As wellness professionals – experts in helping our clients solve their wellbeing-related problems – we would find it absurd if we saw our clients trying to treat the symptom instead of the root cause of their problem.
For example, if a guest came to us complaining of strong headaches, and after a detailed consultation we learned that the cause of their headaches was dehydration and not only the tight shoulder and back they thought was their core problem, we would not just try to remedy their tight shoulder or back with a massage because that is what the client wants. We would give them what they want, yes, but we would also see it as our professional duty to educate our guest on how the root cause was actually their diet.
Because we know that deep down, our guest could continue to have massage after massage, but their headache would never go until they solved their problem of dehydration.
We know that as wellness professionals. We know that solving the symptoms only provides temporary relief. We know that if our clients want lasting change, they are going to have to address the root cause of their wellbeing related problem.
However, when it comes our wellness businesses, we seem to forget this basic notion. We end up acting like our clients – we end up trying the quick fixes but tackling the symptoms of our wellness business (that is changing prices, bringing in new brands, updating our treatment menu, retraining our teams, and so on), instead of digging deeper into the root cause – the type of wellness concept we have in place.
The big mistakes we wellness leaders make is that we think the mere fact a hotel has A wellness offering (that is a full-blown spa and state-of-the-art gym), that that wellness offering is automatically an asset – in other words, a strong revenue and value contributor.
And that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Just like not all business ideas become successful businesses, not all wellness ideas become successful businesses. A lot more strategy, grit and effort need to go into making a great idea a great business. And the same applies to the wellness business.
This false myth is one of the reasons why wellness in hospitality does not have a track record of stellar performance. It is because the vast majority of wellness concepts have either been risks, opportunities, or worse still, liabilities.
In today’s episode, I talk about the importance of ensuring you have the right concept in place from the get go – that asset for your particular property. Because if you don’t have the right concept from the get go, no matter what you do – change the wellness leader, a few problematic team members, change prices, upgrade menus, etc. – it simply won’t work. These are merely the symptoms of a bigger underlying problem: having the wrong concept in the first place.
