Will health become the next luxury?

The boundaries between luxury, wellness and healthcare are becoming increasingly difficult to separate. Prevention, longevity, sleep, nutrition, recovery and personalised diagnostics are moving into the same ecosystem, creating a market in which living better and longer is becoming a new form of value.

At Chenot Palace Weggis, a Prevention & Ageing Well programme starts at around CHF 7,100 for one week, excluding accommodation. At the same time, the global wellness economy reached approximately $6.8 trillion in 2024, according to the Global Wellness Institute, while McKinsey research shows that healthy ageing has become a major priority for a significant share of consumers. What was once described as a wellness trend is becoming an industry. And potentially a new social marker.

Wellness is moving far beyond the spa

At Chenot Palace Weggis, longevity and prevention combine medical consultations, biomarkers, nutrition, cryotherapy, hypoxia and personalised training. Six Senses increasingly integrates sleep, fitness, diagnostics and biohacking into its wellness experiences, while Clinique La Prairie is extending its longevity expertise through dedicated Longevity Hubs.

Lanserhof follows a similar trajectory, combining preventive medicine, advanced diagnostics and ultra-premium hospitality. These models reveal how profoundly the definition of wellness is changing. The spa is no longer simply a destination for relaxation. It is increasingly becoming an infrastructure for prevention, recovery and healthy ageing.

A $9.8 trillion economy in the making

According to the Global Wellness Institute, the global wellness economy could reach approximately $9.8 trillion by 2029. Wellness real estate has also become one of its fastest-growing segments, expanding by close to 20% annually between 2019 and 2024.

Behind these figures lies a broader convergence. Beauty, healthcare, hospitality, nutrition, fitness, technology and data are increasingly addressing the same consumer and, more importantly, the same ambition: to improve not only lifespan, but healthspan.

This evolution is also visible in companies such as Snow Group, led by CEO Delphine Fraignaud, which operates spas within premium hospitality, develops wellness experiences and owns brands including Cinq Mondes and Algotherm. Its positioning reflects the convergence of industries that may increasingly become part of the same wellness ecosystem.

From looking younger to ageing better

This transformation also raises important questions for the beauty industry. Beauty can no longer focus exclusively on helping consumers look younger when their expectations are increasingly shifting towards remaining healthier for longer.

The distinction between beauty and health is therefore becoming less obvious. Skin diagnostics, nutrition, sleep optimisation, stress management, physical recovery and longevity protocols increasingly contribute to the same promise: improving the way people experience ageing. This changes the competitive landscape. The strategic question becomes who will own the relationship with our everyday health?

Will it be the beauty brand that understands our skin? The hotel that understands our sleep? The clinic analysing our biomarkers? The wearable monitoring our bodies around the clock? The AI interpreting those data? Or the platform capable of bringing all of these dimensions together?

When longevity becomes a luxury

Longevity is no longer simply a scientific ambition. It is becoming a market. And as that market develops, it raises a more uncomfortable question: who will actually be able to access it?

When some consumers can spend thousands on preventive programmes, advanced diagnostics, personalised nutrition and recovery technologies, the ability to age in better health could gradually become another expression of inequality.

Luxury has traditionally made wealth visible through what people own, wear or experience. In the future, could privilege become visible through the body itself: better health, greater vitality and more years lived in good condition?

From objects that last to lives that last

The luxury industry has always celebrated longevity in its products: exceptional objects designed to survive generations. The emerging longevity economy introduces a fascinating reversal. A new market is no longer simply selling products designed to last. It is selling us the possibility of lasting longer ourselves.

The industry has spent years debating the democratisation of luxury. The next question may be far more consequential: how can longevity itself be democratised?
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Sources: Global Wellness Institute, McKinsey & Company, Chenot, Six Senses and Clinique La Prairie.