“I’m here for recovery”: the eudaimonic wellness experiences at the Le Monastère des Augustines Wellness hotel

ABSTRACT

This study uses Le Monastère des Augustines Wellness Hotel to explore healing seekers’ eudaimonic wellness experiences and how such experiences are conceptualized in alignment with their underlying transformative process in a restorative environment. Using participant observation, secondary data, and thirteen in-depth interviews with eight participants, four key elements regarding wellness hotel experience were identified: 1) the museum and its inspiring reflections; 2) the historical facilities and the power of quietness; 3) the wellness lifestyle and its lasting impacts; and 4) the religious encounters, caring staff, and feeling of being cared for. We further construct a four-stage transformative process of wellness experience: realization, involvement, transformation and appreciation.

KEYWORDS:

• Experience marketing
• experience transformation
• eudaimonic experience
• wellness hotel motivations
• transformative process
• healing seeker
• wellness lifestyle
• restorative environment
• holistic wellness hotel
• heritage hotel (10)

Acknowledgments

The first author would like to express her sincere appreciation for the generous support from the management team of the Le Monastère des Augustines and the research participants who genuinely shared their lived experiences in the wellness hotel. Funding to support this research project was provided by the New Scholars Grant at Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada. The author would like to thank a student research assistant, Ms. Pamela Stevens, for her help in preparing a transcript of the interviews.

Ethics approval

This study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through the University Research Ethics Board of Mount Saint Vincent University in Canada (UREB#2017-011).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada [the New Scholars Grant].