The Wellness in Hospitality Podcast

Sonal Uberoi
  • 5.0 (1)
  • HEALTH & FITNESS

Get insights firsthand! Join top global wellness expert and author, Sonal Uberoi, as she shares insights from hoteliers all over the world, managing all types of hotels, each with their unique set of challenges (location, owners, regulations, teams, etc.), and learn their wellness in hospitality best practices.

  1. 12H AGO

    144. From Borrowed Playbooks To Authored Ones

    Wellness has had its growth spurt.    But growth alone doesn’t create legacies.    In this episode, I share why 2026 marks a quiet but powerful shift in the wellness and hospitality industry, and why the next decade won’t be led by those chasing trends, but by those who’ve earned the right to design what endures.    As I closed 2025 and stepped into 2026, I found myself reflecting on more than two decades in wellness.    I’ve seen this industry move from the margins to the centre.  From spa as an afterthought to wellness as a serious commercial and cultural conversation.    I’ve lived through the years of having to convince.  Convince owners.  Convince brands.  Convince boards.    And now, five years after publishing The Wellness Asset, I’m working with a very different kind of entrepreneur—purpose-led founders and land owners who don’t want wellness at any cost, but want it done with coherence, responsibility, and intelligence.    This episode is a reflection on what has crystallised for me over the last 20+ years, and why I’m choosing to spend the next 25 teaching what I know works.    Here are the 3 things we wxplore in this episode:    1.- Why the wellness boom is over, and why that’s a good thing  The last five years have shown us that scale without stewardship creates backlash. Overtourism, community resistance, hollow wellness claims - these are symptoms of growth without depth. The next era belongs to those designing with intention.    2. The shift from fluid intelligence to crystallised intelligence  In our earlier years, we borrow frameworks. We study others. We absorb endlessly.  But there comes a point where wisdom stops being external, and becomes authored. I share how this shift has shaped my work, my models, and my decision to teach from lived intelligence rather than theory.    3. Why there is no longer a playbook, and why that’s liberating  There is no single way to “do wellness right.”  Every destination, every land, every founder carries a unique intelligence. The future belongs to those who stop copying and start designing: from who they are and what they stand for.    By the end of the episode you’ll understand:    → Why wellness is no longer about facilities, features, or trends  → What it truly means to build a wellness business that performs and endures  → Why the most powerful work ahead is not scaling faster but stewarding better    And how to recognise when it’s time to stop looking outside for more and start implementing what you already know.

    34 min

  2. JAN 11

    143. From Amenities to Ecosystems: Inside the Future of Hotels, Wellness & Travel with Emma Sleight

    Wellness is no longer something guests do on holiday.  It’s something they expect to be supported in, from the moment they book to long after they leave.  In this episode, I’m joined by Emma Sleight, Head of Content at The World’s 50 Best Hotels, to explore how hospitality is being reshaped by changing guest expectations, deeper definitions of wellness, and a growing demand for meaning, connection, and place-led experience.    This is a conversation for anyone building, operating, or advising hotels and destinations that want to stay relevant in the next decade of travel.    Emma’s career has always revolved around storytelling across journalism, food, travel, and global brands. Today, she sits at the intersection of insight and influence, overseeing content, voting academies, and industry narratives for one of hospitality’s most powerful global platforms.    From that vantage point, she sees patterns long before they become trends.    In this conversation, we unpack what Emma and her team are seeing across continents, cultures, and property types, and why the future of hospitality is no longer about “adding” wellness, sustainability, or design, but about integrating them into a coherent ecosystem that actually serves the guest.      Here are the 3 things we uncover in this episode:    1.- Why hospitality has shifted from experiences to ecosystems  Guests no longer choose hotels based on rooms alone. They build entire journeys around singular experiences: wellness rituals, food philosophies, landscapes, or cultural connection. Hotels are now part of a much wider, more intentional travel ecosystem.    2.- How wellness has moved from spa amenity to strategic differentiator  “Wellness” is no longer a spa menu or a gym in the basement. Emma shares how leading hotels are embedding wellbeing across design, food, sleep, movement, and emotional experience, often rooted in local culture and backed by science.    3.- What the World’s 50 Best is really responding to right now  From new award categories to the expansion of discovery platforms, Emma explains how diversity, authenticity, sustainability, and place-based storytelling are shaping what gets recognized, and why smaller destinations and secondary cities are increasingly coming into focus.      By the end of the episode you’ll understand why:    →  Wellness and sustainability are now baseline expectations, not “nice-to-haves”  →  The most compelling hotels start with who they are before deciding what they offer  →  Future-ready hospitality brands design for emotion, memory, and meaning, not just aesthetics or trends    And why the hotels that endure will be the ones that build clarity, coherence, and credibility into every layer of the guest journey.

