Regenerative Well-Being through Design

Connecting the dots
How and why were you inspired to advocate for wellness in the hospitality industry?

I define myself as a Natural Capitalist, which means I’m highlighting the connection—rather than the contradiction—between business and ideology. The recognition started early in my professional life, as I began to realize that the way toward creating positive change is to go into the mainstream, work with the “unconverted,” and present positive solutions rather than focusing on the negative.

My two main strengths include: shifting organizational mindsets (both top-down and bottom-up) via thought leadership and converting actions into financial numbers and then using those numbers to create a responsible business financial statement.

My entry point into the wellness side of hospitality started in 2004 when I attended the Second Global Congress on Happiness and Well-Being in Bangkok. It was there that I became aware that Bhutan had become the world’s first country to no longer measure the well-being of its people based on economic indicators, but on happiness indicators.

Since my core emphasis on wellness—similar to sustainability—is for the betterment of people, planet, and prosperity, where all equally matter and benefit, and since wellness is an abstract term, I began reflecting on how to measure the well-being of people, planet, and prosperity specifically in the hospitality sector.

I then learned about the Happy Planet Index developed by the London-based New Economics Foundation. After meeting with the key persons behind its development—who also assisted and guided Bhutan—I began reflecting on how to bring this to organizations within the hospitality sector.

This eventually resulted in creating a pioneering Organizational Happiness and Well-Being Index for a London-based hotel group and then using the methodologies of ecological footprinting to measure the well-being of the planet and B Corp and B Travel to measure prosperity/profit.

Enhancing Well-Being through Design
What are the strategies behind your business model, "conscious well-being," in relation to the hospitality industry?

It all starts with the definition of “wellness,” which is interpreted in different ways in different cultures. For us, wellness is not simply an add-on amenity, program, or activity. Instead, it refers to a regenerative state of mind that enhances people's capital, natural capital, and economic capital, where all equally matter and benefit.

Why is all of this relevant? Because in the world of hospitality, 99.9% of hotels look at wellness more from the angle of programs and activities, not from the angle of design. We define "Well-Being through Design" as enhancing the state of mind and soul via the design of decelerated places, spaces, products, and experiences that enhance physical, emotional, and cognitive well-being.

Another of our approaches relates to a term in architecture called the “sick building syndrome,” that is, designing healthy building facilities that include the principles of neuroaesthetics, neuroarchitecture, and silent architecture: still and healing spaces that enable guests or those working there to step inwards and find contemplation.

nestwell: a pioneering blueprint of Well-Being through Design and Slow Hospitality
In the context of Well-Being through Design, what are the unique attributes of the four nestwell bedroom types?

In 2014, two New York City-based former Goldman Sachs bankers coined the term “Wellness Real Estate” and launched the WELL Standard—the world’s first building and design standard based on the principles of wellness. It was developed for commercial and residential real estate, but it didn’t include hospitality. Between 2014 and the COVID-19 lockdown, we developed our own Twelve Symbiotic Principles of Well-Being through Design, inspired by the WELL Standard, the principles of Slow Design, and Design for Well-Being.

What does this mean in practical terms? We created Twelve Symbiotic Principles, Five Key Experiential Features of AWE^TM (Authentic Wellness Experiences), and after extensive global research, four different types of nestwell rooms: Tranquility, Unplugged, Fitness and Spa-themed.

The five experiential features of AWE^TM include: Sleep, Light, Indoor Air Quality, Water, and Movement. Although the design of the bedroom can vary, it’s essential to adhere to the Twelve Design Principles and Five Key Experiential Features in order to achieve nestwell accreditation.

A solution for more conscious supply chains
How are you putting the concepts of responsible sourcing and procurement management in the hospitality industry into practice?

When I was working on sustainable luxury hospitality projects twenty years ago, people would ask me about solutions to implement the ideas I was recommending. Then I began meeting with major hotel brands that were launching their own eco-luxury brands and that had their own sourcing and procurement teams. However, as more people were jumping on the sustainability bandwagon, it became a significant challenge for them to distinguish between truly authentic initiatives and those that were not.

We had developed a traceability analysis methodology that enabled us to track and trace materials and products back to their source. I realized that no one else was doing this, so we established the first—and still only one of its kind in Europe—responsible sourcing and procurement management enterprise targeting the luxury hospitality and spa sectors. Now we supply everything from luxury organic textiles to plastic-free amenities to plant-based leather accessories, all of which enhance well-being.

Redefining luxury
What does luxury mean for you?

Today, we are redefining and reimagining luxury because, like “wellness,” everybody has their own definition of what “luxury” means. For me, luxury is more than just aesthetics; it’s a conduit for holistic living and meaningful and mindful experiences. It’s anything that makes you feel good. It isn’t just about five-star accommodations; it can also mean a million-star experience under a Dark Sky National Park.

Main image: Studio Carter-California. Visual courtesy of nestwell x Studio Carter