Key takeaways from the World Spa & Wellness Convention 2026

The annual World Spa & Wellness (WSW) London Convention returned to ExCel for its 2026 edition this week.

The event was filled with a mix of keynote sessions and panel discussions, designed to offer insights and education for international leaders from the global spa and wellness industry.

WSW 2026, attended by 311 delegates, featured insights from 27 international speakers from countries including Thailand, Cyprus, Italy, Mexico, South Africa, France and Brazil.

This year, the overwhelming theme echoed by all of the speakers was that the fundamentals still win.

Amid the growing noise around longevity, technology and ever more ambitious wellness language, one message cut through – deliver on what guests actually want by getting the basics such as sleep, community and connection right.

The power of memberships

The conference took place at ExCeL on October 4-5, alongside Professional Beauty London.

Opening the sessions, Paris Kounoudis, director of rooms and lifestyle at Parklane in Limmasol, spoke on how mixed-use models are driving the future of guest experience.

He said memberships are key to the model’s success: “Members account for 1.7 per cent of hotel revenue; their secondary spend adds a further 3.4 per cent.

“That means more than 5 per cent of hotel revenue comes from members. They also generate €1 million in annual membership revenue, 5-10 per cent of restaurant and treatment revenues, and 50 per cent of retail sales.”

Jennifer Holzworth, senior corporate director of spa operations at Montage International, agreed.

“Memberships with exclusive spa treatments and programming are what the market is demanding,” she said. “To succeed, the basics must be done perfectly. Members want someone to really hear them, connect with them, then curate an exclusive experience.”

Ingo Schweder, founder and CEO of GOCO Hospitality, also concurred that memberships will shape future growth.

He described wellness real estate as the sector’s biggest growth market and said: “A tremendous amount of money is being allocated to wellness to attract people to buy real estate. Members convert wellness infrastructure into year-round revenue.”

A whisper of wellness

Amanda Al Masri, vice-president, wellness at Hilton Worldwide and Suzanne Holbrook, Marriott Internationals head of global spa, fitness and wellness, discussed how to better bring wellness to the average guest.

“Day to day, we need to include wellness in every offer. People are travelling because they want to rest and recharge,” said Al Masri. “So how do we meet the needs of the guest who wants wellness as part of their stay? It’s about getting the in-room basics right.”

Holbrook added: “It’s about adding a whisper of wellness to the offering we have. Don’t get caught up in the shiny new thing – look at the fundamentals.

Holbrook highlighted those basics as sleep, social wellness, community, connection and mental health. “Sleep quality is the number one driver of satisfaction and of bad reviews,” she said.

Longevity: the emperor’s new clothes?

Keynote Piers Schmidt, a global luxury adviser in travel, tourism, hospitality and wellness, delivered a provocative session, kicking off with the statement: “A lot of what’s being said about longevity is BS.

“Much of it is wellness wearing a more expensive set of clothes. We’re all being led to believe that if we don’t get on board, we’ll be left behind. In fact, longevity is about sleeping well, moving, eating properly and resting – what wellness used to be.

“Longevity doesn’t mean becoming more clinical. The question is not how you become a longevity clinic, but what you can borrow from longevity to make what you do more effective.”

Promise vs perception

Schmidt’s research benchmarked the wellness promise of 24 brands against ten luxury wellness operators to ascertain ‘the wellness gap’ – the difference between promise and perception.

For 21 of the 24 brands, guest perception fell below the promise. He attributed this in part to the use of vague wellness language, which outnumbered precise language by five to one.

“Spas are not being specific about what they do and how,” said Schmidt. “At the same time McKinsey research finds growing demand for data backed claims and demonstrable value. Be clear, precise and concise.”

Leadership built on trust

Monday’s keynote speaker, author Dr Bryan K Williams, spoke about attracting, retaining and developing staff.

“You can’t just order great people on Amazon,” he said. “All you can do is create a great working environment and, to do that, you have to do more than is required. Trust is the currency of leadership. There’s no leadership without relationships, and no relationships without trust.

“Your belief engenders high-performance don’t expect your staff to be anything less than their best.”

Gustavo Albanesi, CEO and co-founder at Brazil’s Buddha Spa agreed that culture is the leader’s most important tool.

“Nobody teaches you how to be a leader. It’s a matter of listening, guiding and innovating,” he said. “Culture is the one thing every leader should carry with them.”

Be authentically you

Champneys’ CEO, Alan Whiteley, revealed the brand has three sites similar to its new Buxton acquisition in the pipeline and urged delegates give their team the space to support the wider vision

“Know your numbers, know your vision and be authentically you,” he said. “People have to believe in your brand and your storytelling – and to do that, you have to believe in it too.”

Read our full event report in the winter issue of European Spa, out later this year.

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