Wellness Hospitality Conference 2025: key takeaways

Wellness Hospitality Conference 2025 returned for a sell-out event, held in Milan in early December.

With a stellar line up of 34 speakers from Italy, Europe and across the world, more than 600 delegates from 24 countries were treated to educational sessions, panel debates and networking opportunities.

The gathering, organised by Teamwork Hospitality and its Patreon partner LEMI Group, targets the wellness hospitality segment. This year’s one-day event addressed future trends, industry challenges and the debate around longevity offerings.

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

“Everyone was talking about how to design treatments that are truly transformative – multi-sensory, emotionally engaging and operationally efficient at the same time,” added Brusaferri.

“Above all, the conversations showed how powerful collaboration can be when brands, spa teams and suppliers sit at the same table to co-create the future of wellness.”

Exploring Italy’s spa market

The conference opened with Cristina Mottironi, head tourism major at Bocconi University, exploring the wellness economy and Italy’s place in the global tourism sector.

Tourism forecasts are optimistic, despite the unfavourable economic conditions. Italy has seen growth in terms of overnight stays during the past 12 months – it reached 458.4 billion nights of tourist accommodation in 2024, plus 2.5% YOY

Italy is EU’s second ranked destination by international nights after Spain, with non resident nights at 250.3 million, 55 per cent of the total.

“Two in five consumers feel under constant pressure to get things done and 58 per cent experience moderate to extreme stress daily,” said Mottironi.

“More than half (62 per cent) of professionals feel wellness trends and the focus on self-care will highly influence their industry over the next five years.

“This demonstrates that the wellness experience economy – what is enjoyed and remembered – is the most resistant economy for spending.”

Key industry figures

• Wellness tourism is on track to grow to $1.38 trillion by 2029.
• Wellness travellers consistently spend more – international wellness tourists spend 38% more than the average international traveller.
• There were 11 million wellness trips and $20bn spent in 2024
• This is up 37 per cent on 2016
• As of 2024, 67 per cent of Italy’s 5-star hotels have wellness.

Key takeaways from leading speakers

Laszlo Puczko, founder of HTWW Life, kicked off with a rousing session about the life changing benefits of wellness travel.

“We are born well … it’s after that things go wrong!” he said. “Our ancestors were well-adapted to deal with acute stress, to evade or confront predators. Today’s stressors activate the same biological systems; the key difference is they do not disappear once we react to them. We are tired in ways sleep can’t fix.”

The solution? Travel. “An overwhelming 89 per cent of people recognise travel as uniquely effective for achieving comprehensive rest across multiple wellbeing dimensions,” said Puczko.

“Your wellbeing services should offer a mix of Joyspan (the breadth and longevity of joy) and Healthspan (enduring good health).”

How longevity medicine is transforming hospitality

Two leading figures in the longevity sphere, Magno Cristiani, the sole director at Palazzo Fiuggi and Luigi Caterino, CEO and founder of the Longevity Suite, discussed the rapid proliferation of longevity services.

“We’ve a long way to go to raise consumer longevity awareness,” said Caterino. “Longevity has become popular but people don’t yet fully comprehend it’s a focus on living longer but better, a series of small daily choices that affect your healthspan.

“People expect longevity to be tech that’s a shortcut to longer life. It’s perserverence and a series of baby steps – if you do not bring the joy you won’t get the results.”

Cristiani stressed the importance of balance in offering longevity services.

“Wellbeing is not about deprivation but balance,” he said. “Palazzo Fiuggi is a lab of transformation; our overarching goal is to create and maintain balance over time.”

Balancing local authenticity with wellness excellence

In conversation with Lisa Starr, principal at Wynne Business Consulting and Education, Rosewood Hotels’ senior director of wellness, Emmanuel Arroyo, outlined the brand’s focus on storytelling.

“Rosewood has 44 properties in 26 countries and was born through the discovery of remarkable places,” said Arroyo. “Our brand promise is to deliver a sense of place and we do this through great storytelling, so that by the time your guest walks into a treatment, they’re not thinking about their busy life.

European Spa’s founder Sarah Camilleri and deputy editor Mark Smith outlined spa and wellness shifts for 2026.

“Spa and wellbeing is the highest form of hospitality, but one of the most complex things to deliver,” said Camilleri.

“The desire for community is driving everything. People want time out from lifestyles that are digitally and data driven. Don’t underestimate the importance of bringing excitement and fun into your spa. You can’t put a price on the human connection you can build.”

Standout messages

Adam Mogelonsky, partner, Hotel Mogel Consulting

“Hotels are a place for inspiration; they can be a place for transformation. Your rooms can become wellness recovery suites with the right sleep amenities, fitness equipment, nutritious F&B, circadian lighting and biophilic design.”

Lynn Curry, principal at Curry Spa Consulting

“Wellness is a crazy word; it means so many different things to everyone. It can even be different for the same person on a different day. We have to be careful not to try to be wellness for everyone.”

Kent Richards, founder, Wellness World Global

“When creating wellness destinations, its vital to ask yourself what guests can do beyond their treatment. That’s the big question… spas need multifunctional spaces designed to keep guests with you for longer.”

Modern wellness hospitality design

Emlyn Brown, newly appointed group director of spa, leisure and wellness at Mandarin Oriental, gave an insightful look into wellness development, urging delegates to look beyond hotels for their inspiration.

“Wellness is a complicated, expanding universe and in wellness design, you have to be very future forward,” he said. “What you’re planning now could take seven years to come online, so it needs to be right for the next generation of wellness consumer.

“We used to be the heads on beds business; not anymore. Living is more significant than sleeping and wellness is a consumer imperative. It’s a great time for our business, we’re the buzzword – seize that moment.”

Brown urged delegates to let go of the outdated and the unprofitable, and focus on the ‘lingering places’ when designing for wellness.

“Pay attention the space where people naturally linger like lounges, thermal areas and relaxation zones,” he said. “These are the spaces where your guests spend the most time.”

Looking to the future, Brown believe the growing popularity of social bathing, which he believes will endure.

“Social bathing and sweat culture are the ‘we’ of wellness,” he said.

“Younger generations want communal, in real life experiences, not isolated ones. Social bathing is an international wellness language ; it’s democratic, high volume, dynamic and engaged.”

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