’Hotels with medical treatments or hospitals with wellness’ – the title of my presentation at this year’s Temos conference. And the answer – both! As the over sixty-year old numbers increase in Europe by 3 million each year so do sufferers of mobility diseases, stress and depression. Traditional European hot springs have been treating muscular skeletal diseases for hundreds of years so medical treatments in European spa hotels are nothing new. In the UK they are trialing combining fitness centers with clinics as part of a ’healthy new towns’ initiative – so where you have your zumba class could be where you have your hip replacment. In the USA some hospitals are starting to introduce a more holistic approach with many offering stress management, acupuncture, hypnotherapy, mindfulness and meditation. Their spas have taken wellness onto a whole new level tapping into the mind body trend and embracing alternative medicine such as Chinese medicine and energy healing. The future? I see two models evolving; a Northern European/Anglo model with hospitals for serious operations and clinics for diagnosis, support and wellness/prevention programs. More spas will introduce rehabilitation programs with ‘mind-body/lifestyle/metaphysical’ being the buzzwords. In Europe, hospitals and clinics will continue to focus on serious medical conditions and primary care; traditional senior spa stays will have a renaissance and specific rather than general prevention programs with a mind-body approach will become more prevalent. 