REPORT FROM GERMANY—In August, the 4-star Pullman Stuttgart Fontana announced a luxurious new wellness area: The immense 13,000-square-foot “Wellnarium” boasts a pool, Finnish sauna, solarium, steam bath, whirlpool and ice fountain, as well as a renovated fitness room and summer terrace.
The health facilities for Accor’s premium brand could give those at Germany’s ultra-luxury wellness hotels and spa resorts a run for their wellbeing money.
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The “wellnarium,” with its quality seal from the German Wellness Association (Deutscher Wellness Verband, DWV), is an investment that has already paid off, said GM Kirsten H.-H. Stolle. “The high demands of our guests on the quality of wellness services is justified." Though talk of saturated spa hotel markets abounds elsewhere, that is far from the case in Germany, said the German Hotel Association, Hotelverband Deutschland (IHA).
“There is still a significant, untapped market potential,” said Anke Kleiner, economics advisor to the IHA. “Total sales of spa trips rose by an average nine percent over the past five years, while the expenditure per person has not changed.”
Kleiner said the wellness sector in Germany was much less affected by the global downtown than other countries. Her words are backed by those of Hildegard Dorn-Petersen, hotel and tourism consultant to the DWV, a non-profit pioneer in wellness standards.
“The turnover was not affected by the financial crisis, despite a reduction in wellness trips from 5.2 million to 4.5 million between 2008 and 2009,” Dorn-Petersen said. “On the contrary, total spending in wellness travel increased by 4.7%, hitting nearly the €1 billion (US$1.3 billion) mark for 4- and 5-star wellness hotels. Turnover for 4-star hotels increased by 4%. For 5-star hotels and resorts, it jumped 12%.”
Sector buoyancy
The buoyancy of the wellness-hotel sector reflects its maturity and strong, steady demand from a largely domestic, middle- to high-end market.
For well over a decade, most 4-star and 5-star hotels have provided comprehensive wellness areas with high-tech saunas, steam baths and Jacuzzis to their clients.
Despite vying for slices of the wellness cake with neighbors Switzerland and Austria, Germany remains Europe’s largest wellness market.
In the competitive, sophisticated market, client expectations are constantly on the rise, along with the growing number of services and providers. Four- and 5-star hotels must regularly renovate their facilities to stay in the wellness race.
Bertold Reul, GM of the Hotel Nikko Düsseldorf), said spa upgrades like those to rooms and public spaces are vital to the hotel’s growth. The 4-star property, which promotes itself as a luxury, wellness and business hotel, just finished a two-year renovation aimed at wooing more international business executives.
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Isabell Schreml, a spokesperson for Sofitel Hotels in Germany, said high-quality, spacious spa and wellness facilities were a prerogative for luxury business hotels, such as the 5-star Sofitel Munich Bayerpost and Sofitel Hamburg Alter Wall. “Our guests expect superior spa and wellness facilities, to provide them with the possibility to relax, especially in these hectic times, between meetings as well as in the evening,” she said.
Until now, the lion’s share of wellness hotels’ clients was domestic, except at the elite end of the market. Dorn-Petersen estimated the foreign guest count between 10% to 25%, depending on the region.
“The big winner in German wellness destinations is Bavaria (Munich region),” said the IHA’s Kleiner. “By far Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Baltic Coast) and Baden-Württemberg (Black Forest) are No. 2 and 3.”
International visitor boon
The foreign market is set for a significant expansion, as Germany cashes in on the booming worldwide wellness industry.
“415,000 international visitors took a health-oriented holiday in Germany in 2008,” according to a press release from the World Travel Market released in August, adding that a Germany tourism industry survey found 40% of international visitors come to Germany for rest and relaxation; 14% specifically to enhance their health and fitness.
Riding that wave, the German National Tourist Board is gearing up to make 2011 the year of wellness tourism marketing.
"We want to boost the number of overnight stays by specifically promoting Germany as a destination for health and fitness holidays," said Petra Hedorfer, CEO of the GNTB. “Spas and health resorts,” “wellness and beauty hotels” and “medical tourism" are going to be heavily marketed worldwide, with big increases in American business travelers to Germany anticipated as the U.S. economy rebounds.
Certification confusion
Faced with the flourishing sector combined with a multi-certified and quality-variable market, the German hotel and wellness industries are working together to improve the standards of wellness hotels.
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“In recent years, many different wellness labels have been created—many with no clear content and structure,” said Kleiner. “Consequently, hotels are lumped with a muddle of meaningless and costly trademarks, which seriously erodes clarity in the market.” Kleiner estimated less than a third of the 1,000 German hotels trading under a wellness brand fulfill the criteria introduced in 1997 by Wellness Hotels Deutschland, which were subsequently endorsed by the IHA.
“We introduced a ‘customer friendly definition’ of wellness hotel in 2005—to harmonize with the existing criteria—and bring more transparency to this market sector,” she said.
The hotels are classified into three categories with increasing supply requirements.
The judging criteria bypass a simple spa and wellness area to include factors such as “location, surrounded by nature”, “ecological awareness,” “cooking, inspired by wellness,” “emission-free areas,” “design” and “consulting and support.”
The DWV is doing its bit to keep the spa hotel industry honest, abiding by its own quality standards.
Its spa-oriented national summit held at the Intercontinental Dusseldorf during August probed Germany’s Wellness Revolution. As the market expands, the DWV not only wants to give bona fide wellness hotels an inexpensive classification but also help guide consumers through the “wellness jungle” of dodgy and unclear classifications.
“An increasing number of tourism providers, particularly hotels, ride the wellness wave,” said Dorn-Petersen. “Most of them may have a nice pool area and a beauty supply but are far from being a wellness hotel.
“Marketing, advertising and tourism companies have begun to bring quality brands in the market to the tune of millions of euros,” he added. “… The DWV has defined a strict criteria catalogue for wellness suppliers. … Our certification is based on between 600 and 1,500 criteria and a rigorous audit system.”
The seriousness of the German wellness hotel market and current quality drive is hardly surprising, according to Dorn-Petersen, though she would like to set the record straight on the origins of wellness hotels.
“Wellness hotels have been invented in Austria and Germany about 20 years ago and not in the U.S., contrary to common belief,” she said. “Now the term is becoming more international but only from its Germanic roots.”