New York: James Giannantonio does not consider himself a fitness maniac. But Giannantonio, a 31-year-old Philadelphian, knows he may appear that way when he visits New York.
“I have the same routine every time I come,” he said. “I check in, then I take out the yoga mat in the little workout area they set up in each room, and I do some stretching and light yoga for 20 minutes. Then I head down to the gym and run on a treadmill for 35 or 40 minutes.”
Giannantonio does this every other week, when he stays at Even Hotels Times Square South. His job as a project manager for the energy company Veolia, based in Paris, requires the frequent hotel visits.
“The thing is consistency,” he said. “If I’m coming here, I know I’ll be engaged enough to want to work out.”
Giannantonio may be just one of millions of millennials inclined to pick a hotel based on its ability to help them stay fit.
A 2016 survey by travel and hospitality firm MMGY Global found that nearly half of millennials said a premium fitness centre with options for on- or off-site exercise classes was influential when they chose a hotel, as opposed to more than one-third of Generation Xers and fewer than one-quarter of baby boomers. (MMGY Global’s study counted millennials as those born from 1980-98.)
Other studies have also shown the wisdom of using fitness to market to millennial travellers. In the summer travel tracker survey conducted last year by American Express Travel, 49 per cent of millennials said they viewed an on-site gym as one of the most important features at a hotel.
Hotels have been moving in that direction. The American Hotel and Lodging Association found that 85 per cent of hotels had fitness facilities last year, up from 63 per cent in 2004.
Hotel chains like Even, which has six hotels and five in the pipeline with rooms starting around $199 (Dh730) a night, are doing more than offering fitness options. Everything from the green smoothies served at its Cork & Kale cafe to the mesh bags offered to guests to deposit their sweaty workout clothes in — the clothes are returned washed, dried and folded within two hours — is tailored to the idea of promoting health.
Wellness, actually, is the preferred term.
“When we developed Even Hotels, the world didn’t need another hotel brand,” said Jason Moskal, vice president of lifestyle brands for InterContinental Hotels Group. “What the world needed was a place that would help them maintain their wellness.”
Millennials, Moskal said, are “a significant number of our guests, and wellness is at top of mind for that demographic.”
Thus, every Even hotel room has a standup desk and workout zones, which include the yoga gear that Giannantonio regularly uses, as well as resistance bands, ottomans that double as workout props and a television with 20 workout videos. The 140-square-metre fitness centre at Even Times Square South has premium treadmills made by Woodway, among other high-tech machines.
Even Hotel general managers are not referred to by that title. Instead, they are called “chief wellness officers.” Among their responsibilities are arranging and leading group runs for guests unfamiliar with the city in which they’re staying.
Dieter Schmitz, chief wellness officer at Even Times Square South, said he runs with guests to the Hudson River and back at least once a week.
“Sometimes it’s only one person with me,” Schmitz said. “But people like the flexibility of being able to work out with someone else or work out alone, in their room. So that’s what we offer.”
Flexibility, according to Claire Bennett, executive vice president for travel and lifestyle services at American Express Travel, is crucial to attracting millennials. And that is why more hotels are offering options like on-site personal trainers, sneaker-lending programmes and ClassPasses to local boutique fitness studios.
“Major hotels are realising that putting fitness first matters to this demographic a lot, and that they need to have options so working out doesn’t feel like a chore,” Bennett said. “And if they can incur something unique to the location, that’s sort of a nice balance. The days of the old treadmill in the basement, that’s not really the strategy anymore.”
Fun, she said, has also become a priority to hotels courting millennials. “They want to have the kind of experience they can post on Instagram,” she said.
Bennett said Westin Hotels and Resorts had become a favourite among runners because it seeks to optimise a runner’s stay.
Brian Povinelli, Westin’s senior vice president and global brand leader, said RunWestin, a programme begun in 2012 with New Balance, had several parts.
“On the simplest level, every hotel features a running map and 3- and 5-mile routes,” he said. “And we offer the amenity of, when people are coming back from a run, they’re given a towel and a bottle of water.”
A sneaker-lending programme lets guests borrow New Balance shoes, and a “run concierge” will customise maps for sightseers. For example, Povinelli said, “Westin Maui has a run through the Black Rock formation, where people dive off the end.”
“That’s a great Instagrammable moment,” he added. “And when you get into Seattle, the Westin there has a run around the Space Needle.”
Westin guests, like those at Even, can avoid the monotony of running alone. “This desire to work out in a group, rather than as a solitary experience, is something we’re really seeing driven by millennials,” Povinelli said.
