DIGITAL HEALTH VS. SPA

DIGITAL HEALTH VS. SPA

The Effects of Digitisation on the Spa and Wellness Market

What is the role of spa and wellness in a future increasingly dominated by technology? The fact that digitisation will play a very important role is clearly demonstrated by the enormous growth in investment in this sector. International investment, in particular, is increasing rapidly.

In 2016, some of the largest private investment deals in this sector were launched in China. The Chinese companies, Ping An Good Doctor and Babytree (Max Partners), were at the forefront. Babytree, China’s largest parenting website, is developing rapidly, concentrating on the country’s lucrative 54 billion dollar market for products related to pregnancy and toddlers. The website is a popular communication platform for parents in China and successfully distributes educational products such as DVDs, toys and interactive educational guides. The company has headquarters in Beijing and is a strategic partner of Mattel, Inc.

Hotel Projects and the Digitisation of the Wellness World

The trend towards digital health is not limited to spa and wellness. Investors in hotel projects must, therefore, also take into account the growing demands of the guests for spa planning and the issue of “interactive space concepts”.

Fitness tracking, new online services and digital coaches will determine the spa concepts of the future. Quantified Self – Lifelogging – is a concept that investors in hotel projects should be familiar with. The gathering of vital data has left the technical playing field for a long time and is now a megatrend. One impressive example is Onduo, the collaborative project of the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi and Google for patients with Type 2 diabetes.

The Megatrend towards Health Hotels

Providers of health care tracking devices have realised that hotels and planners of Spa Concepts are a key target group and with good reason. According to a representative survey commissioned by the German digital association Bitkom, 32 percent of Germans are willing to provide their health data as a hotel guest. Men are particularly open to this concept and are very likely prepared to compare their values with those of other hotel guests. Experts are, therefore, in agreement; the future tourist industry will benefit enormously from embracing digital health trends.

Digital Health in the Everyday Life of a Hotel

What does the “digital” day of a hotel guest look like? In the morning after getting up, digital information about heart rate, blood pressure, blood glucose or vitamin status is instantly accessible. Each guest is accompanied by the digital “Personal Coach” of the hotel. This gives advice on how to spend your holiday as healthily as possible; with proper exercise, nutrition and relaxation.

Today, wellness hotels are already able to offer “Digital Health” using a modern fitness track – including a performance review. The digital measuring devices do not conceal anything. They provide guests with hard-hitting and extremely detailed information about their health and any improvements achieved. This also benefits hoteliers who can add these additional “Digital Health” services into their sales programme.

Guests loyalty can also take some of the benefits along. For example, guests who have completed a diet programme at the hotel can continue following it once they have returned home by means of digital coaching to stabilise their weight loss.

The possibilities of the applications are extensive and will make digital health more and more interesting for hoteliers and investors. Anyone wishing to take advantage of this opportunity should, as a first step, integrate the new digital possibilities into the already existing wellness, fitness and relaxation services offered by their company. An unconditional prerequisite for this is motivated qualified staff who are willing to professionally integrate the digital coach into the hotel’s day.

The world’s largest private investment in the digital healthcare sector after 2016 (in millions of dollars):

500 / Onduo (Google)
500 / Ping An Good Doctor
448 / Babytree (Max Partners)
400 / Oscar (Khosla Ventures)
220 / Human Longevity, Ic. (Startup+Health)
160 / Clover (Greenoaks)
151 / Meet you (Matrix Partners)
145 / iCarbonX (VCANBIO)
120 / ThalmicLabs (Intel Capital)
100 / Kernel

Source: Statista 2016

2018-08-02T18:16:18+00:0024.04.2017|Spa Trends & Innovations|Comments Off on DIGITAL HEALTH VS. SPA