#50BestTalks: Unpacked event explores wellness hospitality with leading global speakers

After a successful inaugural edition in 2024, #50BestTalks: Unpacked has now become an official part of the World’s 50 Best Hotels 2025 event programme. Hosted at Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane in London, global hospitality leaders and international industry experts recently took to the stage to discuss hospitality’s most pressing issues.

The leaders offered insights into topics from where the world’s most wealthy are spending their time to storytelling in the age of TikTok travel planning and the changing world of hyper-specialised wellness.

The World’s 50 Best Hotels awards ceremony was held in London as part of the three-day programme, bringing together the world’s top hoteliers to celebrate.

Natura Bissé became the first and exclusive ‘Official Spa Brand’ of The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2025.

Here are European Spa‘s selected key takeaways from the event.

The importance of creating luxury brand ecosystems

Alejandro Reynal, president & CEO, Four Seasons

Reynal discussed his non-traditional hospitality background and its benefits, emphasising the importance of learning about the company’s history and culture.

He highlighted that he has already visited 90 out of the brand’s 133 properties, which grounded him in the business.

He defined luxury as deeply human, unscripted, and authentic. Four Seasons’ strategy includes expanding into residences, private jets, and a yacht, aiming to create a luxury ecosystem that includes brands homeware and linen too allowing guests to “stay, live, and travel” with the brand.

“The question we faced was, how do we create a luxury ecosystem around a brand that has a big brand equity? So from that perspective, for us, always the core business is going to be the hotel,” he said.

“So we are doubling down on hotel… but then what are the natural extensions for us from a very guest-centric point of view? Naturally, residences are one.”

“Through a guest-centric mindset, creating this luxury ecosystem is what we can tap into because the guests have the brand loyalty, so it’s how we can continue to serve their needs from an emotionally consistent perspective.”

The brand is celebrating its 65th anniversary in 2026 with a year-long celebration.

How TikTok can connect you with new audiences

Hannah Bennett, head of travel, global business solutions, TikTok

Bennet presented an engaging discussion that focused on the rise of TikTok as a travel planning platform, highlighting its role in discovery, research and booking.

TikTok’s authentic content, driven by creators, influences 71 per cent of users to add new destinations to their bucket list. Three-quarters of the UK audience use TikTok for travel searches.

A study revealed 42 per cent of users made travel-related purchases after engaging with TikTok content.

Brands like Ritz and Four Seasons leverage TikTok’s short-form video format to enhance user engagement and conversions, with 76 per cent of TikTok users citing video as their primary conversion driver.

“You have the ability to transport that potential customer to your destination, to your location, before they’ve even booked. This sort of multi-sensory ability of short form video is fantastic. You have the audio and you have the visual. You have the ability to add text as well to really sort of capture attention,” said Bennet.

The shift from trend-driven to value driven wellness

Anna Bjurstam, wellness pioneer & senior strategic advisor, Six Senses & Raison d’Etre; Ronald Akili, founder of Desa Potato Head; and Sonal Uberoi, wellness business coach and founder of Spa Balance Consulting

This panel discussed why the shift from trend-driven to value-driven wellness is crucial, focusing on long-term strategies that enhance guest loyalty and revenue.

Wellness drives topline revenue, loyalty and asset valuation by 25-40 per cent. Future trends include functional music, AI personalisation and mainstreaming technologies like cryotherapy and red light therapy.

The emphasis is on empowering guests to take control of their health.

A wellness ecosystem

Anna Bjurstam said: “Guests are now expecting a wellness ecosystem when they arrive. They want to have able to sleep well and of course, we should focus on that for hotels. But they’re also looking to eat well, to detox, to have this ecosystem around them.”

She explained that pre-covid 40 per cent of Six Senses guests travelled for wellness, now its 99 per cent. “People are not adding on wellness,” she said. “They’re traveling for wellness. Before it was relaxation. Today, it is transformational experiences and pleasure.”

She went on to add that “people are searching for meaning and connectedness. So expect indigenous therapies, nature, breath, sound, bath, connection, connecting with yourself, with others, the world around you.” She also expected to see the mainstream adoption of cryotherapy, red light therapy, and infrared saunas.

Shifting from trends-driven to value-driven

Sonal Uberoi spoke about the shift from trends driven to value driven. “I think the shift is going from trends driven to value driven. It’s not that hotels aren’t investing in the wellness offerings. It’s that they’re investing reactively,” she said. “So one new trend emerges, be it biohacking, cold funding, whatever. And then you see everyone is rushing to implement the latest thing. And the shift occurs when wellness is actually built as a business model.”

Other speakers included:

Ulisses Marreiros, area managing director for Belmond and general manager of Copacabana Palace; Sophie Harper, editor of Hotel Designs magazine; Marco Ginex, design director at David Collins Studio; Simon Lynch, global sales and product director at Scott Dunn; and Stuart Wakeling, managing partner at Henley & Partners.

To read about the World’s 50 Best Hotels click here

Receive our newsletters directly to your inbox – sign up here