Designing Wellness Spaces: How to Create a Haven in Hospitality Spaces

The wellness industry is booming. In fact, it’s grown so much recently that the Global Wellness Institute declares wellness ‘a multi-trillion dollar market, with global spending exceeding $4 trillion every year since 2017.’ At the forefront of blending well-being and design, the hospitality industry embraces this wellness-first era by creating calm havens to meet demand (and need). Whether it’s an inclusive flexible workspace, a members club with wellness at the heart of its offerings, or a hotel lobby evoking a relaxed atmosphere – well-being is a top priority in hospitality. This article explores how to create a haven in these spaces.

Incorporate wellness amenities

Traditionally, wellness amenities were reserved for luxury hotels and member clubs. But with the advent of the wellness era (seeing people improving their work-life balance across their daily lives), the demand for well-being amenities is met across more mainstream hospitality spaces. After all, 93% of workers ‘believe wellbeing to be as important as their salary,’ according to research conducted by Gympass.

Nowadays, it’s not unusual to walk into an office sitting alongside a state-of-the-art gym or yoga studio. In fact, the flexible workspace industry is a trailblazer in merging work amenities with lifestyle perks. For instance, The Ministry workspace hosts 150 weekly health classes. Huckletree provides “express massages in hubs during the working day to give the community a brief relief and pause from a busy schedule.” Nap nooks and meditation rooms are just some of the latest wellness amenities adopted by flexible workspaces, coliving spaces, and hotels – promoting a balanced lifestyle all around.

Design sensory spaces

But it’s not all yoga studios and meditation rooms. For example, visitors meeting friends and coworkers at a members club lounge or hotel lobby expect a relaxed atmosphere in these spaces too. To achieve this, designers incorporate sensory design philosophies into these spaces, supporting “everyone’s opportunity to receive information, explore the world, and experience joy, wonder, and social connections, regardless of our sensory abilities.”

Sensory design is incorporated by bringing heaps of natural lighting, neutral colour tones, and soft, comfortable furnishings into a space, evoking feelings of relaxation. Texture and soft furnishings also absorb background noise. Access to natural light and outdoor views have been hailed so important that over 1,600 employees ranked these as their top desires in a workplace environment, in a Future of Workplace survey. Meanwhile, a sensory space promotes inclusivity, as neurodiversity accounts for 20% of the UK population. Neurodiverse individuals easily feel overwhelmed in bright, loud spaces, making a sensory space the perfect escape making people feel safe and comfortable.

Prioritise nature

Humans are deeply connected to nature, we don’t thrive in artificial, ugly spaces. In fact, interacting with plants is scientifically proven to improve mental health, ‘reducing physiological and psychological stress,’ found a study conducted by the National Library of Medicine in the US. Bringing the outside in can be challenging, particularly in urban environments, but it’s why biophilic design has become so popular – normalising vertical gardens and living walls in hospitality spaces.

Workspaces and coliving spaces alike cleverly provide access to outdoor spaces. For example, the Director of FlexSA, Jane Sartin, sees “a growing number of workspaces utilising rooftop space, planting trees, shrubbery, and flowers to give workers much-needed respite while staying close to the office.” Workers can not only use outdoor spaces for much-needed R&R during the workday, some architects have gone above and beyond with rooftop design, adding beehives and running tracks on top of buildings too.

Provide healthy food and drink

Access to nature and fitness has a profound impact on work-life balance. But there’s another wellness trend to consider: a healthy diet. Whether someone is working out of a hospitality space, or staying there during their travels – they’re more likely craving healthy options for food and drink. After all, our bodies need this for optimum mental and physical health – as ‘high-quality foods that contain lots of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that nourish the brain and protect it from oxidative stress,’ explains a Harvard Business Review piece.

Often, coworking spaces give away delicious free food to promote workplace productivity and strengthen work ethic. For instance, Work.Life workspaces have healthy snacks and fruit available in their kitchens. x+why provides nutritious options for a small charge, hosting a networking breakfast that brings the community together over a delicious, free breakfast. Meanwhile, the notorious beer taps at WeWork have been restricted to certain timeslots, discouraging after-work binge drinking behaviours. This considers how many people are moving towards sobriety – UK charity, Drinkaware, found that 28% of young adults were least likely to drink alcohol in 2021 — and, regardless, an alcohol-free space is a safe space, inclusive of those who don’t drink.

Encourage social connections

Above all else, people come into hospitality spaces to be around others. It sure beats working from home all day by ourselves! In fact, the impact of connecting with people is so great that the World Economic Forum declares how “feeling well connected to other people promotes positive mental health, physical health and gives life meaning.”

So, it’s no accident when we can’t figure out how to use the coffee machine in our new workplace before asking a coworker to help us – this may be a purposefully designed cue for social interactions. Equally, architect Matthias Hollwich intentionally designed a smaller staircase in a coliving space that encouraged people to interact while walking past one another. Feeling connected to the people we’re surrounded by promotes our feelings of safety.

The future of wellness-led hospitality spaces

There’s no denying that we all want to inhabit calm and relaxed environments. As more people lean into flexible working practices, increasing travel opportunities, access to fitness, and a sense of belonging amongst others – the hospitality sector must consider enhancing people’s lives across its spaces and amenities.