Hyatt supports self-care for travelers with new FIND platform

Dive Brief:

Hyatt Hotels launched FIND, a selection of curated travel experiences that allow World of Hyatt members to earn and redeem points during and outside of their hotel stays, according to a company news release.
FIND experiences center around food, drink, fitness, relaxation and exploration. More than 100 experiences are available in the U.S. and international markets, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, Sydney, Cambodia, India and Vietnam. They center around "restoring, re-energizing and self-care," the company said, and include activities like yoga on the beach and cooking classes.
The new experience-driven platform is Hyatt's latest well-being initiative. Last year, the hotel chain acquired Miraval Resorts, which focus on self-improvement. Hyatt also offers boutique fitness classes and restorative spa therapies for guests and World of Hyatt members.

Dive Insight:

With the experience-focused FIND platform, Hyatt is trying to further tap into the growing industry around health and wellness, which is forecast by some groups to now be a multi-trillion dollar market. The offerings could also be a way to court millennials, who are more focused on self-care than older generations and spend twice as much on fitness, diet plans, life coaching, therapy and well-being apps, according to Pew Research Center findings cited in NPR.

The travel and hospitality industry is becoming increasingly competitive, and traditional hotel chains have been adding more features to attract new travelers, reward loyalty members and get an edge on disruptors like Aribnb, which offer similarly curated experience packages. Marriott recently teamed up with Salesforce on a new platform that gives the hotel chain a 360-degree view of its guests so that it can provide personalized services across touch points.

Hyatt could extend the appeal of FIND by incorporating the experiences into its social media strategy. Younger travelers, in particular, often enjoy sharing their travels on social media platforms. Eighty-three percent of millennial travelers use social media at least once a day, with 60% using Instagram, according to research from the travel marketing firm MMGY Global. More than 20% of millennials also consider social media posts from destinations and travel services providers during the inspiration phase of their vacation planning.

FIND follows Hyatt's announcement in January that it was eliminating its global CMO position and planningto shift its leadership and operations team by Q2 2018, with a goal to merge guest and consumer engagement functions under a new chief commercial officer.