If you had asked me as little as six months ago, I’d tell you that yoga is not for me, that I can find other ways to relax my mind and seek physical and emotional discipline. Fast forward to today, and I can’t imagine not including yoga practice in my life, even if I’m traveling.
Enter Michelle Higgins’ fabulous New York Times article on hotels offering yoga as an amenity for guests. First, it was wi-fi, then free DVD libraries, and fitness salons. Now, yoga is a sought-after amenity in hotels. Most of us who travel look up places near where we are staying so we can plan our yoga practice. However, that’s not always very conducive, so hotels have picked up on that need and are offering classes on property as part of their spa services. Of course, you can’t be particularly picky about the style of yoga offered (I can’t expect to find the hot yoga I practice in hotels), so a typical flow yoga class would fulfill the guests’ need.
There’s a big PR opportunity here for hotels to act on this emerging amenity trend. Whether it’s the frequency of the yoga classes, or the type of yoga, or even if its offered complimentary for the business traveler (I’d take yoga over free breakfast!), there is a conversation going on that hotels can successfully moderate to their advantage.
Tags: hospitality pr, hotel trends 2010, hotels and PR, luxury amenities, spa and yoga in hotels, yoga and travel, yoga hotel amenity, yoga in hotels
I need to fix my website… soon!
I love the new blog & website design! Beautiful.
Your post is really “in the air”, it reminds me that a journalist is coming to our luxury independant hotel & Spa next week. She writes about wellness and spa breaks in The Times and all the hotel has been made aware that she should receive evrything complimentary on her stay, being a VVIP. Isn’t this highlighting the power of her writing on our potential future spa guests?…
Thanks Melanie, I hope you’re doing great at the hotel! Congratulations on such a high-profile upcoming press visit. The greatest gift you can give your guests, regardless if they are press or not, is the gift of anticipation. Press has the power to influence potential guests with a widely published story; all you can do is antipate her questions before she asks them
Good luck!!
Hi Didi,
Thank you for your blog post. I enjoyed that article in the NY Times specifically because I created a business last year that sends visiting yoga instructors to resorts. I found it difficult to find a good yoga class, offered by a qualified teacher, while I was on vacation (and I am a serial traveler and a yoga teacher), so I founded Bella Luna Yoga! I teach yoga at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health and I send my worldwide team of yoga teachers to international resorts! Please feel free to check out my website!
Have a great day!
Kim