Hilton Hotels & Resorts is a company that understands and recognizes the importance of luxury spa amenities to the hotel industry. Hilton has created its own successful spa brand called eforea, which is in 11 locations around the world with more than 90 eforea spas currently in development.
To demonstrate the importance of spas to the hospitality industry, Hilton Hotels & Resorts has released a report on global spa trends. The report includes a survey of 6,000 respondents throughout the United States, Great Britain, Australia and China to offer additional global and regional insight.
"Spa is a key differentiator for us within both the leisure and business travel segments today," said Dave Horton, global head, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, in an announcement. "This new research emphasizes the importance of spas in the decision to book a hotel stay, particularly in the rapidly expanding Chinese market. Of particular note, we found that 69 percent of travelers said they were at least somewhat likely to visit the spa at their hotel."
A key finding of the research shows that nearly 50 percent of the respondents said the existence of a spa is an important factor in selecting a hotel, with Chinese travelers finding it most important followed by those from Australia.
The report also touches on the following topics:
- Identification of spa-goers and spa behavior based on generation, highlighting key differentiators and motivators for each age group
- The growing importance of men to the global spa industry and how a successful spa should tailor its offerings for this audience
-- The need for global spa concepts to offer consistent services across their portfolios while also allowing for local flexibility
- The distinct competitive advantage hotels with spas have in booking, driving revenue, and attracting local customers beyond the overnight guest
- The significance of business travelers, who are increasingly looking for relevant ways to decompress between meetings, as well as extend their visits as part of the "blended travel" experience
The findings were revealed in detail at the Hilton Sydney in Sydney Australia where the Hilton Blue Paper was discussed by Clare Matthews, director and co-founder, VitaMan; Tyra Lowman, senior director, global spa, Hilton Worldwide; Andrew Flack, vice president, global brand marketing, Hilton Hotels & Resorts; and Bryan McGoldrick, director, Angliss National, William Angliss Institute.
Below is a three-part video that reveals the findings of the report: