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August 30, 2017
Hyatt Acquires Exhale Spa Brand, Reaffirms Focus on Branded Wellness
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ÒHyatt is looking at wellness as a meaningful strategic platform for us to enter, simply because our customers really demand that,Ó Steve Haggerty, HyattÕs global head of capital strategy, franchising and select service, said. ÒIt's a response to that customer need that has fortuitously lead us to these two brands and these two management teams.Ó The deal, Haggerty said, will not fundamentally change the way in which Hyatt operates its hotels. Instead, it is designed to attract an increasingly lucrative market. ÒWhat we have here is an experience that we believe is something that [people] might be looking for when they travel, particularly those folks who engage in wellness when they're at home,Ó he said. ÒExhale has storefronts in markets where our key customer base lives. And now [weÕll be] able to serve them when they travel. So it's it's an additive experience to the overall stay with a standalone brand that is renowned for mindfulness and in the fitness area.Ó In Exhale ÒWe wanted a strategic partner that could take this brand to a larger global audience,Ó Annbeth Eschbach, ExhaleÕs CEO and founder, said of the deal. Hyatt was a good fit for the companyÕs growth plan, she continued, thanks to shared valuesÑand Exhale was already familiar with the demands of hotel guests. ÒHalf of our current locations are in hospitality-based locations,Ó Eschbach said. Notably, the brand has a presence in several non-Hyatt hotels, including the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica and the Gansevoort Park Avenue Hotel in New York. Fans of ExhaleÕs services seek out hotels that already have Exhale centers in order to maintain their wellness routines away from home, Eschbach said. ÒThat's one of the big trends trends that we can see. More and more people today want to continue the routine they've established at home on the road. And so it is not as much a demographic as it is for psychographic. ÒAnd then what's even better is that Exhale will continue to be preserved as a distinct, special, unique wellbeing brand,Ó Eschbach said of the companyÕs future. Exhale will operate separately from Hyatt, and the whole senior team and all of the companyÕs services will remain in place, she said. Going forward, Haggerty said, Hyatt plans to expand Exhale's storefront locations, particularly in markets where HyattÕs target customers reside and want to experience this kind of wellness. ÒAnd then we will selectively incorporate Exhale spas and certain Exhale experiences to our hotels where appropriate across the brand portfolio. Wellness Growth While the two recent deals focus on the same theme, the customer experience between Exhale and Miraval will be very different. ÒThe differentiation is obviously in how they approach wellness,Ó Haggerty said of HyattÕs two new acquisitions. ÒIn the case of Miraval, itÕs the destination spa environment. In the case of Exhale, itÕs how we how we think about day-to-day wellness and serving customers in more urban environments on a day-to-day basis.Ó ÒOur purpose is to care for people so they can be their best. That's our North Star,Ó Mark Hoplamazian, president and CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corp., said earlier this year regarding the Miraval buy. ÒAs a company, we are focused on the high-end traveler, and we identified wellness as important to them.Ó Copyright 2017 Questex LLC. All rights reserved. From http://www.hotelmanagement.net. By Jena Tesse Fox.
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