Can you cure burnout by going on vacation? A new segment of the travel industry thinks so

Hospitality burnout programs tend to approach the problem holistically, incorporating physical, metaphysical and psychological elements.LINNEA FRANK/iStockPhoto/Getty Images

Gazing at the gently rolling hills surrounding Larimar, a luxury spa hotel in Austria’s southern Burgenland, it might seem that the view alone might provide enough relief from the ailments of pandemic anxiety and Zoom overload. But Larimar goes further in its approach to relaxation and rejuvenation.

The Spa’s 14-day Burn Out Cure Retreat (from 2,990 euros per person) includes admission and medical examination, individual psychotherapeutic cure consultations, physical health consultations, ‘Oligoscan cell check of minerals and heavy metals”, vitality and sleep checks, including heart checks. rate variability and small group guided relaxation. “Mental exhaustion can lead to depression and exhaustion,” the hotel’s promotional materials note. “A team of doctors and specialists takes care of individual needs and helps you find new energy.” Lest guests worry that the program is overly punitive, it also includes access to Larimar’s sparkling wine and ‘grand dessert buffet’.

Now that nearly two years into a global pandemic, most of us could probably handle a little more energy and a little less fear, confusion, and chronic cortisol floods. And while wellness tourism has long been a behemoth category, covering everything from dental treatment in Thailand to hot spring stays, the ever more adaptive travel industry is now offering services tailored to a growing problem. more pervasive: how to deal with personal exhaustion.

“[Burnout] is essentially a reduced ability to focus and concentrate, difficulty sleeping, low motivation, low mood and mood swings, often associated with physical symptoms such as hormonal problems, headaches, pain, gastrointestinal issues, and low energy,” says Amy Shah, Arizona-based MD and author of I’m So Tired: A Proven Plan to Overcome Burnout, Boost Your Energy, and Reclaim Your Life. “It’s a sign when, even though you’ve had a good night’s sleep, you wake up and experience these symptoms – it’s more than fatigue, it’s exhaustion.”

Hospitality burnout programs tend to approach the problem holistically, incorporating physical, metaphysical and psychological elements. The Castle Hotel in the Czech Republic offers a burnout syndrome recovery program that primarily combines elaborate spa treatments with hearty outdoor activities, including horseback riding and forest bathing. Lisbon’s Hotel Pessoa combines psychiatry, nutrition, coaching, personal training, yoga and massage in its four-day burnout and wellness retreat; participants are followed for 21 days after departure.

Closer to home, the Ontario Burnout Clinic is promoting stays at resorts and tourism partners across the province to take advantage of the provincial tax credit for stays in 2022. They have also developed a virtual option that creates an “immersive environment” for those who can’t leave. Duncan So, co-founder and executive director, says the Burnout Clinic uses neuro-linguistic programming, which claims to release pent-up emotions, limiting beliefs and internal conflicts within the nervous system.

The Lanesborough Hotel & Spa on the outskirts of London’s Hyde Park is attracting overwhelmed city dwellers with promises to help beat burnout through meditation and stress management protocols led by Cornelius O’Shaughnessy, founder of Bodhimaya , a “wellness experience that [brings] bringing together the ancient wisdom of the Orient and the most advanced scientific developments in the field of nutrition and rejuvenation. A recent review in CEO Magazine noted that there were dedicated spa butlers on hand and that the treatments were a gateway to feeling “calmer and more focused.”

O’Shaughnessy runs burnout-related retreats in a variety of exotic locations “from private islands in the Maldives to lavish villas on Lake Como.”

“We use an integrated approach that combines nutrition, meditation, yoga and things like qigong,” he says. He also organizes individual retreats, tailored to personal circumstances and acute stressors, such as boss micromanagement or difficult personal relationships. “It’s about finding out exactly what’s going on with someone on all levels and then reducing things like physical stress, emotional stress and helping them look at how they interact with their life, their work and its relationships. And then we look at how we ease the stress of those things.

The pandemic has completely changed the nature of O’Shaughnessy’s work. “People are under tremendous stress and they don’t know what’s going on in the world and where things are going,” he says. “With what they have been through over the past two years, we are seeing much more intolerable levels of stress, burnout and chronic states of fear and anxiety. There’s a much more emotional component to it and they need a lot of in-depth work.

It’s no surprise that the wellness travel industry is responding to the growing need for personal and professional burnout resources, but these offerings raise questions about whether burnout or chronic stress can be addressed. with a multi-day stay in a luxury hotel – even if you have your own butler. While many of us have long viewed travel as the ultimate decompressor, clinging to our vacation days or weeks as a panacea, have we now reached a point in our personal and collective dissatisfaction where “I just need to get away” is no longer the fix it once was?

Shah says holidays can’t do much: “Can it relieve exhaustion? Yes. Can it cure burnout? No. You can do things that rejuvenate you by resting, sleeping, being creative, spending time with loved ones, and eating good food. In particular, Shah recommends people to spend time in nature, which relieves symptoms of stress. “But if you go home and go back to your toxic life, that’s not a cure; it’s just a temporary solution.

O’Shaughnessy says one of the biggest challenges he faces with his retreat guests is enabling them to make major changes more permanently. “A lot of retreats just do this kind of quick, short, crisp stuff. [plan] then they let people go on,” he says. “We found that we needed to provide ongoing observation and support, check-ins and reminders of what they were doing and how. … With the depth and severity of the burnout we’re seeing right now, it really has to be a long-term intervention.

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