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Wellness Customers and Their Needs

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Book cover Leisure, Health and Well-Being

Part of the book series: Leisure Studies in a Global Era ((LSGE))

Abstract

We present observations on wellness customers whom we interviewed in wellness hotels (N=41) and a hot springs resort (N=107) in 2009 and 2010. Among the customers interviewed, only a small number are dedicated to a “healthy lifestyle” based on continuous physical activities (for example, fitness) and the regular consumption of wellness services. For the majority, wellness is something special, a kind of self-indulgent gratification, allowing them to rest and compensating for work stress. The use of wellness services is seen as a positive programme in contrast to the consultation of medical doctors, whose behaviour is perceived as instrumental and standardized. Wellness satisfies three needs: (1) instant relaxation and the improvement of well-being; (2) the (therapeutic) interaction which accepts the client and his/her individuality thoroughly; (3) the mixture of innocuous intimacy of bodily contact, emotional care and spiritual animation.

This chapter is part of the results of a study on the professionalization of wellness services in Germany (Grant 01FB08023 of the German Ministry of Research and Education), in which service providers and customers were studied. Theoretically it refers to service research, professionalization theory and symbolic interactionism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Dunkel and Weihrich (2010: 192) define three basic coordination problems of interaction work: (a) the coordination of the actions of the persons involved; (b) the problem of the definition of the object of service and its procedures; and (c) the problem of inconclusiveness of contracts, that is, that contracts always leave an open margin for interpretation, which means that service always bears the character of a promise for service.

  2. 2.

    A majority of female customers and the two-thirds women: one-third men ratio are reported also in other studies (Lanz-Kaufmann 2002: 118, Hank-Haase and Illing 2005: 44, Sonnenschein 2009: 196).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sociological Research Institute, Göttingen, Germany

    Peter Kalkowski & Gerd Paul

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  1. Peter Kalkowski
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  2. Gerd Paul
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Applied Health Sciences, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary

    Zsuzsanna Benkő

  2. India International Institute of Social Sciences, Jaipur, India

    Ishwar Modi

  3. Juhász Gyula Faculty of Education, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary

    Klára Tarkó

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Kalkowski, P., Paul, G. (2017). Wellness Customers and Their Needs. In: Benkő, Z., Modi, I., Tarkó, K. (eds) Leisure, Health and Well-Being. Leisure Studies in a Global Era. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33257-4_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33257-4_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-33256-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-33257-4

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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