Why True Wellness Is Still So Hard to Implement in Hotels

I received a great comment on my last post, “How Can We Teach Wellness,” saying that the best way to learn wellness is to experience it yourself. I couldn’t agree more.

But if so many people understand this, why is it still such a challenge to implement in hospitality?

I think the answer is that not many of us have truly embodied wellness in our daily lives because it’s not easy. It takes time, willingness to change, consistency, and heart.

We already know wellness isn’t just about fitness, healthy food, and massages. It’s about inner harmony, joy, genuine happiness, and fulfillment.

So how can a business, like a hotel, help its people feel that harmony and fulfillment?
Not so easy, right?
Where do we start?

First, we ask why it’s hard.

Many of us still don’t have a true work-life balance that allows us to feel whole and calm, to have time and space to address our stress, emotions, and inner world.

Almost a decade ago, I had to step away from the hospitality industry for a year to find my center, reconnect with self-love, and rebuild my nervous system. I walked the beach every day, healed, reflected, and shed many layers of fear and pain.

That journey back to myself changed everything, and it’s what’s missing not only in our industry but in so many lives.

The truth is, for hotels to truly embody wellness, people must first become whole, healthy, and happy from within.

Work can then transform into something deeper: a calling, a vocation, an expression. We’ve all heard that we thrive when we love what we do.

The Challenges We Face as an Industry

Leadership often overlooks the truth that a leader’s state of being sets the tone for the entire team. Unwell leaders can’t cultivate well teams.

The pace of hospitality has become unsustainably reactive; everything feels urgent, as if we’re running an emergency room instead of creating experiences.

Communication frequently turns into directives rather than dialogue. People feel talked at, not to.

Many operations still reward overwork instead of balance, building cultures of burnout rather than wellness.

Staff wellbeing is too often treated as a perk, not the foundation of long-term success. When people feel cared for, they respond with loyalty, creativity, and love.

The industry continues to chase quick fixes and surface-level trends instead of committing to deep, evidence-based wellness education.

Without proper guidance, tools, and supportive environments, teams struggle to embody wellness. It remains a concept rather than a lived practice.

So the question remains:
If we all know wellness must be lived to be taught, why isn’t it a priority in every hotel?