Instead, this was drawn up by some slick Madison Avenue-esque management consultancy firm in the 1960s to sell their services. And understanding this nuance of history has profound implications for hotel wellness and spa programming design in 2026. In reality, it can be make or break for your brand’s profitability from its wellness assets.
Maslow always thought of all five needs – safety, security, belonging, self-actualization – existing simultaneously.
Like a sound mixing board, when one need was too low, it would be brought to the forefront of one’s consciousness. It would be given “saliency” so that the individual would focus on it in order for this need to be addressed.
The five needs were never meant to be gamified where, like a video game, you had to conquer one level of the pyramid in order to get to the next and eventually win the game of life. Life isn’t layered; it’s chaotic and often circuitous. Sometimes multiple needs fire off at once; other times none are salient.
All needs are integrated and interconnected, much like the concept of the bodymind or as scientists might study under the contemporary field of psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology. Deficiencies in the body are synonymous with those in the mind and vice versa. What you feel in your conscious mind can stem from a bodily deficiency or, conversely, the pain felt in the body can be the result of an unmet emotional need. Maslow’s five needs can help a person to isolate the root causes to then devise healing strategies and lifestyle changes.
Hotel Wellness as Self-Directed Growth
As another misinterpretation, the pinnacle of Maslow’s hierarchy of pyramid – the aspirational yet ambiguous self-actualization – was never meant to be a destination but a journey. Maslow likened self-actualization as ‘continuous, self-directed growth’. And growth should never stop. In fact, those with the greatest longevity (healthspans, not just lifespans) are repeatedly found to be “lifelong learners”.
The message for hotels here is that while many brands are deepening their wellness footprint, there’s a profound danger of wellwashing which won’t generate any sustained interested in the wellness program or long-term value to the company.
For instance, just because you now offer yoga and pilates classes does not mean that your guests will be instantly made whole across all five of Maslow’s needs. It’s great to have space for yoga and pilates reformers, but every brand is doing this already. Next!
Instead, what resonates and will generate both return visits and brand advocacy are journeys designed to speak directly to the guests’ sound mixing board of inner needs. To help guests on their individual journeys of self-actualization, hotels must facilitate personal growth. This comes by fostering inspiration, curiosity, connectedness, love, exploration, achievement and purpose.
But it also comes by facing one’s fears in order to expand one’s limitations. As Maslow pondered in one of his writings, “Is growth and self-fulfillment possible at all without pain and grief and sorrow and turmoil?”
Fascinating, and in a yin-yang sort of manner, happiness loses its meaning without sadness. As guests strive and yearn for increased self-actualization over the latter half of the 2020s, hoteliers should know that true growth only comes from discomfort.
Hence, slightly uncomfortable experiences are not necessarily bad; in fact, they may be welcomed if they can be structured in a safe, flexible, inviting manner.
Rather than just a yoga class, challenge guests to push the limits of their mobility, strength, flexibility and balance by hiring skilled instructors who know the fine line between cheerleading and drill-mastering. Give guests take-home lessons for long-term self-growth and transformation, and then actually follow-up with them!
Inviting Openness
While this ‘tough love’ approach can earn you the admiration of guests by compelling them beyond their current boundaries, modern hotel wellness program design should also propel an inner sense of openness to experience.
Whether it’s through trying new foods or cajoling guests into activities they would otherwise not partake in, true hotel wellness must invite a sense of discovery by helping people push past their own psychological defensiveness.
Part of this principle of inviting openness can also come from a sense of community inspiration. So, for our simple yoga and pilates class example, it’s never just about charging admission for the classes themselves; it’s about fostering connectedness amongst all participants through the pre- and post-assemblage, including the instructors.
Such an intentional spatial design that accounts for the lounge areas and the overall traffic flow enables guests to socialize with other travelers or locals for collective inspiration. It would also certainly help to motivate guests by hosting classes in spas or other hotel facilities that are in awe-inspiring locations with multisensorial activation. While not every hotel can be a wellness resort overlooking the mountains, art, organic materials, sound, biophilia, comfortable furniture fabrics and other elements can all play a part.
Overall, this notion of inviting opening should allow guests to become more educated on different schools of thought around mindfulness, yoga, meditation, breathwork, calisthenics, dance, sound healing and the rest of the diverse range of wellness activities that can now be offered at hotels.
With wellness experience design, it’s great to offer a wide range of potential revenue streams, but what will really make them sing is by looking deeper at how each experience can harmonize the five needs as Maslow inscribed them – not as a ladder to climb but a more soulful and circular approach. Examples of hospitality success abound, so be sure to ask how to rethink your wellness programming according to Maslow’s needs.
By Adam and Larry Mogelonsky
