The Wellness in Hospitality Podcast

You've spent 20 years in this industry. You know your craft. You know your value.  

And yet the moment someone asks what you do as a consultant, you launch into a list. Everything you can offer. Everything you've done. Every possible way you could help. The entire kitchen sink. 

And the only response you get is silence. 

My guest today knows that feeling. Annie Simpson is the founder of Aurora Spa Consulting in Montreal, and my very first Wellness Consultant Blueprint client.  

She'd started and stopped her...

Most hotels believe they are offering wellness. 
 
But if you look closely, most guests never actually feel it. 


I see this all the time in hospitality. 

Beautiful spas. Thoughtfully designed spaces. Strong concepts on paper. 

And yet… 

They’re sitting empty, are underperforming or uninviting. 


And the assumption is usually: 

“Guests don’t value wellness.” 

“There isn’t enough demand.” 

But that’s not what’s happening. 

Because the intention is there. 

The investment is there. 

The quality is...

What happens when your vision grows faster than your capacity? 

Most people interpret that moment as failure. They think they’re behind. They assume the goal might be unrealistic. 

But I’ve learned that when you raise your standard, a gap naturally appears between what you want to create and what your current system can deliver. 

That gap isn’t a problem. 

It’s the place where leadership and stewardship begins. 

In this episode, I share a personal story from my marathon training and how it mirrors exactly what h...

Tools remove friction. 

Instruments require mastery. 

 
The question is: 

Which one is wellness in your hotel? 
 
Because if it’s treated like a tool, it will always remain operational. 

If it’s treated like an instrument, it changes how you design, how you lead, and how power moves inside your business. 

And most hotels, without realising it, have already chosen. 


For years, I’ve watched hospitality struggle with wellness. 


We say it’s strategic. 

But in meetings, the question is always...

There is no wellness concept in most hotels. There is a wellness space, a wellness team, and a wellness budget. 

Those are not the same thing. 

I ask every boutique hotel owner I work with one question: if you removed every physical element tomorrow, what would remain? 

That answer, or the absence of one, is telling. And once you know what should remain, you can't build wellness any other way. 

Here’s why this happens. 

Most boutique hotel owners didn't choose their wellness model. A consultant advised on which element...

Smooth seas make every boat look well-built. 

Right now, wellness is in calm waters
 

Revenue is flowing. 

Demand is rising. 

Investors are confident. 

But tailwinds are not strategy. 

Is your wellness engineered to endure or it simply being carried by the market? 

In this episode, I share a personal lesson from my marathon journey. 

For years, I completed one marathon a year. I believed that with discipline and putting the effort in to clock the miles...

Most boutique hotel owners aren’t adding wellness because they want to. 


They’re adding it because they feel they should. 


Because wellness is “what the market expects.” 

Because everyone else seems to be doing it. 

Because not doing it feels like falling behind. 

 

This is the starting point I see again and again. 

 
And it matters more than most people realise. 


Because when wellness begins as an obligation rather than a belief, it quietly sets the tone for everything that f...

Who is responsible for designing your wellness offering? 

Really, who? 

As I’ve been researching and writing my second book, I’ve been revisiting some of the thinking that has shaped how I see wellness leadership and business today. One idea I keep coming back to is first who, then what. It’s the idea that you need the right people on the bus and in the right seats. 

But the more I sit with this idea, especially in the context of wellness within hospitality, the clearer it becomes that we’ve...

Wellness doesn’t fail because leaders aren’t capable. 

It fails because the system still relies on heroes instead of governance. 

For more than two decades, I’ve watched highly capable wellness leaders carry broken systems on their backs in hotels, spas, and now in consulting. And when they burn out or move on, the entire operation quietly collapses. 

That’s not a leadership problem. 

That’s a design problem. 

This episode was sparked while I was outlining my next book and dee...

Most wellness concepts don’t fail because they lack beautiful facilities or trending treatments. 

They fail because they were built from the top of the iceberg down, not from the base up.


Over the years, I’ve worked with wellness founders, hotel owners, and consultants who deeply care about doing wellness properly. Their intention is solid. Their belief in wellness is genuine.


And yet, many still ask the same question:
“What kind of wellness offering should I build?”

 
That question is already part of the proble...

Wellness has had its growth spurt. 

But growth alone doesn’t create legacies. 

