How hotels are going on a fitness kick

Working out in a hotel is no longer a choice between a treadmill in a small gym, laps of the pool or a 7am yoga class.

With health and fitness an engrained part of modern living, a growing number of hotel chains are making it easier than ever to squeeze in a workout when away from home. So easy in fact, the equipment can be right next to the bed. 

Hotel brands such as DoubleTree by Hilton offer guests Five Feet to Fitness rooms with exercise bikes and keep-fit stations, while Westin by Marriott and Even Hotels by Intercontinental are offering guests bedrooms with training equipment from weights and yoga mats to TRX straps.

“Waking up to the sight of kettlebells is the ultimate motivation for guests who may struggle to keep up their existing fitness plans while on the road,” says Geraldine Guichardo, head of Americas Hotels & Hospitality Research at JLL. “More and more hotel brands – aware of the growing consumer pursuit of health and wellness – are enhancing their offerings.”

Meanwhile, on-demand sessions via TV screens, offer further options for guests who prefer to exercise in private. And the old excuse of no space in the suitcase for trainers doesn’t work; the likes of Westin will loan guests freshly laundered gym gear.

For hotel operators, in-room equipment may be more profitable than the offering a full gym, given other revenue-generating opportunities the physical space could be used for, says Guichardo.

In the case of Hilton hotels, customer feedback was behind the decision to offer in-room training facilities, with a quarter of respondents expressing interest in an in-room option in 2017.

On average, travelers have good intentions before their trip to keep their fitness regime on track, according to a Cornell University School of Hotel Administration report. The study found that while 46 percent of guests expected to work out during their hotel stay, only 22 percent actually did so. But at the booking stage, high-quality fitness offerings can play a part in swaying health-conscious guests towards a particular hotel. 

Competition among major hotel operators is heating up with the arrival of new concepts such as Equinox, which is opening its first Equinox Hotel in Hudson Yards, New York, in June.

Going beyond its 60,000 square foot gym along with personal training services, SoulCycle studio and spa, the hotel will also offer a healthy eating restaurant and bedrooms billed as the ‘ultimate sleep chamber’.

While such health-centered concepts are still very niche, the emergence of such a focused operator as Equinox will draw attention from more traditional hotel operators, Guichardo says.

“Less fitness-focused operators will be watching the progress and seeing how they can compete,” she says.

Not all hotels, however, will or should make fitness a priority.

“Hotels must understand the needs of their particular demand base and determine what enhancements provide the best experience for their guests,” she says. “Fitness among guests is undoubtedly a trend that’s here to stay but different people have different ways of exercising and no hotel can cater to them all.”