In Asia, most spa development is about ultra-design: facilities are modern, built using the latest materials and imagined by hip designers for trendy, rich millennials. But this consumer is a rare breed. On the other hand, the older population is the fastest growing, wealthiest and least contested consumer sector. Yet they’re just simply not being properly addressed and this is where there’s a huge opportunity for businesses, including spas.

We help companies understand the needs of older consumers and how to satisfy their demands via workshops and our age-friendly AF Audit™ tool.

At 50, the body begins to creak and groan. Muscle mass, strength and flexibility start to deteriorate. Cognitive impairment starts as early as 45 years and around the same time people begin to need reading glasses. Nearly half of those aged 65 and over struggle to take the lid or caps off bottles and a third have some form of hearing loss.

The AF Audit covers 25 effects of ageing including sensory, cognitive and physical issues. We measure these across an entire customer journey – there are 350 steps in our hotel audit covering communications, online, the property and support services.

We’ve evaluated a lot of spas in hotels and generally they’re not age-friendly because they just haven’t given thought to it. You can get surfaces that are non-slip, but they also need to look as if they’re not slippery because cognitively people will change the way they walk if they sense a change in the floor – which means there’s still the same level of potential for a fall.

When you enter a spa you’re bombarded with instructions that most people would struggle to remember, let alone older adults who may have cognitive issues. Staff are usually soft-spoken or have a foreign accent, making it harder for an older person to hear or to understand them.

It will be up to an individual spa to judge how far to go. It’s probably too much to design everything for people of extreme ages. Although I can envisage a time when, just as with disability laws, there will be legalised impositions for the hospitality industry to make changes – especially as the demographic grows.

You certainly don’t want turn a hospitality business into a hospital. Nobody wants assisted rails everywhere, least of all older adults because they don’t want to be stigmatised or grouped together in one homogenous ‘50-plus’ age bracket. The key is to make the experience user-friendly for all ages.

Take Apple as an example. Fifty per cent of Apple products are sold to people over the age of 50 (it’s a common myth that ageing-consumers aren’t tech-savvy). Its advertising, website, retail environment and product interface is simplistic which makes it easy for young and old people to use. It doesn’t actively exclude the older person.

The lighting, phone and TV systems in hotels are a minefield. I can’t even work out how to turn the coffee machine on! And if I had a dollar for every time an older person washed their hair with body soap I’d be a rich man… but who takes their glasses into the shower? The point is, if you made these things age-friendly everyone would benefit.

The other absolutely critical thing is staff training. Employees need to be sensitive to older people’s needs. What chair would be best for them to get in and out of? They have weaker bladders, so can you factor short breaks into a multi-hour treatment? At the end of the day, design and infrastructure changes will be useless if you can’t anticipate a customer’s needs.

Launched in 2009, Silver Group works with a number of leading product and service companies in Asia including Accor, GSK and Swiss Re. Details: http://silvergroup.asia

American Leisure has been operating recreational amenities and spas for more than 30 years and we’re seeing the growth of the ageing population first hand. We manage close to 80 locations in the US and I’d say that 40 per cent of our demographic falls in the 50-plus category. We also oversee an active adult community, Four Seasons at Great Notch in New Jersey, for people aged 55 and above.

These are people who want to age in a healthy way and they’re clamouring for information on how to do this. I believe the spa industry has the wherewithal to deliver that information and to offer the appropriate services. It’s a great teaching space and it’s a non-threatening environment (unlike a doctor’s office).

However, this age group doesn’t want to be cast as ‘senior citizens’. Our menu, called Your Well-being™, weaves in age-friendly services, but they’re not exclusive to older adults: they’re intergenerational. Our hot sand therapy treatment at the new Island Spa Catalina in Los Angeles (see p22), for example, addresses joint pain for older people as well as deep relaxation for anyone else. We also developed a Cat Nap treatment which everyone can enjoy, but we know full well that it will benefit older people who have different sleeping patterns.

We think water-based activities will become more popular because they have less impact on the joints. Other things spas might want to pick up on are balance, which is very important as you age and become prone to falls; and skincare, not just anti-ageing/aesthetics, but the health of skin which thins as you get older.

Going forward spas will need to think about accessibility and age-friendly design. Socioeconomics comes into play too – what happens when people don’t have deep pockets? Not-for-profit organisations such as the YMCA and JCC have the capability to reach out to the masses and have historically served older populations, so they could expand their scope of services [to include treatments].

There’s also a big opportunity for affordable age-friendly spas, and proven franchise models such as Massage Envy would have success. They could offer condition-specific therapies for active adults and interweave them with education about the importance of spa services in whole body wellness. Our industry is in the perfect position to help older adults understand the ageing process and to point out the services spas offer that can make them feel better.

American Leisure designs, brands and operate spas, residential lifestyle, sport and recreational facilities across the USA. Details: www.americanleisure.com

Do I think there’s a rising need for wellness-focused facilities that cater to older adults? Yes – because people are living longer and want activities and facilities that will help them achieve a happier, longer life. As well as helping them lead healthier lifestyles, such facilities also bring generations together and provide them with a chance for socialising (which is also important for wellbeing).

We’ve seen the benefits of age-friendly facilities first hand at Richmond Letcombe Regis (see SB10/2 p72). Our site launched in 2010 with a £1.75m (US$2.74m, €2.21m) spa which is used by 60 per cent of residents who are aged 75-80 on average.

