This Hotel Group Is Partnering With Leading Wellness Brands To Kickstart COVID-19 Recovery

  • SLS, Mondrian and Hyde Hotels have partnered with premier US yoga brand Y7 Studio to provide custom flows and complimentary online classes for hotel guests
  • The collaboration follows hotel group’s deals with virtual fitness specialists DOGPOUND, percussive therapy company Therabody and activewear brand Goldsheep
  • SLS, Mondrian and Hyde are part of Accor, a global hospitality group consisting of more than 5,100 properties and 10,000 food and beverage venues throughout 110 countries 

NEW YORK, United States — After a year beset by challenges for the hospitality sector, a leading global hotel group has signed a series of brand partnerships with fitness companies, underlining the role wellness is likely to play in the global economy’s recovery post COVID-19. 

This month, SLS, Mondrian and Hyde Hotels — each managed by global lifestyle hospitality company sbe — partnered with US yoga brand Y7 Studio to deliver on-demand and live-streamed classes to guests, along with one month of complimentary membership. 

The collaboration was launched with a customised virtual yoga flow designed exclusively for the hotels’ global portfolio, and follows similar deals with celebrity-favourite virtual workout specialists DOGPOUND, percussive therapy company Therabody and activewear brand Goldsheep. 

Philippe Zrihen, sbe’s Chief Business Officer, said these partnerships perfectly reflect how wellness fits into the company’s long-term strategy. “Wellness has long been — and post COVID, more so than ever — an important component of our growth and one of our brand standards across our entire hotel portfolio,” Zrihen told Welltodo. 

“We put great effort into our partnerships and affiliations, seeking long term partners that are like-minded, and who view hospitality and wellness specifically as a way of life and not a one-off amenity. Y7 fits that criteria perfectly.” 

Hotel Group Is Partnering With Leading Wellness Brands To Kickstart COVID-19 Recovery
Image: DOGPOUND

Opportunity for wellness startups to scale through B2B
Established in 2013, Y7 Studio delivers candlelit yoga classes across New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The company also offers on-demand and live-streamed classes through Y7 Online, and over the coming year Y7 will create custom virtual flows exclusively for sbe’s hotels on a quarterly basis. 

By focusing on lucrative corporate and hospitality partnerships, collaborations such as that struck up by Y7 shows how independent wellness brands could also bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic.

Miri Polachek, CEO of Joy Ventures, an accelerator devoted to funding companies driving innovation across the wellness sector, recently told Welltodo how she believes B2B partnerships have presented a huge opportunity for consumer wellness startups to scale. 

Polachek said the pandemic was “driving unprecedented attention toward the wellness space” as human interactions became limited and traditional health and wellness outlets like gyms became less accessible. 

This shift accelerated both consumer uptake and corporate interest in wellness which, she said, has enabled companies such as meditation apps Headspace and Calm to scale up rapidly – and raise huge amounts of funding in the process. 

Read More: Seed to IPO: How To Raise Money For Your Wellness Business in 2021 

The Future Of Wellness Hospitality
As the vaccine rollout continues apace around the world, and lockdown restrictions ease, sbe’s Zrihen is confident the hospitality sector will recover quickly from the hardship of the pandemic. He’s already seen hotel bookings recover strongly, as well as a significant rise in requests for health and wellness services at sbe’s properties. 

Whether global travel returns to pre-pandemic levels is less clear, yet Zrihen believes the partnerships signed over the past 12 months will provide an extra dimension for wellness-minded guests when they do return. 

“[Throughout 2020] we continued to aggressively open new properties and build partnerships with a belief that as the pandemic recedes, there would be a strong desire to travel and our lifestyle brand hotels would be target destinations for those who seek out immersive experiences,” he said. 

Adding: “We feel very well situated to offer the vacations that travellers are seeking after a year of lockdowns and isolation. Our hotels are located in some of the top travel destinations in the world and our lifestyle offering gives guests the best of the best.” 

The Mondrian Shoreditch London, the latest addition to Accor’s global portfolio, will open its doors in East London’s creative and cultural hub in July 2021 following a major overhaul and interior redesign.