Westin Hotels creates 'Travellers Renewal' Program

Westin Hotels & Resorts is piloting a three-pronged Travellers’ Renewal program designed to help guests ease the wear-and-tear of travelling. The program, developed in consultation with experts at Prevention magazine, was created in response to Westin’s attitudinal research study on the physiological and psychological effects of travel. The study examined the experiences of frequent travellers to help Westin better understand how its guests feel when they arrive, and how to help them renew their bodies, minds and spirits during their stays. The resulting suite of offerings is now being piloted in 20 hotels worldwide, including Westin hotels in Beijing, Shanghai, Sydney, Melbourne and Fiji.

The three-pronged program features a Travellers’ Renewal Menu, Station and Kit (in Asia Pacific, the program will feature the Renewal Menu and Renewal Station). The menu will offer remedies for common travel ailments, such as green tea to reenergize, aloe and pineapple sorbet to sooth sore throats and hot chicken soup to quell stomach upset. Travellers’ Renewal Stations will provide fruit, hand purifier and water in Westin hotel lobbies to help keep guests hydrated and healthy when they arrive and when they leave the hotel’s doors. The Travellers’ Renewal Kit will be available for purchase (at selected Westin hotels in North America), offering tools to make travelling easier, from a refreshing hand purifier to Sudoku games.

“Westin has learned what we all know from experience—that travel can be stressful and taxing on one’s health,” said Liz Vaccariello, editor-in-chief at Prevention. “But there are simple steps travellers can take to restore their wellbeing on the road—and we’ve worked with Westin to make being healthy on the road even easier.”

The Travel-Related Responses in Passengers: TRIP Study revealed that travellers are often stressed and lonely, feeling out of control and  even sick on the road. Working with the editors at Prevention, Westin hotels developed the Travellers’ Renewal Program to respond directly to the study’s key findings:

Fact: Many travellers are sick on the road. Nearly 8 in 10 have taken flights while feeling under the weather.

Renewal Remedy: The Travellers’ Renewal menu includes a portfolio of cold relief and stomach-calming snacks, including vitamin C-dense Boost Juice, a honeysuckle and lemon elixir, and a Havana Treat Plate that is filled with foods that ease digestion like banana, rice and toast. The Travellers’ Renewal Station at the hotels’ doors will also offer hand purifying towelettes, water and hydrating fruits to help guests reduce their exposure to germs and combat illness on the road.

Fact: Travel can be physically depleting. Nearly one in four frequent travellers experiences physical stress while flying.

Renewal Remedy: The Travellers’ Renewal Menu will make available various products to lessen physical discomfort, including a heating pad, ice pack, and humidifier. Guests will also be able to request common over-the-counter medications anytime day or night.  

Fact: Travel can interrupt sleep habits. 55% of survey respondents experience significant shifts in sleep habits away from home.

Renewal Remedy: Westin will offer insomnia relief products like a goodnight banana and milk smoothie to guests, and foods dense with good carbohydrates to help jetlagged guests fall asleep, and protein-rich foods to help them face the day feeling energized.

Fact: Travellers often feel off-balance or out of control, and two-thirds of them do something to alleviate their sense of lost control while traveling.

Renewal Remedy: The Travellers’ Renewal Kit (available only at participating hotels in North America) will offer mind-enriching distractions like Sudoku and a copy of Prevention magazine, in addition to hand purifying towelettes, a healthy energy bar, and other renewing treats.

Fact: Travellers don’t have to feel run down away from home.

Renewal Remedy: The editors at Prevention magazine have an arsenal of tips for healthy travel, and Westin guests will have access to this information throughout their stays. Guests will learn everything from the fact that the scent of citrus has revitalizing properties to how to get the best workout on the road.

“Westin is all about helping our guests to renew their bodies, minds and spirits, but we can’t do that without insights into the stressors guests face,” said Sue Brush, senior vice president, Westin Hotels & Resorts. “The information we learned from our survey, coupled with the expertise of Prevention’s editors, helped us to develop an offering that we think will make a real difference in our guests’ wellbeing.”

The Travel-Related Responses in Passengers: TRIP Study was executed in collaboration with International Communications Research, a New York survey and data collection firm.

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