by Lynn Burshtein
Pullman Hotels & Resorts, a collection of upscale properties owned by AccorHotels, has launched a wellness program that enables busy travellers to maintain their healthy living habits while on the road.
It’s a familiar refrain for frequent business travellers, many of whom are diligent about keeping up with good lifestyle habits at home, but seem to abandon them when it comes to travelling. They are booked at hotels that are well-appointed, with comfortable suites, but faced with busy work schedules and jetlag, their meals are often ordered after-hours courtesy of the room service menu (grilled cheese and fries, anyone?) or at the hotel bar. Their exercise habits fall by the wayside, especially if their schedules don’t permit enough time to visit the hotel gym. And the tight muscles and sore necks resulting from long haul flights? Just an occupational hazard, they assume.
Enter Pullman Wellness: a program being rolled out across the brand’s international properties. The components of the program are not necessarily revolutionary – Pullman’s Four Pillars of Wellness – SLEEP, FOOD, SPORT and SPA, promote restful sleep, healthy eating, regular exercise and therapeutic spa treatments – all things we’ve been taught before. But the way the program makes these things so accessible to guests fills a large void in the hotel industry.
I had the privilege of attending a press trip for the North American launch of Pullman Wellness program at the San Francisco Bay hotel, led by Pullman’s Wellness Ambassador, Sarah Hoey, and hosted by Accor’s Wellbeing Director Aldina Duarte Ramos and Director of Spa & Fitness Daniel Poulin. The jam-packed weekend was filled with a variety of fitness and yoga classes (all done using portable fitness kits comprised only of a yoga mat, a few exercise bands and a couple of hand weights); healthy meals and cooking lessons, delightful spa treatments, and a demonstration of the DREEM app, innovative technology which helps monitor and improve sleep habits. Everything was available at our fingertips.
The Pullman Wellness program enables healthy living to be integrated seamlessly into a hotel stay – narrowing the longstanding divide between “business travel” and “wellness travel”. Case-in-point, after my last workout on the trip (which I did by the outdoor pool, overlooking gorgeous San Francisco Bay), I walked onto a packed elevator with my exercise kit and yoga mat in hand. A few guests who appeared to have just checked into the hotel – looking dishevelled after what must have been a long flight – commented on my gear: “Wow – does the hotel offer yoga classes?” ”No”, I responded, “This is just part of a new wellness initiative offered by the hotel. Guests are given the yoga mat and workout equipment so they can exercise anywhere, on their own schedule. I just did my work-out by the pool.” “What a great idea!” another elevator passenger chimed in. “I totally want to do that after my conference tomorrow!” said another.
So, it seems Pullman Wellness is onto something. Healthy travel for everyone!
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Lynn Burshtein is a Toronto-base writer and regular contributor to Travel to Wellness.
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