Alexia Brue and Melisse Gelula, founders of lifestyle website Well+Good, have launched a division of Retreats, designed to appeal to a new generation of wellness travellers.

At the Global Wellness Summit in October, Brue and Gelula presented findings from a survey they conducted that showed that 40 per cent of their readers – more than half of whom are millennials – would rather go on a fitness retreat with their favourite instructor than to a destination spa.

“These days, among millennials, it’s more brag-worthy to say that you’ve snagged a spot in Taryn Toomey’s DR retreat than it is to say you grabbed a spot at Canyon Ranch or Miraval,” Brue explained at the Summit. “What we’re really seeing among the travel tastes in our readers is that there’s a transfer of trust going on from the properties to these local fitness gurus.”

The first Well+Good Retreat – one of four each year – taps into this trend. Hosted by food and self-care expert Candice Kumai (66.4k Instagram followers) and fitness and recovery expert Charlee Atkins (18.6k Instagram followers), the retreat will take place 25-28 March at Avalon Palm Springs in California.

Along with fitness classes with Atkins and cooking workshops with Kumai, the retreat also includes healthy meals of acai bowls and eggs for breakfast, family-style lunches, and dinner including seafood, veggie and vegan options.

Key to the concept is also the chance to connect with like-minded, wellness-focused people from the Well+Good community, so socialising times are built in to the agenda. About 40 people are expected on the retreats, and prices range from US$2,100 to US$3,000.

Launched in 2010, Well+Good itself has 8 million monthly unique visitors to its site and 1.2 million followers on social media.

Among the survey-takers from the research presented at the Summit, the median age was 33 and the median income was US$103,000 – prime candidates for spas.

At the Summit, Brue and Gelula said they were surprised by the survey’s findings, and that they show a new form of competition for what they “lovingly refer to as the ‘iconic spas of yore’, because they don’t speak to millennials as much”.

“Spas have been eyeing each other as competition, and not these upstart fitness instructors in their own communities,” said Gelula.

What today’s millennial wellness consumer is looking for, said Brue, is “for properties to take her wellness to a new and deeper place, and to give her these immersive, innovative, out-of-the-norm experiences.”