The Birchwood Park Golf and Country Club (situated on the outskirts of Wilmington, near Dartford) went through recently an extensive £5m development. Thus, they became the most comprehensive health, leisure, golf, and events facility in the area. After these development guests can enjoy:
- Hydrotherapy pool and panoramic sauna in the wellness area,
- 60 new pieces of luxury gym equipment. A new timetable encompassing 70 classes has also been launched this month.
It does not really come out of the announcement and their website how they want to provide more custom-tailored service with personal trainers that fit each guest’s experience. From now on country clubs, resorts should give a greater focus on customization and personal connection.
Furthermore, as we are living in an “always on” mode + we are becoming more urban dwellers, it would be a great idea to become a place of unplugged human connection and bring back people to nature as part of the spa experience. The #SelfieGeneration is also part of the big picture who is much savvier than many previous generations. To help people to disconnect, I would recommend considering limiting the free Wi-Fi service. The good news is that spas are popular among the Millennials.
There is no day when I do not come across with ads about stress management/relief, proper nutrition or simply about genuine self-care. Birchwood Park & Country Club could be more attractive if they could provide answers to these pain points of people (e.g. by nutritional counseling, ‘Silent Night’ retreat during the holidays, spa parties).
To be able to deliver these services, country clubs like the Birchwood Park they will have to solve the following HR challenges:
- find highly trained and sophisticated trainers, experts;
- embrace the fact that therapists’ careers are much bigger than just working at their spa;
- how to provide a stable income for the trainers and therapists.
Meanwhile, it is worth analyzing the global wellness economy:
