Wellness Hospitality Conference returns for another successful event

Wellness Hospitality Conference 2024 returned, following it debut last year, for another sell out event in November.

Attracting over 600 delegates and 30 speakers from across Italy, Europe and beyond, the day-long event also featured many networking opportunities for spa operators and suppliers to connect.

Set in the heart of Milan, the gathering, organised by Teamwork Hospitality with its Patreon partner Lemi Group, focused on the wellness hospitality segment, addressing future trends and changes in the thermal sector and spa hotels.

It also offered the chance for 30 leading spa industry suppliers to showcase their latest launches and technological innovations.

This year the event was opened up to students studying hospitality and spa to give them an insight into what opportunities are available for a career in the industry.

European Spa is a proud media partner to Wellness Hospitality Conference.

Italy’s spa market in numbers

The conference opened with an inspiring film outlining Italy’s place in the wellness tourism market. The country is placed in the top three countries for overnight tourist stays.

In 2023 the wellness tourism market in Italy accounted for 13 million trips with an expenditure of $19.2 billion (£15.6 million/€18.2 million).

Some 67 per cent of five-star Italian hotels have a spa: more than 400 five-star hotels have a complete spa and more than 350 properties at this level have a leisure spa.

There are 26 medical spas in five-star hotels and 34 luxury hotels have a thermal spa.

The growth of wellness tourism

Cristina Mottironi, program director, MET, University Bocconi shared some impressive figures about the growth of wellness tourism. She noted that the travel class is growing – that is, people who can afford to travel internationally. In 2024 it was 21 per cent of the population and by 2050 it will be 33 per cent of the population.

The majority of people are looking to enhance travel with experiences (88 per cent) and 75 per cent agree that undertaking leisure trips is an important priority. Mottironi said: “Wellbeing comes at a premium price and the availability of spending increases if wellbeing is part of the travel experience.”

Wellness in focus

Laszlo Puczko, founder, HTWW Life, gave an engaging keynote focusing on cheat sheets for spa operations.

It explored how to ensure you have certain archetypes in the business so that there are explorers, innovators, creatives and people who ensure that things get done.

Massimo Garibaldi, managing director, Terme di Salsomaggiore e Tabiano and director, Federterme e Forst; Luca Boccato, CEO, HNH Hospitality; and Erich Falkensteiner, chairman, Falkensteiner Michaeler Tourism Group, discussed the challenges and opportunities of the wellness real estate landscape and addressed how important spa and wellness is to their offerings.

Longevity matters

During an interesting panel discussion on longevity and health, eminent industry leaders and medical experts discussed the five pillars of centenarian wellness lifestyle medicine.

While some approaches varied slightly, the general consensus was that analysis and diagnostics with appropriate interventions such as movement and nutrition were all central to a longer life.

“It’s important to explain the problem they have and how we can address it,” said Massimiliano Mayrhofer, Revital Manager, Palace Merano. “It is very important for us to explain scientifically all that medical wellness can do for biological age.”

“Live according to the rhythm of nature, and undertake treatments like oxygen, light, cold and heat and herbs,” said Vincenzo Primitivo, scientific director, Starpool. “There is science behind these now. There is also a link between health and the location of a spa hotel- especially one surrounded by nature. There’s a kind of resonance.”

Lessons for spa

George Gaitanos, chief operating and scientific officer, Chenot Group concluded: “There is an opportunity for spa [in the longevity sector] but you need experts to give you credibility. We could look at new descriptions. Spa equals recovery and beauty might be better defined as rejuvenation. Spa needs to mature to integrate science and innovation.”

Health and happiness

Nerio Alessandri, founder and CEO, Technogym, explored health, happiness and experiences in his power-packed session.

Full of energy and vitality, the fitness entrepreneur reflected back on how far the industry has come from offering small fitness rooms with very little equipment.

He highlighted that now they are full service spaces that take wellness through the whole property.

He said: “Visiting so many hotels around the world, I believe it’s the wellness spaces that are the most beautiful parts of the hotel.” He feels that a hotel needs to connect with the community you are aiming for and address the country and heritage of the location.

Changing demand for spa and wellness services in hotels

Wellness consultant Andrew Gibson explored changes in the hospitality market, noting the impact of technology, such as augmented reality and data, on enhancing wellness experiences.

He critiqued the outdated metrics used to evaluate spas and suggested that they need to include wider data such as the wellness facilities in a property, including the pool, sauna and steam room.

He also advocated for a broader definition of wellness beyond treatments. “I think wellbeing is kind of the state we want to get to, and we all want to get to a state of safe, healthy, comfortable lifestyle, a happy lifestyle. So it can’t be bought. For me, wellness is all the pathways to get to wellbeing.”

Irene Forte in conversation with Sarah Camilleri

Irene Forte discussed her journey from creating HR values and a careers app to launching her own skincare brand.

Inspired by her family’s Sicilian organic farm, she developed a natural, clinically proven skincare line without essential oils.

Her brand now in over 50 markets, focuses heavily on the US, which accounts for 70 per cent of its business.

Forte emphasised the importance of personalisation and human interaction in skincare. She highlighted the challenges of balancing work and family life and advised entrepreneurs to build resilient teams. Future plans include expanding spa services and adapting to diverse cultural markets.

Architecture in focus

Matteo Thun, the internationally renowned architect and designer at Matteo Thun & Partners, discussed how merging hospitality and wellness is important in healing and recovery for guests.

He explored how to adapt offerings for international guests and how this has changed over years. He also introduced the concept of Hospi-tecture the merging of hospitality and architecture with a focus on wellness. He believes that this will be the future.

Red Sea Global spotlight

Lindsay Madden Nadeau, senior director wellness strategy, Red Sea Global, spoke with Rawan Radwan, public relations communications manager at Amaala. They offered delegates an insight into the world of Amaala and the Red Sea Global project.

This is a mega development project in Saudia Arabia, quite unlike anything seen on this scale to date. There will be 30 properties at Amaala and 50 at Red Sea Global.

Leading with an engaging film showing construction and the many developments in the region, the pair explained how large wellness operators are set to open at Amaala in 2025, including Clinique La Prairie, Rosewood and Jayasom (from Chiva-Som).

Wellness tourism will be at the heart of Amaala and this is set to become the must-visit destination for the luxury wellness traveller. There are many more properties signing contracts, so expect to see new partnership announcements in the first quarter of 2025.

Shifts not trends

European Spa’s editorial director Sarah Camilleri and deputy editor, Mark Smith presented shifts in the industry and highlighted the European Spa Platinum Resource 2024 and the forthcoming edition for 2025.

This included a look at the pursuit of longevity in wellness destinations. It also examined recruitment and retention of spa teams in the future, especially when more spas, wellness destinations and longevity destinations are being built.

Highlighting ten leading experts in the industry, Camilleri name-checked Accor’s senior vice-president of wellbeing, Emlyn Brown and Jumeirah’s vice president of wellbeing, Niamh O’Connell. The session concluded with an insight into the contents of the European Spa Platinum Resource 2025.

The role of the spa consultant

Claire Way, managing director, Spa Strategy and Ghislain Waeyaert, co-founder, bbspa_France discussed the varied role of the spa consultant from project concept through to delivery and beyond. They highlighted the importance of working with a consultant from the outset and the ways that can save investors money in the long run.

The pair shared anecdotes about how they have negotiated their way through challenging projects and also shared insights into how wellness can be engineered into projects that is appropriate to location, build and budget.