Patrizia Bortolin, an inaugural winner of HOTELS Top 10 awards in the Independent Lifestyle Operator category, is the lifestyle project manager and director of Preidlhof’s, a resort based in South Tyrol, Italy. This spring, Bortolin and her team reopened the destination spa after taking advantage of the forced closure time to adapt and research in response to the pandemic.
The re-launch included new transformational wellness retreats, new signature rituals and treatments, a new signature food philosophy and menu design, a new wellness VIP lounge, new fitness and beauty concepts, and a new Preidlhof cosmetic line.
Bortolin has further expanded the wellness concept she designed for Preidlhof. The Preidlhof Way is imbued with Bortolin’s hallmark ‘Glowing Flow Lifestyle’ philosophy and integrates medicine, holistic experiences and spiritual well-being. The goal is always to build a unique and distinctive experience for every guest. Every stay is an opportunity for physical and psychological renewal, for internal and external transformation.
HOTELS reached out to Bortolin to learn about her takeaways from the pandemic, her inspirations of the day and more about her take on the lifestyle hotel space and the wellness movement.
HOTELS: What was your biggest learn from the COVID era, and how are you applying it?
Patrizia Bortolin: We all had the opportunity to check our priorities and values. I realized that the deeply nourishing part of my work is being directly engaged in creating meaningful and beautiful wellness experiences for guests – the rest is background and collateral, not nourishing in itself. I’ve now adapted my role and offering accordingly.
H: Lifestyle has become ubiquitous. How are you differentiating your offering and how might you need to change next?
PB: Wellness hospitality could be as harmonious and sustainable as possible but still deliver magic for guests and employees. A spontaneous, skilled team can create the “feel like home effect,” while everything else should convey wonder and magic.
I’m dreaming of immersive, alluring wellbeing hotels with a sustainable soul and a beautiful people culture; places with a timeless charm able to make you feel the beauty of being alive and the transformational power of a hotel stay, and not only for guests.
H: What inspires you today, and why?
PB: I’m blessed by being around a small circle of senior healers and amazing human beings, met at Preidlhof. They add a sensational depth and variety to my contemplative and creative approach to life. I’m also inspired by the multi-generational working environment I’m working in today. Creativity is my gift and spirituality my fuel.
H: What are your guests asking for differently, and how are you working to respond and deliver?
PB: There is a bigger need to feel closer to nature, thermal water, sea, forests and natural food.
At Preidlhof Spa Destination I managed to design special experiences with food and senses that help increase awareness, which is very contemporary after the global crisis. Team members are training to engage guests, helping them increase awareness, but also become themselves ambassadors of joyful living.
H: What is the most important amenity for guests, and how is that evolving?
PB: Steam, Thalasso and thermal pools are still extremely appealing for their evocative power: silence, stillness, detox, relaxation. Healing touch and human warmth are more than ever the biggest need, and exactly what the pandemic affected. I think the serious wellness Industry has to teach and demonstrate that authentic wellness is essential.
H: What’s the next big thing in the lifestyle space, and how do you plan to deliver?
PB: Design and interiors that heal and transform in harmony with the place. Creative wellness experts are needed to plan, design and reshape. I also think it’s time for a more feminine touch in wellness architecture and design.
The whole world needs a more feminine inspiration. I’m giving my whole commitment, energy and creativity in that direction.
H: Tipping or service charge?
PB: Tipping can have its charm and meaning, can make people happy immediately but also affect commitment. Service can reach also the many people in the backstage. I like a bit of both, done with style and heart?
H: What are you reading right now?
PB: A book on how trees communicate with each other, suggested by our Forest Expert.