A holiday is no longer carte blanche to hit pause on healthy habits (though, if that’s your thing, have breakfast gelato for the rest of us). As wellness travel continues its evolution—from destination resorts in time-honored French spa towns to longevity-focused retreats—travelers are increasingly seeking ways to prioritize their health while away from home. Rooms are kitted with slumber-inducing mattresses and lavender-scented eye masks. Properties care for on-site farms to capitalize on hyperlocal, seasonal produce. Hotel spas have become expansive hubs of self-care, providing travelers with a full range of facials and lymphatic drainage massages, plus advanced modalities like infrared saunas, cold plunges, LED beds, oxygen chambers, and cryotherapy. On the fitness front, it’s no longer enough for a hotel to have a gym with the latest equipment and amenities like citrus-infused water, apples, and protein bars—that’s merely the baseline.
As movement trends sweep the internet, promising shredded bodies that are then torn apart by the same online denizens who championed them months earlier, Reformer Pilates remains one of the most talked-about and booked workouts of the moment, inspiring both fervent devotion and online discourse. What was once considered a niche practice has evolved into a sought-after hospitality amenity, reflecting the growing expectations among wellness-minded travelers. For Vuori-clad devotees, no amount of “hot girl walks” on the treadmill or Teasers on the mat is going to cut it.
Across the globe, hotels and resorts are building reformer Pilates studios, expanding classes, and partnering with high-profile instructors to host immersive Pilates retreats—all in service of catering to a growing class of Pilates converts who refuse to forgo their toe taps on a red spring, even while on vacation.
While there’s no shortage of reformer Pilates studios in cities like Los Angeles and New York, hotels wise to the growing demand are making themselves all the more valuable to guests by bringing the workout in-house—an ideal way to start the day before a complimentary buffet breakfast stocked with fruit and freshly pressed juices.
Earlier this year, The St. Regis Chicago transformed one of its group fitness studios at the Athletic Club into a dedicated reformer Pilates space, offering daily classes with views of the Chicago River, Navy Pier, and Lake Michigan. According to Kerri Stokes, Director of Wellness at The St. Regis Chicago, interest has been so strong that the property is looking to bring on additional instructors. True to its reputation as Manhattan’s swishest, wellness-oriented urban sanctuary, Aman New York boasts a private Pilates studio designed for bespoke sessions, equipped with two reformers, a Cadillac, a Pilates chair, and a barrel. At The Aster, a boutique hotel and members club in Hollywood, guests can begin the day with classes in the reformer Pilates studio, where old-world dark wood and ornamental columns are paired with high-tech apparatus. Molitor Hotel & Spa Paris, a dual concept hotel and sports club located near Roland Garros Stadium, opened a Pilates studio with Merrithew’s reformers in December 2025.