Our spa was designed by Sparcstudio with older people in mind so they feel comfortable and don’t feel conscious about their age or disabilities. It makes a big difference. For example, having specialised, yet less complicated gym equipment, means more people are likely to use it.

An age-friendly design also ensures safety and one of the most crucial elements is having hand rails in the shower cubicles. Other not-so-obvious features include raised seats which are easier to get in and out of and a lower reception desk for people in wheelchairs.

To ensure treatments are age-friendly, we offer a wide range to suit all needs. Massages, facials, reflexology and even waxing all help with general wellbeing and to boost the feel-good factor. In addition, we offer physiotherapy, chiropractic and chiropody services.

It’s the same with our fitness classes where we offer easy, intermediate and hard sessions. Many of them involve stability and core balance exercises to help reduce the risk of falls. Most importantly, we’re not afraid to offer more modern classes such a zumba, t’ai chi and ‘posture perfect’ – just because our residents are old, doesn’t mean they don’t want new things.

With a one-bed, independent-living apartment starting at £250,000 (US$392,020, €315,170), Richmond prices will naturally be out of reach to some people. But we also offer spa memberships which cost £65 (US$102, €82) a month.

Richmond Letcombe Regis is one of seven high-end retirement villages in the UK owned by healthcare specialists Bupa.

Details: www.richmond-villages.com

There’s definitely a rising need for wellness-focused facilities that cater to older adults. Why? Because countries can’t afford for baby boomers to age in the same way that our parents’ generation aged – treating sick people rather than proactively preventing illness. Plus there are not enough caregivers to take care of them.

We started developing Serenbe in 2004. It’s a sustainable, progressive community that’s full of fresh food, clean air and is focused on wellbeing. We have 400 residents from all walks of life – families, couples, single working professionals and older adults. Around 45 per cent of our residents are aged 50 and above.

Studies reveal that baby boomers want to age in multi-generational communities. So we’re developing our new Mado Hamlet with clusters, neighbourhood pockets of small cottages that will have common use of a larger house for those times when residents want to entertain groups when family and friends are visiting.

Although we’ll offer living sections specifically for older adults, such as homes with live-in nurses, our overall aim is to develop a community where all generations can interact and live well together in a non-segregated environment. I hope we can eventually eliminate the term ‘retirement communities’.

In practice this means that arts, sports, cultural and educational services that may be enjoyed primarily by older adults, and be more helpful for mindful senior living, will still be available to people of all ages.

Similarly, our goal at the new destination spa and wellness centre we’re developing is not to make services age-specific but to introduce elements that appeal to everyone who wants to live well. Therapies will incorporate eastern and wellness techniques and there will also be a multi-purpose health centre.

Mado Hamlet will have a particular focus on health and wellness and it will take advantage of the many electronic devices – from technology in the home to wearables that monitor biometrics – that allow family and healthcare workers to track people’s health, so that the individual can stay in their home and age in situ.

The projected starting price for a home at Mado Hamlet is US$350,000. In comparison, the average price of a new home in the US is US$401,100. As we continue to develop, there will be models that can be scaled at various entry points. Everything does not have to be at this price point, nor should we shy away from testing ideas for the higher price points.

Construction of Mado Hamlet is due to start in early 2015 and the aim is to complete 60 homes by the end of the year. More than US$500m (€405m, £319m) is being invested in the development.

Details: www.serenbe.com

Over 50 per cent of Asia’s high net worth individuals are above 56 years old, according to the 2014 Asia Pacific Wealth Report by Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management. It’s clearly an important demographic in the tourism industry.

Yet today’s mature travellers defy the stereotypes that some people ascribe to them. They’re younger in spirit, more technologically-minded and more active than many generations before them. How do we attract them without advertising the fact that we’re age-friendly? We do this by appealing to things that mature travellers find important: the reassurance and trust of a global brand; value-for-money; and especially conscientious staff who genuinely care about their experience.

We’ve introduced several programmes to ensure our staff are trained to be more attentive to mature guests, who prefer closer interaction and appreciate it when employees spend more time with them and ask questions to get to know their specific needs better. In the spa, this also means we ensure staff give full instructions on what will happen during a treatment so there’s no confusion or uncertainty and that adequate after-treatment advice is given. As part of our policy of diversity and inclusion, Accor employs many mature and older staff and we’ve found that older guests feel more comfortable around these more experienced employees.

This mature demographic is one that values wellness. People not only want to feel healthier, but also want to look younger and so we’re increasingly offering experiences to meet these demands at our hotels and resorts. We’ve implemented cosmedi treatments, including non-invasive face lifts, at the Vietura Spa at Sofitel Bali Nusa Dua; and at Sofitel Philippines Plaza in Manila we offer beauty staycations that include slimming treatments, skin tightening, nutritional coaching and more. We’ve also worked to implement healthier food choices.

The treatments and special spa packages have proven very popular with the mature demographic looking for an all-inclusive holiday where they can relax, rejuvenate body and mind and return home looking and feeling younger. Accor has around 100 resort hotels throughout Asia and we’re now looking to expand these kinds of services across the region to cater to growing demand.

Where would we the draw the line in catering to older customers? I think we’re open to anything that makes all of our guests feel welcome and special when they stay with us. I’m not sure there’s much we’d say no to, unless it meant alienating younger guests, because obviously our hotels and spas have to cater for all ages.

Accor has more than 600 hotels in Asia under brands such as Sofitel, Mercure and Pullman. It works with the Silver Group to ensure its properties are age-friendly.

Details: www.accor.com