    44 min

  3. JAN 4

    142. The Path That Does Work When Transitioning Into Consulting

    Consulting does work.  But only when you stop using it as an escape and start building it like a business.  If Part 1 showed you why most wellness consultants fail, this episode shows you the path that actually works.  In the first part of this series, we looked at the uncomfortable truth:  90% of wellness consultants fail in their first year. It’s not because they lack expertise, it’s because they carry their operational frustrations straight into entrepreneurship.    In this second and final episode, I want to shift the focus.  Because wellness consulting is one of the most powerful, flexible, and lucrative career paths available today. The industry is growing faster than ever. New brands, landowners, and founders are entering the space every year, and they need experienced wellness leaders to guide them.    The difference between those who succeed and those who quietly walk away isn’t talent or timing.  It’s structure.    This episode is about what happens when you stop trying to “jump the gap” into consulting, and instead build the bridge that gets you there safely, confidently, and sustainably.  Here are the 3 things we’ll uncover:    1.- The three consulting paths available to wellness leaders  And why choosing one path, internal, project-based, or specialist, is essential to avoiding burnout and dilution.    2.- How to package your expertise into a signature offer  So you’re no longer selling yourself as a generalist, but positioning yourself as the obvious choice for the clients you want.    3.- Why safety nets create success   How building financial and emotional stability gives you the space to grow real momentum instead of making fear-based decisions.    By the end of the episode you’ll understand exactly why consulting works when it’s built intentionally, and why structure, not hustle, is what allows you to replace and eventually exceed your previous income.    You’ll also see clearly whether you’ve been trying to run into consulting… or whether you’re ready to walk into it with confidence.  _______ Are you ready to take wellness to the next level? Here are 2 ways I can help: 1️⃣  WHO: Wellness directors who want to join 1% of wellness leaders 📌 WHAT: The Wellness Asset Academy A 10-week online group programme where I guide you through my 7-step ESSENCE framework. Achieve higher pay and secure a genuine seat at the hotel’s big table—so wellness is no longer the most neglected area in the hotel. →  Join the waitlist here. 2️⃣  WHO: Owners of small, independent hotels with a strong wellbeing focus 📌 WHAT: Asset Builder Mentorship Exclusive 6-month 1:1 mentorship programme to master creating a wellness asset, build a proud team, and deliver transformative experiences for your guests.

    32 min

  4. 12/28/2025

    141. The Fatal Mistakes Wellness Leaders Make When Transitioning Into Consulting

    Most wellness leaders don’t fail at consulting because they lack expertise.  They fail because they use consulting to solve a problem it was never designed to fix.  If you’re thinking about consulting as your way out of burnout, frustration, or feeling stuck, this episode may change how you see everything.  This is the first episode in a two-part series.  In Part 1, my goal isn’t to convince you to become a consultant or to sell you on a dream. I’m here to name the mistakes I see wellness leaders make when they transition into consulting, and why those mistakes quietly end careers before they ever begin.    In Part 2, I’ll walk you through what actually works: how to transition from a wellness leader with an operator’s mindset into a consultant with an entrepreneur’s mindset, without using consulting as an escape mechanism.    There comes a moment in almost every senior wellness leader’s career when the place you’ve worked so hard to reach no longer fits.  I call it ‘Rome’.    You’re successful on paper, respected, well paid by industry standards… and quietly exhausted. You’ve hit the glass ceiling. You’ve outgrown operations. Or you’ve realised that no matter how many brands you work for, the story stays the same. At that moment, consulting starts to look like freedom.  But what I’ve seen again and again, nearly two decades consulting in this industry, is that most wellness leaders don’t transition into consulting.  They escape into it.    And that distinction is the difference between building a thriving consulting career… and becoming one of the 90% who quietly disappear in year one.    In this episode, I unpack the fatal mistakes that cause talented, experienced wellness leaders to fail in consulting—and why those failures are not a reflection of your capability, but of how you enter this next identity.    Here are the 3 things we’ll uncover:    1.- The three paths that push wellness leaders toward consulting  And why each path carries its own hidden risks if left unexamined.    2.- Why consulting amplifies your unresolved frustrations instead of fixing them  How operators unknowingly recreate the same chaos, undervaluation, and overwhelm, just in a different container.  3.- The real reason most wellness consultants fail in year one  It has nothing to do with wellness expertise, and everything to do with identity, mindset, and skillset shifts.  By the end of this episode you’ll be able to see clearly whether consulting is something you’re moving towards with intention, or running into as an escape.  And you’ll understand why success in consulting begins long before you sign your first client.  ______ Are you ready to take wellness to the next level? Here are 2 ways I can help: 1️⃣  WHO: Wellness directors who want to join 1% of wellness leaders 📌 WHAT: The Wellness Asset Academy A 10-week online group programme where I guide you through my 7-step ESSENCE framework. Achieve higher pay and secure a genuine seat at the hotel’s big table—so wellness is no longer the most neglected area in the hotel. →  Join the waitlist here. 2️⃣  WHO: Owners of small, independent hotels with a strong wellbeing focus 📌 WHAT: Asset Builder Mentorship Exclusive 6-month 1:1 mentorship programme to master creating a wellness asset, build a proud team, and deliver transformative experiences for your guests.