In this episode, I share why 2026 marks a quiet but powerful shift in the wellness and hospitality industry, and why the next decade won’t be led by those chasing trends, but by those who’ve earned the right to design what endures. 

As I closed 2025 and stepped into 2026, I found myself reflecting on more than two decades in wellness. 

I’ve seen this industry move from the margins to the centre. 

Wellness is no longer something guests do on holiday. 

It’s something they expect to be supported in, from the moment they book to long after they leave. 

In this episode, I’m joined by Emma Sleight, Head of Content at The World’s 50 Best Hotels, to explore how hospitality is being reshaped by changing guest expectations, deeper definitions of wellness, and a growing demand for meaning, connection, and place-led experience. 

This is a conversation for anyone building, operating, or advising hotels and destinations that want to stay relevant i...

Consulting does work. 

But only when you stop using it as an escape and start building it like a business. 

If Part 1 showed you why most wellness consultants fail, this episode shows you the path that actually works. 

In the first part of this series, we looked at the uncomfortable truth: 

90% of wellness consultants fail in their first year. It’s not because they lack expertise, it’s because they carry their operational frustrations straight into entrepreneurship. 

 
In this second and final episode, I want to shift th...

Most wellness leaders don’t fail at consulting because they lack expertise. 

They fail because they use consulting to solve a problem it was never designed to fix. 

If you’re thinking about consulting as your way out of burnout, frustration, or feeling stuck, this episode may change how you see everything. 

This is the first episode in a two-part series. 

In Part 1, my goal isn’t to convince you to become a consultant or to sell you on a dream. I...

Most new consultants think the safest way to price their work is by the hour or by the day. It feels logical, familiar, and measurable.​ 

But the truth is pricing by time is the fastest way to stay underpaid, undervalued, and stuck in your old employee identity, no matter how talented you are. 

Let’s look at how this actually shows up for new wellness consultants in real life. 

When new consultants join The Wellness Consultant Blueprint, the same pattern appears every time.​ 

They finally find the cour...

Most wellness leaders think consulting will finally free them: from operations, chaos, long hours, and everyone else’s demands. You don’t escape the fires; you trade the operational fires you know for business fires you’ve never handled before, and that’s what makes the transition feel so disorienting. 

Here’s how that plays out when you actually leave operations and step into consulting. 

When you leave operations, consulting looks like the calm, strategic next step: no more therapists calling in sick, angry guests, or last‑minute GM requests. Then the new problems arrive (late client pa...

If you’re standing at the top of your wellness career and quietly wondering, “How do I move into consulting without losing the security I’ve worked so hard for?”, this episode gives you the answer with clarity and honesty. 

I’ve watched so many senior wellness leaders reach the highest point of their careers, great salaries, respected roles, global exposure, only to realise the excitement is gone. The travel feels heavier. The work feels bland. And yet the fear of leaving is bigger than ever, because the leap from a high salary into consulting feels imposs...

Most wellness leaders feel the pull toward consulting, and then freeze on one simple question: 

“But what would I actually do?” 

In this episode, I break it down clearly and practically, so you finally understand what the role really looks like. 

When wellness leaders ask me, “Sonal, what does a wellness consultant actually do?” I always smile because I remember being in that exact place myself. 

Years ago, when I first stepped into consulting, I thought I could do everything. I had just come off a successful pr...

What if the reason you feel stuck isn’t your job, your boss, or your hotel but the story you’re telling yourself about everything you’ve already invested? 

In this episode, I share a pattern I see over and over again with wellness leaders, and one I lived myself. 

You pour years into a role. You stay loyal. You work harder. You deliver more. You wait for the next position, the recognition, the title that will finally validate all the effort you’ve invested. 

And when...

What does it take to move from managing spa menus to running an entire wellness resort? 

 
Dr Rajesh Bail’s story is proof that when you blend scientific curiosity with commercial acumen, wellness stops being a “department” and becomes the heartbeat of the business. 


In this conversation, I sit down with Dr Rajesh Bail, General Manager of Swastik Wellbeing in Pune, India, a resort that’s redefining what modern wellness hospitality looks like. 

 
Dr Rajesh began his career as a research scientist, driven by one question: How can we prove that wellness...

Most wellness leaders build their offers around fixing pain:  

👉🏽 stress, burnout, imbalance. 

But the consultants who create real impact and longevity build around aspiration:  

👉🏽 who their clients want to become, not just what they want to fix. 

