Pillar Wellbeing Brings Wellness Hospitality to Doha, London

For today’s wellness consumer, a healthy lifestyle is an always-on pursuit — even while travelling.

What’s happening: Pillar Wellbeing, a wellness hospitality concept centred around high-performance living, is set to debut in both Doha and London this year.

The brand, co-founded by renowned fitness trainer Harry Jameson, will open the doors to a members club at the landmark Katara Towers (housing both the Fairmont and Raffles hotels) in the spring, with a flagship club slated to open at Raffles London at The OWO over the summer.

What it is: Anchored by what it argues are the three pillars of human well-being—movement, nutrition, and recovery—Pillar partners with hotels and retreats to deliver an ecosystem of programming and optimisation tools for the wellness-obsessed:

• Along with design specs for fitness facilities, it provides 1:1 personal training as well as boutique fitness classes and outdoor run club.
• Pillar Kitchen, a veg-centric café debuting in London’s flagship, features an in-house menu curated for mindful eating, as well as bespoke meal plans.
• Targeting longevity and disease prevention, its recovery & spa suite delivers physiotherapy, cryotherapy, infrared sauna, and more.

For Doha in particular, Pillar members will have access to Qatar’s largest gym and indoor climbing wall, specialised spa-within-a-spa suites, and other premium wellness amenities.

Destination: Wellness

By redefining the delivery of well-being services at luxury wellness destinations, the brand plans to leverage renewed thirst for post-pandemic wellness travel — a sector expected to grow faster than any other wellness category over the next two years.

By the numbers: 

• Wellness tourism is predicted to reach $1.1B in value by 2025 (+20.9%), per GWI.
• According to a Hilton survey, half of all respondents are seeking travel experiences in 2023 that align with their holistic wellness goals and priorities.
• More than half (55%) of consumers surveyed by American Express said they would pay more for wellness activities during future vacations.

Looking ahead: Pillar’s Doha outpost represents just part of an ambitious growth trajectory that mirrors this shift. As it seeks to expand its social wellness club into the residential sector, workspaces, and bespoke retreats, expect more venues to offer programs—both in-house and franchise—that cater to a consumer that prioritizes wellness wherever they go.