel or resort is at a premium, with priority given to revenue generating solutions first. This is where the lower-ground shoebox with no natural light comes in – it ticks the box for operators in terms of providing a facility but goes no further, leaving amateur athletes, yoga fanatics and Crossfitters largely unaddressed.”

“The first and most important element is to understand that fitness is too narrow a vertical upon which to build a wellbeing concept.”

CHRIS PENN – STEEL HOTELS

Blurring the lines between hospitality, fitness and wellness, Siro Boka Place will offer performance-based activities and a spa featuring cryotherapy chambers, a Recovery Lab and red-light saunas

Kerzner International’s Senior Vice President of Operations Martin Chung agrees, explaining that historically, gyms were neglected as fitness wasn’t seen as central to the travel experience, but with guests now considering health and wellness as deciding factors when choosing a destination, gyms must stand out in a similar way to a dining offer. “In the past, holidays were thought of as opportunity to indulge and switch off from exercise, but that’s certainly not the case now,” he says of the shift in mentality. “Increasingly, travellers are looking to come back from trips feeling healthy, energised and revitalised, with guidance from instructors, trainers and specialist practitioners.”

In response to these shifting demands, Kerzner has launched its own fitness and wellbeing-focused hospitality brand, Siro – or Strength, Inclusiveness, Reflection and Original – which will make its debut in Porto Montenegro in 2023. Together with offering performancebased activities such as sailing, cycling and skiing, the resorts will be manned by a team of in-house athletes, nutritionists and technicians – including Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Adam Peaty, recently named as Siro’s first ambassador – who are set to host a variety of classes across hi-tech studios, state-of-theart gyms and championship-worthy pools.

Aside from its programming, Siro Boka Place – the brand’s first flag, designed by London- and Zagreb-based firm Atellior – will comprise 96 keys with in-room equipment and plenty of workout space, as well as yoga studios; a spa with cryotherapy chambers, a Recovery Lab and red-light saunas; and a restaurant serving nutritious dishes throughout the course of the day. “Siro blurs the boundaries between hospitality, fitness and wellness,” says Atellior’s Executive Director Una Barac. “With health and fitness at its core, the hotel’s interiors and facilities encourage people to achieve an invigorated lifestyle while providing a fresh perspective on modern luxury.”

A similar approach has been taken by London- and Cyprus-based practice Kyriakos Tsolakis

© Biofit

In Norfolk, Biofit is working with private members’ club Fritton Lake on a barn gym that will launch this Autumn with a focus on highperformance sports equipment

Architects in Mykonos, where it recently completed a wellness resort that aims to help professional sportspeople rehabilitate during the off-season or simply whilst on holiday. Designed specifically for athletes, the retreat houses 12 luxury suites and two public pools alongside outdoor and indoor gyms with top-of-the-range equipment, hydrotherapy pools and hot tubs for hydromassages, which ease aching muscles using the pressurised water jets.

In the UK, Chris Penn – co-founder of lifestyle concept Birch – is targeting an active clientele with his new Steel Hotels brand. Though details of its debut remain firmly under wraps as Penn continues to seek out the right asset, the hotelier’s two-phase rollout will include the launch of rural resorts that immerse visitors in nature through swimming, cycling and running, together with urban retreats that act as an extension to guest’s existing high-performance networks – whether they be an individual, professional team or company.

“The first and most important element is to understand that fitness is too narrow a vertical upon which to build a wellbeing concept, as wellbeing can be looked at through either a soft or hard lens,” Penn reflects. “At Birch, we look at wellbeing more through the soft lens, looking at balanced wellness that encourages happiness, emotional health, togetherness, positivity and a sense of freedom. Steel however looks through a hard lens, identifying ways to improve people’s productivity, efficiency and performance.”

Morley, who is working with private members’ club Fritton Lake in Norfolk on a barn gym that will launch this Autumn with a focus on high-performance sports equipment, also believes that there is no onesize-fits-all approach to developing a successful fitness concept. As such, he begins with three main strategic inputs: industry trends, an understanding of guest profiles, and the hotel brand itself, which can help steer the process: “Balancing these elements means we ground the concept in market knowledge to minimise risk while ensuring it matches the training requirements of the target guests and integrates smoothly into the personality of the brand.”

With the events of late leading to the temporary closure of gyms worldwide, virtual and often individual workout routines have also taken precedence. And

© Georg Roske

The gym at Oku Ibiza has been kitted out with handcrafted wooden fitness equipment by NOHrD that works in harmony with the bohemian aesthetic

with some travellers still unsure about using public spaces, hotel groups have been quick to ensure that guests can stay active from the comfort of their own rooms. Morley himself has joined forces with Sani & Ikos Resorts to create boutique experiences that are more akin to what residents are accustomed to at home, while Kempinski recently partnered with Technogym, and Westin is working with Peloton to bring its classes to the guestroom.

Taking a different approach that doesn’t involve hefty investment in hardware, aparthotel brand Locke and Shangri-La The Shard have teamed up with fitness app Fiit to offer a 30-day free membership to all guests, providing access to more than 700 interactive workouts for the duration of their stay. Available via an in-room television app, the classes range from yoga and HIIT to barre and strengthbased workouts, each led by one of the app’s global trainers. “Designing spaces that empower guests to maintain their day-to-day habits when they travel is central to our experience,” states Eric Jafari, Chief Development Officer and Creative Director at Locke’s parent company, Edyn.

The pandemic has increased the desire to work up a sweat in the great outdoors too, with some brands now turning their attention to developing hybrid concepts that bring together both indoor and outdoor facilities. As such, Rixos Hotel Group has joined forces with Turkish gym brand Woodsman to design open-air spaces that feature the latter’s all-wood equipment, while at the forthcoming Tearose Hotel just outside Florence, opening in Q1 of 2023, Biofit is even creating an on-demand equipment delivery service for those who want to train privately amongst nature.

“Wellbeing design that creates healthy gym interiors with functional benefits for the mind and body are going to be big business,” concludes Morley, who cites circadian lighting systems, indoor air purification, non-toxic material choices and sustainable flooring tiles as trends to watch out for in his latest hotel gym report, as well as eco-cleaning protocols, biophilic schemes that bring the outside in, and multi-sensory experiences combining scent, sound and tactile finishes. “Why gyms have not harnessed such design strategies yet is beyond me, but the revolution is definitely coming!”