Now firmly into this series, it should be apparent that an underlying effect of the nascent longevity revolution is that people are going to live longer. But not only that, their healthspans are going to increase – the years where they are active and able to travel, in opposition to their ‘diseasespans’. This has profound implications for every part of our society, foremost of which is the concept of retirement.

If you were to travel back to the 1800s and ask an elderly gentlemen – back then, an ‘elder’ might be someone in their fifties – what he planned to do once he retired, he would give you a puzzled look.

Retirement as an institution for the masses didn’t exist before the labor movements established it during the turn of the century. Prior to this and the advent of pensions or government support programs, you worked until the day you died or were too feeble to leave bed. And due to lifespans and healthcare systems at the time, there was no need for retirement as people tended to die off before they could even contemplate a life after their working years!

Knowing that retirement is a relatively modern luxury, how can we purport to have gotten it right the first time around without continuous adjustments? The very notion of a hard stop at age 65 is based on outdated mortality tables, where that specific number was determined based on a fiscally manageable number of post-retirement years where the ex-worker wasn’t to have much of a third act. Now that retirees are living into their nineties and the number of centenarians is ticking up, the age at which someone ends their full-time professional career is likewise due for a review.

The Transformation Economy and the Baby Boomers
This brings us to the concept of ‘The Transformation Economy’. Coined by Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore who also defined ‘The Experience Economy’ in the early 1990s, transformation goes a step further than the notion of people pursuing ‘time well spent’ through experiences in what can be thought of as ‘time well invested’. Transformation denotes experiences that pay dividends with compound interest, where one’s own future incorporates the achievement of some significant aspiration.

In other words, people want activities that are not just entertaining, interactive and memorable. People want experience that will ultimately improve their livelihoods and bestow meaning, purpose or ikigai as the Japanese would call it. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, transformative experiences are ones that self-actualize – the tip of the pyramid.

What we’re seeing as longevity creeps into our social fabric is that people retire – settling into the whole lackadaisical lifestyle of daily crosswords, long walks, dining out all the time, tai chi in the park, aquafit classes and lots of television – but then, right as the grim reaper would come knocking as per 20th century actuarial tables, the retiree is still within their healthspan yet bored with the slow pace of it all.

So, the long-lived retiree now enters a post-retirement phase. They want to reengage their minds with hobbies, community volunteering, mentorship and emeritus positions in companies – activities that transform. Therein lies a huge opportunity for hotels to develop programs appealing to this mindset.

A big trend that will continue over the next two decades is the mass retirement of baby boomers, so much so that it’s estimated that one in six people on the planet will be over the age of 65 by 2050. Notably for boomers, they are perhaps the wealthiest generation relative to other cohorts, and their retirement brings with it a lot of disposable income cocked and loaded for purposeful travel. Members of this group will likely start with the fully catered cruises and grand tours through Europe or Asia, but eventually their demands will look for ways to incorporate some form of giving back while traveling to new or known destinations.

Societal Transformation Activities
Think volunteerism programs, vocational excursions where you can try out new jobs or, if you operate a resort, ecotourism activities either prepackaged or as a marketable add-on. In addition to the business or organizational transformations that are happening in workplaces around the globe, this harks at the notion of ‘societal transformation’ whereby people derive meaning by helping others and making a difference, whether that involves the local community or improving the environment.

You might scoff at the idea of people wanting to scour a beach picking up trash while on vacation but take a step back and consider it through the lens of the post-retirement transformation economy. Another ecotourism possibility is ‘sharing the catch’ where travelers pay an admission fee to assist the crew on a sustainable fishing charter. As two more possibilities, rural properties can also incorporate a ‘working farm’ or add a beekeeping experience once an apiary is built.

For urban hotels, consider how you can partner with local colleges or grade schools. As professional boomers exit the workforce, they are taking with them so much specific industry knowledge that will be ‘sitting on the sidelines’ without a proper mentorship vehicle for it to be disseminated. Imagine you are visiting a city and in between high dining, museums and shopping trips, you also have the opportunity give a guest lecture at a nearby high school, with all logistics arranged through your accommodations provider so that it’s a relatively frictionless value-add to your hotel stay.

This may be the 1% inspiration and leaves out the 99% perspiration to get such a program set up. And yet, the early adopters will not only develop an attractive reason to visit for boomers but also get lots of local street cred and word of mouth – a true win-win. While undoubtedly you have other more pressing matters, the burgeoning trend of post-retirement aspirations is nevertheless one that intrepid hotel brands will find a way to leverage in interesting and highly lucrative ways.