    26 min

  5. 12/21/2025

    140. 3 Reasons Why Pricing by Time Is the Worst Business Strategy for Wellness Consultants

    Most new consultants think the safest way to price their work is by the hour or by the day. It feels logical, familiar, and measurable.​    But the truth is pricing by time is the fastest way to stay underpaid, undervalued, and stuck in your old employee identity, no matter how talented you are.    Let’s look at how this actually shows up for new wellness consultants in real life.    When new consultants join The Wellness Consultant Blueprint, the same pattern appears every time.​  They finally find the courage to step into consulting… and the first question they obsess over is: “What’s the going hourly rate for consultants in my market?”    Unlike many of my peers, I never billed by the hour or by the day. In my Goldman Sachs days, pricing was fundamentally tied to value, and when I later saw consulting firms reduce everything to hours and day rates, the lack of coherence was impossible to ignore. That contrast is a big reason my clients resonate with my work today: it is never about renting my time, it is about the transformation we create together with complete transparency.    In this episode, I explain the 3 reasons why:    1.- Hourly pricing exposes an employee mindset  When you charge for your hours, you are still operating as if someone else owns your time.​  Consultants are paid for value, not hours; if something takes you 3 hours while it takes someone else 50, you should not be paid less for being more skilled.    ​2.- Hourly pricing makes it all about you, not the client  If your “bad day” takes twice as long, your client pays more; if your ninja-skill takes half the time, they pay less.  ​  Clients do not care about your hours, they care about the outcome you promised.    3.- Hourly pricing creates incongruence  Not all tasks have equal value.  ​A high-value P&L projection that takes you 3 hours is worth far more than 3 days of SOP writing, yet hourly pricing often pays the opposite.        ​  By sticking to time-based pricing, you cap your earning potential and exhaust your time freedom  ​  By the end of this episode, you’ll understand why hourly pricing keeps you trapped in a job-like business, the mindset shift required to think like an entrepreneur, how value-based pricing unlocks scalable, service-driven, long-term growth, and why consultants who focus on output instead of hours create exponential revenue and impact.

    30 min

  6. 12/14/2025

    139. 5 Myths Wellness Leaders Believe About Consulting

    Most wellness leaders think consulting will finally free them: from operations, chaos, long hours, and everyone else’s demands. You don’t escape the fires; you trade the operational fires you know for business fires you’ve never handled before, and that’s what makes the transition feel so disorienting.  Here’s how that plays out when you actually leave operations and step into consulting.  When you leave operations, consulting looks like the calm, strategic next step: no more therapists calling in sick, angry guests, or last‑minute GM requests. Then the new problems arrive (late client payments, scope disagreements, tax bills, cash‑flow tension) and you realise you’ve stepped into a different kind of pressure that takes time and practice to navigate.    Here are the 3 things you’ll learn:    1.- The 5 myths about consulting that quietly mislead wellness leaders  You’ll see where common beliefs about freedom, time, money, and expertise set you up for disappointment, and what’s actually true about the early years of consulting.  ​2.- What consulting really looks like behind the scenes  You’ll get an honest look at the “unsexy 50%” of consulting: marketing, selling, proposals, admin, timelines, boundaries, and cash‑flow management, so you’re not blindsided when these become part of your weekly reality.    ​3.- How the pressure really changes (and how to handle it)  You’ll understand how you’re not escaping pressure but upgrading it, from internal operational demands to full ownership of your business, and what you can do to make that upgrade safer, more sustainable, and less emotionally draining.    By the end of this episode, you’ll be able to spot these five myths in your own thinking, understand what consulting actually asks of you (emotionally, financially, and practically), and see the concrete shifts you need to make so your move into consulting feels intentional, sustainable, and on your terms. _______ Are you ready to take wellness to the next level? Here are 2 ways I can help: 1️⃣  WHO: Wellness directors who want to join 1% of wellness leaders 📌 WHAT: The Wellness Asset Academy A 10-week online group programme where I guide you through my 7-step ESSENCE framework. Achieve higher pay and secure a genuine seat at the hotel’s big table—so wellness is no longer the most neglected area in the hotel. →  Join the waitlist here. 2️⃣  WHO: Owners of small, independent hotels with a strong wellbeing focus 📌 WHAT: Asset Builder Mentorship Exclusive 6-month 1:1 mentorship programme to master creating a wellness asset, build a proud team, and deliver transformative experiences for your guests.

