As recovery becomes table stakes, the real question is how to balance premium experiences with efficient operations. Successful clubs are tapping into self-guided recovery, and WellnessSpace Brands is leading the way.
Recovery has moved from a tucked-away amenity to a core component of the modern club experience. Members expect it, they seek it out and increasingly, they’re willing to pay for it. That conversation is settled.
The challenge operators face today is how to deliver and scale premium recovery without adding friction, staffing strain or operational drag.
As clubs layer in more value, they risk overcomplicating the offering. Too often, recovery strategies introduce more scheduling, more labor, more maintenance and more oversight than the business or the member can reasonably absorb. What was meant to elevate the experience quietly strains the operating model.
The industry has reached a tipping point, and success now comes down to execution.
Few companies understand this better than WellnessSpace Brands, which has spent more than three decades designing recovery solutions specifically for the realities of the club floor.
“After 36+ years and presence in 50+ countries, we’ve learned how to help operators reduce complexity without diluting the member experience,” says Eric Jaworsky, Vice President of Sales for WellnessSpace Brands.
The Complexity Problem
Complexity works against both the business and the member. From the operator’s perspective, added sophistication often means added cost. From the member’s perspective, each additional step, like asking permission, navigating instructions and scheduling around availability, reduces usage.
“We invest heavily in R&D and frankly, today’s consumers expect autonomy,” Jaworsky says. “They don’t want instructions; they want control and personalization.”
Annie Ostolasa, Vice President of Operations at Villa Sport Fitness, faced this head on and looked to WellnessSpace for answers.
“WellnessSpace helped us fundamentally shift recovery from a labor-dependent service to a member-owned experience,” she says. “It allowed us to scale recovery access without scaling payroll, scheduling complexity or training overhead, which would have been a constant constraint.”
By removing staff dependencies, recovery became immediate and flexible. Members could self-direct based on how they felt, when they trained and how much time they had — autonomy that simply isn’t possible when recovery is gated by appointments or staff availability.
“From an integration standpoint, WellnessSpace was plug-and-play,” Ostolasa adds. “It layered seamlessly into our existing wellness ecosystem without disrupting operations, while elevating the overall member journey.”
When Simplicity Becomes Strategy
The most successful recovery spaces today share a powerful trait: simplicity.
Jaworsky says, “Recovery needs to operate like cardio — intuitive, safe, self-serve and easily available.”
WellnessSpace has delivered more than 400 million recovery sessions globally across its portfolio. That scale has produced a clear insight: behavior follows convenience.
“When recovery is as simple as walking up and starting, usage becomes automatic,” Jaworsky explains. “That’s where habit formation happens. And those first four to six weeks are critical — it’s the same window when members decide whether recovery becomes part of their routine or fades out.”
The goal, he says, isn’t just offering recovery. It’s making it easy enough that members use it every visit during that critical adoption period.
Designing for the Realities of the Club Floor
If recovery is going to scale, it must function inside high-traffic, mixed-use environments — without supervision. That reality shapes everything about how WellnessSpace designs its solutions.
Modern recovery zones must be:
- Fully self-guided
- Fully clothed
- Staff-free
- Built for throughput, durability and safety
“We design around five core principles,” Jaworsky says. “Intuitive use, durability for commercial volume, safety by default, efficient sessions and low operational load. If something requires constant babysitting, it simply won’t work on a busy gym floor.”
That philosophy shows up clearly in newer solutions like RedZone Sauna and PolarWave Dry Plunge.
RedZone Sauna delivers infrared heat and red light therapy in a private, self-guided format with short session times and no staff involvement.
PolarWave Dry Plunge offers full-body cold exposure without water, plumbing or sanitation complexity — removing the biggest operational barriers associated with traditional cold plunge.
“Recovery should be operationally invisible but experientially premium,” Jaworsky explains. “That’s the bar now.”
Built to Flex
At the system level, WellnessSpace focuses on flexibility without reintroducing operational burden.
The model is built around:
- Plug-and-play installs
- No specialized staffing
- No heavy construction or buildouts
- Modular layouts anywhere in the club
- Easy relocation and scalability
Jaworsky explains: “At WellnessSpace Brands, we think in terms of system, not single products. Operators don’t have the same footprint, budget or member profile, so recovery can’t be a one-size-fits-all.”
That’s what drives their portfolio of five complementary solutions: HydroMassage, CryoLounge+, RedZone Sauna, PolarWave Dry Plunge, and RelaxSpace. Each product works independently as a standalone revenue driver, or together as a fully integrated wellness space hitting all key recovery modalities.
“We’ve learned that the most successful operators don’t win by overbuilding,” he says. “They win by building flexible ecosystems that grow with their business.”
At Villa Sport Athletic Club and Spa, the shift to self-guided recovery translated directly into stronger performance.
“Transitioning to a self-guided recovery model allowed us to deliver a premium, longevity-focused experience without increasing staffing or operational strain,” says Anthony Kähler, National Director of Recovery. “Members can scan in and move through recovery seamlessly, while we gain the analytics and control needed to manage labor, utilization and growth.”
The result: higher usage, clearer membership upgrade paths and improved net operating income.
“As clubs continue adding value for members, the real winners will be the ones who add the least complexity,” Kähler adds. “That’s where WellnessSpace helped us elevate both the member experience and our operating model at the same time.”
