83%.
That’s the proportion of business travellers who consider the gyms and wellbeing activities that are on offer before selecting a hotel – this according to travel management company CWT.
Meanwhile, wellness tourism is also on the rise, growing by 6.5% annually between 2015 and 2017 – more than twice as fast as tourism overall (3.2% annually, based on Euromonitor data). The value of the wellness tourism sector is now projected to reach US$919bn by 2022.
Little wonder, then, that hotels around the world are reinventing themselves to reposition as wellness destinations, investing significant sums in fitness and wellbeing facilities that deliver the experience travellers are increasingly looking for.
But what if you don’t have the budget to create an all-singing, all-dancing fitness suite that reinforces your premium brand? Because that’s what travellers expect nowadays: a gym that’s at least as good as their gym at home.
The good news is there are other options to create a fitness offering that will meet guest expectations without breaking the bank – and one in particular that Wexer sees as an increasingly viable and appealing solution: in-room workouts.
In-room workouts are already the favoured option for 27% of business travellers – another interesting stat from CWT – even though comparatively few hotels yet offer a well-supported option. We have Hilton’s Five Feet to Fitness. We have EVEN Hotels, whose whole purpose is wellbeing and where the guest rooms double as gyms. But these, and a handful of others, remain the exception rather than the rule.
But as more hotels begin to explore this option, boosted by the growing availability of high-quality virtual content, that 27% figure is likely to soar.
If your mind is going straight to totting up the initial outlay + monthly subscription x number of guest rooms, stop right there. Because we have a far more varied, more cost-effective solution for you than that – one that still offers guests 24/7 access to world-class instructors, but that also offers a wide range of workout types, including hundreds of classes that require no more than a yoga mat and some dumbbells. The sort of equipment that could easily be placed comfortably in-room or delivered to a guest on-demand upon request.
That solution is the Wexer Web Player, a password-protected, white label web portal that allows users to stream their choice of hundreds of world-beating virtual classes – any time, anywhere, to any internet-enabled device. Its exercise as today’s 24/7 consumer demands it – and it’s quickly, simply and cost-effectively streamed to a screen in your guest rooms.
As a value-add – or a premium add-on – it could even be made available to guests who want to exercise away from the hotel during their stay with you, via a time-limited password that gives them access to the Web Player on their phone, tablet or laptop.
Trialling – and indeed rolling out – this concept in your hotel requires minimal outlay, with the Web Player able to be seamlessly integrated into your existing website.
This is the future of fitness in a hotel environment: something guests can easily fit in without even having to leave their room. It’s about 24/7 inspiration and convenience.
To find out more, please contact info@wexer.com