This idea came up during a live training with students inside The Wellness Consultant Blueprint. 

We were discussing how to create a signature offer that led to a powerful realisation: 

👉🏽 There are two ways to build a business. 

You can build a...

Most hotels still ask: Where do our guests want to go? 

 
But the next generation of travellers is asking something entirely different: 

👉🏽  Why am I going? 


The next era of travel isn’t about where we go, it’s about why. 


In today’s episode, I sit down with Richard Lindberg, the founder of One Planet Journey, and we explore the rise of the Deep Traveller: the purpose-driven guest reshaping how we think about tourism, wellness, and legacy. 

 

When Swedish entrepreneur Richard Lindberg took six months off to dr...

Why do some wellness concepts thrive for decades while others fade within a year?

It's not the brand. 
It's not the bling facilities. 
It's not even the talent.

There's a deeper model at play, and today, I'm breaking it down.

After 20+ years in wellness and hospitality, I've seen both sides of the story:

-- the simple concepts that endure, and 
-- the beautiful ones that collapse despite having everything "right."

I used to think the failures were due to the market or the owners. 

But...

Most wellness directors dream about consulting, creating concepts they love, working with clients they choose, and finally having freedom of time and place.

But most never make the leap.

Not because they’re don’t have the right expertise or wellness knowledge.

But because they don’t know how.

When I first designed the Wellness Consultant Blueprint, I knew I didn’t want to create another course packed with theory.

I wanted to create a container, an experience that walks you step-by-step from being a burnt-out operations leader to a confid...

If you’re dreaming about becoming a consultant because you think it’ll finally free you from burnout, politics, and being undervalued, this episode is for you.

Because here’s the truth: 

Consulting won’t save you.
It will only amplify who you already are.

After nearly two decades in consulting, I’ve seen brilliant wellness directors make the leap, and crash just as quickly. 

Why? 
Because they thought consulting would fix the bitterness, resentment, or exhaustion they felt in their jobs.

But...

“There are already too many spa consultants out there.”


That’s the belief I keep hearing from talented wellness leaders, and it’s the very thought that’s keeping them from tapping into their full potential. 

When I put out a call for help a few years ago, I had 384 applications from wellness leaders. After rounds of shortlisting, I test-drove 4 incredibly talented candidates. And yet, not one of them could deliver what I needed. 

Here is why: being a great wellness director doesn’t automatically make you a great consultant. And thinking the market is...

Most wellness directors dream about becoming consultants. 

 
Creating concepts they love, working with clients they choose, and enjoying freedom of time and place.  

 
But the leap feels risky.  

 
What if you don’t know what to offer?  
What if you can’t find clients?  
What if you can’t replace your steady paycheck? 


That’s why I created the Wellness Consultant Blueprint: the roadmap I wish I’d had when I started nearly two decades ago. 


When I first transitioned from being a global wellness di...

Most wellness directors dream about becoming consultants, but few understand the reality of stepping into the Strategic Consultant role.  

 
It looks glamorous from the outside: freedom, recognition, unlimited earning potential.  

 
But behind the scenes? It’s a high-stakes game that makes or breaks most consultants within 18 months. 

 
In this episode, I share the third and final exit route in my series on how wellness directors can transition into consulting: the Strategic Consultant path. 

It took me 14 years to master this route. 

14 years of mistakes, going back into full...

What if you could turn your wellness expertise into adventure, freedom, and premium income, without being tied to one property?  

That’s exactly what Exit Route 2, the Project-Based Consultant, makes possible. 

In this episode, I take you behind the scenes of my own early consulting years, when I went from pre-opening to pre-opening across the globe. It was exciting, exhilarating, and exhausting all at the same time. And it was the single best training ground I could have asked for.  
 

This route gave me variety, advent...

January 2008. The key moment when I finally took the leap and set up shop as a consultant. I remember I signed my first hotel group as an internal consultant, and it became the safest bet I ever made.  


Here's why this could be your softest landing from operations hell to strategic freedom. 

 
If you’re tired of juggling 10 jobs while your talent gets wasted on putting out operational fires and handling guest complaints. 


If you’re ready to escape the crystal ceiling but terrified about finding your first consulting clients, in this...

Have you ever felt like the more successful you become as a wellness director, the more trapped you feel?  

You're not alone.  

In this today’s episode, we dive deep into the paradox that keeps talented wellness professionals stuck beneath an invisible glass ceiling, despite having years of experience and proven success. 

