285. Robert Hammond, President & CSO of Therme Group US

Today, I'm joined by Robert Hammond, president & CSO of Therme Group US.

After co-founding New York's High Line, Robert is now helping Therme bring thermal bathing to America through large-scale wellness destinations.

In this episode, we discuss reimagining social bathing culture across US urban centers.

We also cover:

• Creating affordable wellness spaces for the masses

• The social and spiritual benefits of communal bathing

• Building destinations that generate tax revenue and jobs

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Website: https://www.thermegroup.com/therme-group-us

Therme Group IG: https://www.instagram.com/thermegroup
Robert’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/thehighlineguy/

The Culture of Bathing Newsletter: https://cultureofbathing.substack.com/

The Culture of Bathing IG: https://www.instagram.com/cultureofbathing

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Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:15) Robert's background and Therme's scale

(03:00) How Therme's model differs from American wellness concepts

(05:00) The three main areas: Play, Relax, and Restore

(07:15) Creating an indoor tropical experience year-round

(08:45) Bathing as a universal cultural experience

(10:45) The social aspect as the "sticky" part of the bathing business

(12:30) Using scale to keep prices accessible

(14:15) Working with cities to develop urban locations

(16:30) Creating new downtown destinations and tax revenue

(18:30) The Peter Attia effect on wellness adoption

(21:15) How different bathing businesses serve different needs

(24:15) Making bathing inclusive and body-positive

(27:00) Marketing wellness vs. marketing fun

(29:45) The social value of bathing experiences

(31:30) The meditation-like quality of bathing

(33:30) The beginning of a bathing movement

(35:15) Democratizing wellbeing through scale

(37:00) Conclusion