The 6 Most High-Tech Fitness-Focused Hotels in the World
When it comes to traveling, it’s no longer a luxury to remain active while lodging at a hotel. If they are interested in fitness, they don’t want just a treadmill, some dumbbells, and a television in the corner to entertain them while at the hotel. They demand professional equipment, customized programming, recovery technology, and convenient exercise programs without missing a beat.
The world’s most sophisticated fitness hotels are answering back, offering virtual reality fitness classes, performance analysis, cryotherapy rooms, smart fitness systems, and even fitness equipment in guest rooms. Advanced room systems can even integrate with hospitality television setups to display customized workout routines, real-time heart rate stats, and guided recovery sessions directly on the screen.
SIRO One Za’abeel — Dubai, United Arab Emirates
A hotel built around fitness, rather than just furnished for fitness, may well be SIRO One Za’abeel. Fitness Lab has a large training space, specific studios for high-intensity interval training (HIIT), cycling, yoga, Pilates, and training with the performance coach.
The nearby Recovery Lab presents biohacking technologies such as cryotherapy, red-light therapy, compression, and more. It is even possible to book Fitness Suites with in-room equipment, so training can take place privately.
Equinox Hotel New York — New York City, United States
Guest members at Equinox Hotel New York will have access to an entire Equinox fitness club, not a typical hotel gym. The spaces at Hudson Yards include squat racks, barbells, performance cardio, turf spaces, personal training, group classes, and a SoulCycle studio.
Its recovery infrastructure is also impressive. The guests make a transition from training to recovery through the use of the following facilities: Cryotherapy, infrared sauna treatments, MLX i3Dome thermal system, indoor and outdoor pools, and barrel saunas. The sleep-engineered guest rooms take the performance principle outside of the gym.
Aman Nai Lert Bangkok — Bangkok, Thailand
Aman Nai Lert Bangkok is a high-tech fitness facility that is married with traditional Thai wellness. The fitness center is 265 square meters with high-tech gym equipment, and there are separate Movement and Pilates studios for private training, mobility, yoga and meditation.
The hotel also has a cryotherapy chamber, hot and cold plunge pools, experiential showers, hydrotherapy facilities and an 82-foot outdoor swimming pool. A 3-day mobility and recovery program that has been created specifically for Novak Djokovic brings an elite-athlete point of view to the experience.
Palazzo Fiuggi — Fiuggi, Italy
Palazzo Fiuggi is close to Rome, and has taken up the former ballroom to create a Movement Lab of 400 sq meters. In addition to Technogym equipment, guests can enjoy ICAROS virtual reality machines: a combination of a gyroscopic platform, a headset and interactive controls.
In ICAROS, the user performs in a virtual environment, developing balance, coordination, core strength and muscular control, instead of exercising in a static environment. It’s a great example of how you can gamify the experience of hotel fitness.
Chenot Palace Weggis — Weggis, Switzerland
At the Chenot Palace Weggis, exercise is considered in the light of health diagnostics and of long-term performance. It has a medical spa with an area of 5,000 square meters, which features a metabolic and sports laboratory, an altitude chamber, antigravity technology, epigenetic profiling, and a whole-body cold chamber that operates at very low temperatures.
The information collected through evaluations can be used to create a more individualized fitness, recovery, and lifestyle program by the property’s experts. This will take the experience further than equipment access and towards technology-enabled health optimization.
SHA Spain — Alicante, Spain
SHA Spain is a combination of luxury hospitality, medical wellness, and tailored fitness programs. The tests performed may vary by program and include body-composition analysis, a three-dimensional body scan, cardiovascular assessment, vital-sign measurements, and other diagnostic testing.
The information is utilized to create personalized plans that include physical activity, nutrition, recovery, and healthier lifestyles. The technology offers something the typical hotel gym can’t: a clearer picture for the guests on how their body is working and where the training should go.
EVEN Hotels — Multiple Locations
Not all hotels are dedicated to ultimate luxury, but fitness travel can be just as enjoyable as it is at IHG’s EVEN Hotels. The brand fits exercise into guests’ room experience with special Fitness Zones equipped with resistance, stretching, and cardio machines.
There are also workout videos available on-demand, and larger Athletic Studios have treadmills, bikes, free weights, etc. Some even offer free laundry facilities for exercise wear, which is a relatively easy amenity that is very useful to active travelers.
The Future of Hotel Fitness Technology
The most technologically advanced fitness hotels make exercise an aspect of an integrated customer experience. Rather than being independent facilities, these elements of training, nutrition, sleep, diagnostics, and recovery are all integrated.
A cryotherapy chamber or a virtual reality training center is not essential for all properties. But hotels can follow these leaders by offering better equipment, workout programs on digital platforms, settings for training and recovery, and other amenities. Smart fitness tech can make hotels a healthier place to stay and make it more likely guests will want to come back again, as health is becoming a bigger consideration in hotel bookings.