    25 min

  7. 12/07/2025

    138. The Safety Net Every Wellness Consultant Needs

    If you’re standing at the top of your wellness career and quietly wondering, “How do I move into consulting without losing the security I’ve worked so hard for?”, this episode gives you the answer with clarity and honesty.    I’ve watched so many senior wellness leaders reach the highest point of their careers, great salaries, respected roles, global exposure, only to realise the excitement is gone. The travel feels heavier. The work feels bland. And yet the fear of leaving is bigger than ever, because the leap from a high salary into consulting feels impossible.    I know that tension well.    In my 18 years of consulting, I had to return to full-time employment twice, not because I didn’t have the clients, but because I hadn’t yet built the skill to ensure I got paid for the work I delivered. That experience shaped the consultant I became.    I learned the hard way that consulting isn’t about matching your current salary; it’s about knowing the real cost of your life, building the safety net to sustain it, and giving your business the time it needs to grow. The only reason I’m still here, almost two decades later, is because I understood that my safety net wasn’t optional, it was the thing that kept my business alive.    Most wellness leaders don’t fail because they’re underqualified.    They fail because they expect their consulting business to feed them before it has even learned to walk. This episode shows you how to transition strategically, safely, and from a place of strength.      Here are 3 things you’ll learn:    1.- Why matching your salary isn’t enough when transitioning into consulting, and the real revenue number you need to maintain your lifestyle.    2.- How to build a proper safety net (the kind that protects you and gives your consulting business room to grow).    3.- The mindset shift that separates consultants who thrive from those who are forced back into employment long before they’re ready.    By the end of this episode you’ll know exactly why your safety net is the most important step in your transition, and how to build one that supports your consulting career long-term.

    23 min

  8. 11/30/2025

    137. What Exactly Does A Wellness Consultant Do?

    Most wellness leaders feel the pull toward consulting, and then freeze on one simple question:  “But what would I actually do?”    In this episode, I break it down clearly and practically, so you finally understand what the role really looks like.    When wellness leaders ask me, “Sonal, what does a wellness consultant actually do?” I always smile because I remember being in that exact place myself.    Years ago, when I first stepped into consulting, I thought I could do everything. I had just come off a successful pre-opening in the Middle East, so when a boutique hotel in Spain hired me for my first consulting project, I rolled up my sleeves and jumped straight into operations. I created the concept, opened the spa, trained the team — all the things I knew how to do exceptionally well.    What I didn’t realise was that the moment I got pulled into day-to-day execution, I lost the strategic altitude that a consultant is supposed to hold.  I wasn’t guiding the why or the what.  I was drowning in the how.    Fast forward nearly 20 years, and I’m consulting with the same owners again. Their wellness facility is still beautiful but strategically, it’s as if they’re starting from scratch.    Not because they failed or because the concept was wrong.    But because no one stayed above the day-to-day to protect the strategy, refine the concept, and iterate as the market evolved.    That realisation changed the entire trajectory of my consulting career.    A consultant is not an upgraded wellness director.  A consultant is the strategist — the guide — who shapes the why and the what so the team on the ground can execute the how.    And once you understand that distinction, you also start to see the three natural consulting paths that wellness leaders grow into and which one might be the right next step for you.      Here are the 3 Things you’ll learn in this episode:    1.- The real difference between consulting and operations  How consultants own the why and the what, while wellness directors own the how, and why a hotel needs both.    2.- The three consulting paths wellness leaders naturally move into  Internal Advisor, Project-Based Consultant, and Strategic/Specialist Consultant, and what each path looks like in practice.    3.- Why operational excellence alone isn’t enough to become a consultant  And what mindset and skill shift is required to make your transition successful.    By the end of the episode, you will see clearly what wellness consultants actually do. You will also understand how the role differs from, and complements, that of a wellness director.  _______ Are you ready to take wellness to the next level? Here are 2 ways I can help: 1️⃣  WHO: Wellness directors who want to join 1% of wellness leaders 📌 WHAT: The Wellness Asset Academy A 10-week online group programme where I guide you through my 7-step ESSENCE framework. Achieve higher pay and secure a genuine seat at the hotel’s big table—so wellness is no longer the most neglected area in the hotel. →  Join the waitlist here. 2️⃣  WHO: Owners of small, independent hotels with a strong wellbeing focus 📌 WHAT: Asset Builder Mentorship Exclusive 6-month 1:1 mentorship programme to master creating a wellness asset, build a proud team, and deliver transformative experiences for your guests. →

    38 min
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Get insights firsthand! Join top global wellness expert and author, Sonal Uberoi, as she shares insights from hoteliers all over the world, managing all types of hotels, each with their unique set of challenges (location, owners, regulations, teams, etc.), and learn their wellness in hospitality best practices.

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