The Wellness Programme Standard

Each month, the spa manager sets a weekly programme that suits the place and the season: sunrise yoga on the beach, a guided walk in the hills, an aqua class, breathing and stretching, a family session.

Plan at least one session in the morning and one in the late afternoon every day. Give each its length, level, place, capacity, instructor, and price or “included”.

Above 30 °C in the shade, hold outdoor sessions only before 09:00 or after 17:00, with shade and water at the spot. During Ramadan, move some sessions to after sunset.

Offer women-only sessions with a female instructor where guests ask for them or local custom expects them, and mark them clearly in the programme.

Add sessions guests can follow alone, for those who cannot join or prefer not to: recorded classes of 10 to 30 minutes on the room TV or the hotel app.

Keep on file, in date, each instructor’s and trainer’s qualification, first-aid certificate and insurance. Check outside instructors before their first session, not after it.

Put the week’s programme in every room, in the hotel app or on the TV, and on the boards at the gym and the spa. All show the same times; when a session moves, change them all the same day.

When the pre-arrival reply says the trip is for rest or health, guest relations adds one line about one session that fits, as part of The Pre-Arrival Standard contact.

Check yourself against The Presence Standard before you speak to the first guest of the day about the programme, with today’s sessions and their free places in mind.

At check-in, the front office mentions the gym hours and one session the next morning in one sentence. It never reads out the whole programme.

“The gym is open day and night with your key card, Mr Novak, and there’s yoga on the terrace at 07:30 tomorrow.”

Where the gym is open 24 hours, write it in the room information with how to get in at night, the number that answers the gym phone, and the hours when staff are there.

Each evening, put tomorrow’s programme on one page with the turndown, or send it through the app, showing which sessions still have places.

Make sure every spa, gym and front office colleague can answer three questions about any session without looking it up: when it starts, where it is and what to bring.

“It starts at 07:30 on the terrace. Bring comfortable clothes; mats, towels and water are there.”

Take bookings at the spa desk, by phone or in the app, with the guest’s name, room, session, and any injury or condition the guest wants the instructor to know.

Hold the capacity. When a session is full, offer the next one or the waiting list, and call the guest within 15 minutes if a place frees up.

Before a first personal training session, the trainer goes through the health questions with the guest in private. A yes to heart, blood pressure, pregnancy or recent surgery means an adapted session or a doctor’s word first.

Fifteen minutes before each session, the instructor sets the space: mats wiped, equipment counted, towels and water out, music at a low level, shade, fans or heating set.

Start on the minute. Give your name, welcome each guest by name, and ask about injuries, pregnancy or anything to avoid, quietly and one by one if the group is large.

“Good morning, I’m Marco. Before we start, is there anything I should know about: an injury, a sore back?”

Show each exercise with an easier and a harder version, and let each guest choose. Never single out a guest in front of the group.

Ask before any correction by touch, and correct with words alone where the guest prefers. Touch only hands, arms, shoulders or back.

Watch every guest throughout: breathing, colour, balance. Stop anyone who looks unwell, sit them in the shade with water, and call the duty manager if it does not pass within minutes.

End on time with three to five minutes of cool-down. Tell the group where to find water and the showers, and name the next session.

Agree the goal, the days and the times with the guest, and write them on the booking with the length of each session, its price and the place.

Begin each session by asking how the guest feels today, and adjust for sleep, travel and heat. After a long flight, keep the first session light.

After every session, write a short note: what was done, the weights or distances, anything to avoid. Another trainer must be able to continue from it.

At the last session, give the guest a routine for home on one page or by email: four to six exercises, with sets, repetitions and the equipment needed, if any.

Where the gym is open around the clock, check at every shift change that key-card entry works, the emergency phone answers and the lights come on as the door opens.

When no staff are present, the rounds follow The Fitness Centre Standard. A sign on the inside of the door gives the number to call, in large print.

To a guest who wants a class outside the staffed hours, explain how the gym works alone, and offer a recorded session or a personal trainer at an earlier time.

After each session, log the number of guests, the bookings that did not come, and anything guests said about it.

Each week, the spa manager moves or drops any session with fewer than two guests three times running, and tries a new activity in its place.

Write down every activity guests ask for that the hotel does not offer. When three guests ask for the same one in a month, try it in the next programme.