In his latest column for Spa Business, McCarthy reflects on a transformative year that has embedded wellness at the heart of hospitality. He describes 2024 as a pivotal moment that has set the stage for even greater advancements in 2025.

“While wellness has been a simmering macro trend for over a decade, I’ve never witnessed such a tangible leap forward in a single year,” McCarthy explains. “It’s as if the hospitality industry is reinventing itself in a virtual explosion of new wellness concepts and innovations.”

A three-decade evolution

Reflecting on his career, McCarthy acknowledges how far the industry has come.

“In the early years, I often found myself convincing owners, developers and hoteliers that spas were worth the investment,” he recalls. “The return on investment was difficult to quantify and spas were seen as costly to build and operate.

“But over time, something remarkable happened. Through a Darwinian process of evolution, hotels with spas consistently outperformed those without.

“Owners begrudgingly began to see their value, and today, spas are essential in any high-end hotel, commanding prominent positions onsite.”

Now, wellness is not just an add-on but a defining pillar of luxury hospitality. “It’s almost impossible to find a luxury hospitality brand that doesn’t prioritise wellness as a core component of its identity,” McCarthy notes.

Meteor shower of wellness

For McCarthy, 2024 marked a watershed moment – a “meteor shower of wellness cascading down on luxury travellers.”

He highlights a surge of groundbreaking initiatives:
• Clinique La Prairie expanded to Dubai and China and unveiled plans for 50 global locations.
• Kerzner International launched SIRO, a fitness and recovery-focused hotel brand, with aspirations for 100 properties.
• Canyon Ranch unveiled Longevity8, a four-day retreat costing US$20,000, designed to provide a personalised roadmap to extended life.
• SBE introduced The Estate, a luxury hotel concept centred on longevity.
• Mandarin Oriental announced it's working behind the scenes on its Wellness 2.0 initiative, a guest-centric approach that integrates physical, emotional, spiritual, and medical wellness.

“This year feels like we’ve broken through into a new space where the rules of gravity no longer apply,” McCarthy says. “How fast will we accelerate? How far will we go? Nobody knows. But in 2024, the year of wellness, the possibilities have expanded exponentially.”

By Megan Whitby