In today’s episode, here are the 3 things we’ll cover: 

1. The ‘golden handcuffs’ phenomenon 

The three invisible chains that bind talented wellness directors to situations they've outgrown, and why your greatest s...

What if the spaces we design could do more than impress the eye? 

What if they could heal, connect, and transform?  

In this episode, architect and visionary Rachael Grochowski reveals why true wellness design goes far beyond aesthetics, and how land, culture, and spirit must guide the process. 

Today, we’ll cover: 

→ The evolution of wellness in design - from luxury amenities to regenerative, place-based architecture. 

→ The dangers of losing authenticity – why technology and commercialisation risk stripping humanity from wellness. 

→ How to bui...

Wellness is no longer a side offering.  

We know it’s becoming a core expectation in hospitality.  

But as “wellness” gets attached to anything from a yoga mat in a room to a lobby diffuser, the word is at risk of losing its meaning.  

In this episode, I invite Mark Kohoot, founder and CEO of Aeroscena, to discuss how the hospitality industry can protect the integrity of wellness, make it evidence-based, and turn it into a serious driver of revenue and reputation.  

From scent and phytotherapy, deeply connected to our most primitive...

 What happens when a burned-out strategy consultant travels the world seeking wellness solutions, only to discover they're all treating symptoms instead of root causes?  

Vickum Nawagamuwage's journey from corporate burnout to founding Santani Wellness in Sri Lanka reveals his much-needed approach to wellness that challenges everything hotels think they know about spa and wellness programming. 

From visiting wellness destinations across four continents to developing what Time Magazine recognised as one of the greatest places in the world, Vickum discovered that modern stress isn't a situational problem, it's evolutionary.  

Vickum advocates that we stop focu...

How one landowner stopped making expensive mistakes and started building a legacy.

What happens when you've spent tens of thousands on hotel designs that feel completely wrong?

In this episode, I share the story of Corey Beckwith, a successful real estate developer who stood on a beautiful piece of beachfront land in Ghana with an undeniable sense of calling... and no idea how to honour it.

His first attempt?
Eight vegan restaurants in an outdoor food court.

His second?
A traditional...

What no one tells you about building a wellness legacy.

What happens after the clarity?
After the vision brief?
After the moment where it all starts to feel real?

You hit the valley.

That quiet, uncomfortable, often terrifying stretch between the dream you’ve held for so long…
and the decisions it now demands.

This episode is about that valley, and how to move through it.

You’ve watched the stories unfold this week inside From Land to Legacy.
You’ve heard ho...

Most landowners don’t fail because their vision isn’t good enough.

They fail because they’re following a playbook that was never meant for them.

A playbook designed for large hotel portfolios and real estate ventures, not deeply personal, legacy-led projects.

If you're trying to create something meaningful on your land…
Something that reflects your values, gives back to your community, and leaves the land better than you found it…

Then this is for you.


For the last 3 years, I’ve hosted the Wellness in Hospitality Spotlight, e...

If you’ve hired multiple experts, commissioned beautiful renderings, and still feel no closer to building your boutique wellness retreat, this episode is for you. 


Because the truth is, more consultants don’t fix confusion. 
They amplify it. 


What moves your project forward is Clarity. 
Clarity of vision, and clarity of identity. 


In this episode, I break down the two clarities that separate those landowners who run in circles from those who actually build, and how one landowner, Corey, transformed from someone with a vague dream to the leader of...

You’ve got the vision. 
You know the feeling you want your guests to walk away with. 
You’ve walked your land, journaled your dreams, and maybe hired an expert or two. 

So why hasn’t your project started yet? 

In this episode, I dive into the hidden reason so many brilliant boutique wellness retreats never make it past the idea phase. I’ll talk about what it really takes to move from having a dream to creating a solid vision that the right people can actually bring to life. 

I’ll share how my...

Have you ever walked into a space that felt absolutely perfect, but couldn't explain why?  

Or visited a beautifully designed spa that somehow felt... off?  

 
The secret isn't in the fixtures or finishes. It's in understanding the invisible forces that make or break your wellness offering. 


I see it time and again. Boutique hotel owners invest heavily in stunning spa facilities, state-of-the-art gyms, and beautifully appointed meditation rooms, only to wonder why their wellness offering isn't resonating with guests.  

 
They've followed the traditional spa-led model, copying what works elsewh...