Need to Know
25 : 02 : 20

By Abi Buller and Rumi Josephs

Bathhouse brings cuisine to the spa, Rooted offers text advice to green-fingered consumers, and Boomers feel their age is a disadvantage at work.

In today's news:

Bathhouse combines taste with treatments

This SMS helpline answers plant parents’ worries

Lonely Planet taps carbon-neutral tourists

Stat: Boomers feel stifled by employer ageism

Bathhouse combines taste with treatments

Bathhouse, Williamsburg. Photography by Adrian Gaut

New York – Bathhouse is an urban retreat and bathing destination in Williamsburg where spa treatments are complemented by a high-end culinary experience.

Housed in a revamped 1930s soda factory, Bathhouse is a space for urbanites to disconnect from city life and indulge in a range of treatments. The destination brings together many of the traditional elements of a bathhouse – including thermal pools, spacious hammams and multiple sauna options – with elevated European cuisine delivered by restaurateur Akiva Elstein.

Intended as a hybrid space for holistic indulgence, Bathhouse has an eclectic yet serene aesthetic, tapping into the rise of urban dwellers seeking new venues focused on wellbeing, decompression and contentment amid their own quest for Conscious Deceleration.

Join us for our Trend Briefing in London on 25 March 2020 to discover how consumers will use their leisure time for more pleasurable pursuits in the decade ahead.

This SMS helpline answers plant parents’ worries

Rooted, New York

US – Rooted NYC is operating an SMS service for green-fingered consumers looking for instant plant care advice.

The convenient text-based service allows plant owners to fire questions, concerns or images to Rooted’s plant care specialists. In a real-time service run manually by an in-house team, the text hotline aims to ‘reconnect people to nature’ in line with the brand’s main motive.

The friendly and colloquial service offers help on questions ranging from picking out the right plant for a particular space to guidance on what to do when leaves turn yellow. Created in addition to the Rooted shop and meme-friendly Instagram page, the text service brings a more human side to the digital brand.

While a traditional means of communication, for retailers SMS is changing the face of customer service while giving consumers a platform to enter more casual conversations with the brands they love. In turn, they receive personal service that goes beyond transactions.

Lonely Planet taps carbon-neutral tourists

Global – Lonely Planet has teamed up with travel operator Intrepid on a series of tours created for minimal environmental impact.

The Lonely Planet Experiences concept will bring together over 300 sustainable group tours across the globe, with day-trip activities including walking, cycling, festivals and marine tours. Motivated by a Lonely Planet survey finding that, of the brand’s 7,500 strong community, 35% factor in sustainability when planning a trip, the excursions have been curated to enable conscious exploration and offset feelings of travel shame.

With tours ranging from an Aboriginal history walk with Tasmania’s traditional owners to a coral-planting venture in Fiji, Lonely Planet Experiences will combine travellers’ interests with their desire to be carbon-neutral and engage with local groups. James Thornton, CEO of Intrepid Travel, says: ‘These experiences combine our expertise to create a new tour range that will support local communities, protect our natural environment and ensure travellers see the world in a responsible and sustainable way.’

With travellers increasingly experiencing feelings of eco-anxiety, they’re looking to travel operators to help them engage in more Conscious Tourism.

Alila Anji, China

Stat: Boomers feel stifled by employer ageism

According to research by LinkedIn, age is the most prominent barrier for job-seekers in the UK, above gender, ethnicity or educational background.

Almost a quarter (23%) of respondents to a LinkedIn survey said they considered their age to be a key obstacle in the job market, compared to 7% who thought their level of education was one of the main reasons for them not getting ahead. Meanwhile, just 5% stated gender was a barrier and 4% cited ethnicity. The age-related obstacle is particularly felt by Baby Boomers, with 45% of 55–65-year-olds feeling opportunities are out of reach because of their stage in life.

With such workers feeling overlooked by employers in their later years, brands are stepping in to provide micro-learning opportunities to transform workplace training and make upskilling accessible to all, something Jacob Waern of EduMe says will enable more diverse employee networks.