Meet Alex Walter | Director – Hospitality, Residential and Corporate at Life Fitness APAC

As the provider of fitness solutions that cover any type of facility or exercise experience, Life Fitness works to ensure everyone has the opportunity to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. We sat down with Alex Walter, Director – Hospitality, Residential and Corporate at Life Fitness Asia Pacific to learn more about their innovative solutions for the hospitality industry.

Can you share a short introduction about you and your career?

I have been working in the wellness and hospitality industry for over 13 years across various regions, from Europe to the Middle East and Asia. I started working in an outsourced health club of a major hotel chain (Marriott) that was managed by a large Swedish fitness club chain in Europe called World Class Health Academy. During my time with the company, I held a variety of roles while working my way up the corporate ladder from part-time receptionist and fitness trainer to regional manager running the business in Central Europe.

Budapest Marriott Hotel

A few years later, I decided to join Hyatt in the Middle East where I held the role of Head of Fitness, Wellness & Spa. I was incredibly motivated and keen to keep learning more about the hospitality industry, and so relocated to Vietnam to partake in the pre-opening of an InterContinental resort on Phu Quoc Island.

Following my journey with hotels, I was offered a position with the largest fitness chain company in Vietnam, California Fitness, where I managed the development of the operations and fitness department. After two years with the company, I then made the move to Life Fitness at the APAC regional office to manage the hospitality segment and support our hospitality partners with enhancing their wellness offerings. The industry has evolved drastically over the last 13+ years and it’s been thrilling to be a part of such a dynamic sector. I’m really looking forward to continuing to drive that evolution, tailoring products to the needs of our consumers.

How do you approach establishing full wellness journeys for your hotel partners?

At Life Fitness, we always focus on solutions rather than solely on equipment sales. We believe that offering tailor-made solutions to our customers, together with the latest insights on fitness trends, is the key to being successful. We take our time to design layouts to suit any hotel, all while ensuring we adhere to a hotel’s brand standards and provide their guests with the best wellness experience possible.

Based on a hotel’s needs, we have a variety of equipment that can be used. For example, if the hotel requires more green or sustainable solutions, we are able to design a full suite of non-motorised (no electricity needed) equipment. We build partnerships by adding value through inspiration and co-creation. By understanding a hotel and its business landscape – alongside the challenges they face – we are able to create the best solution for both the hotel and its guests.

Why do you think there is an increased need for improved hotel wellness offerings?

Many of the latest developments, especially regarding the digital world, focus on wellness. Take a look at any of the sports watches on the market today, they measure your steps, monitor your sleep patterns, as well as showcase HRV, blood oxygen, and strain levels. These days, people are taking their health much more seriously. There is so much information available online now regarding nutrition, exercise, prevention, boosting your immune system, and more, so it’s important that we keep developing hardware and software to measure key information and enable people to take control of their health.

However, because of the availability of such information, people are hungrier than ever when it comes to developing into the best version of themselves. For any industry to keep up with this increasing appetite for improving health and wellness, businesses have to keep adapting and innovating.

The Strand Yangon

Nowadays, we see more and more hotels introducing wellness offerings through “Guest Wellness Journeys”. Through this, guests are not only being taken care of from a service perspective but a health perspective too. Having options such as in-room fitness facilities, outdoor exercise locations, classes, meditation and yoga offerings, up-to-date and well-designed health clubs, and software to measure performance, is crucial. In terms of the consumer’s perspective, what we see is not necessarily how long you live, but rather how well you live.

Can you walk us through your / Life Fitness’s holistic approach to wellness?

At Life Fitness, we touch upon all aspects of holistic wellness – from software, on-demand exercise, and software connectivity, to tracking progress and cutting-edge premium equipment that mimics the natural movement of the body through our research on biomechanics.

What solutions are you able to offer hotel partners?

We offer green solutions for our range of non-motorised / self-powered equipment. This includes our brand-new HD Performance Hammer Strength Equipment, Rowers, and ICG Bikes.

In addition to this, our equipment empowers users to take charge of their wellness journey because they are easy to use, easy to understand, and focus on isolation movement training. Alongside this, we also offer more dynamic and strength-based solutions where the user can perform compound movements for strength, muscle development, and performance. Most importantly, our offerings can be catered to a hotel’s target market.

Emerald Hotel & Suites

From our observations, an increasing number of hotels are progressing towards implementing more of a hybrid health club model – meaning they can cater to their guests through various sections: cardio, strength, functional training, stretching, group exercises, and personal training. To support this development, our equipment offerings and layout design proposals are tailored toward helping hotels adapt to this hybrid model. In the past, hotels would have brand standards that are linear (for example, treadmills and some strength training equipment). However, these days, that is not enough. A wider range of equipment and space allocation is key to keeping guests satisfied.

Want to learn more about Life Fitness, and how they could help you innovate your guests’ well-being journey? Tap the “Read More” button below.