BY VICTORIA KATHER
A €260 million investment is bringing a new kind of luxury resort to Marbella. On 21 October, construction began on Oakmond Marbella, a development transforming the former Hotel Incosol site into a resort centred on longevity and preventive healthcare. Backed by €145 million in financing from Goldman Sachs Alternatives, the project is scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2029.
The complex will combine 140 hotel rooms, 28 private residences and a 10,000-square-metre medical clinic. Its planned services include early diagnosis, personalised preventive medicine and ongoing health monitoring, alongside fitness facilities, spa services and restaurants. Rather than treating wellness as an additional hotel amenity, Oakmond is building its proposition around the promise of helping guests maintain their health over time.
The investment arrives as longevity gains traction across the wellness and hospitality industries. In its 2026 wellness tourism trends report, the Global Wellness Institute identified longevity travel as a growing area, while emphasising that credibility will be critical to its future. Travellers are increasingly looking for science-backed programmes, clinical expertise and practical plans they can continue following after returning home.
The wider market provides context for this shift. According to the Global Wellness Institute, global wellness tourism expenditure reached approximately $894 billion in 2024, up from $655 billion in 2019. The figure covers wellness-related travel broadly, rather than longevity tourism alone, but it demonstrates the scale of the market into which longevity-focused hospitality is emerging.
From Hotel Amenity to Health Destination
The change is also visible in more established luxury hotels. The Mark Hotel in New York, for example, has announced a dedicated wellness and longevity spa in partnership with skincare brand Augustinus Bader, scheduled to open in November. Its three treatment rooms will bring the brand’s science-led skincare approach into a hotel setting.
The two projects represent different levels of the same shift. At The Mark, a beauty brand becomes part of the guest experience through specialist treatments. Oakmond takes a more medically integrated approach, combining accommodation with a dedicated clinic and preventive health services. Together, they illustrate how wellness partnerships and healthcare-led concepts are expanding the role hotels can play in customers’ lives.
For hospitality operators and investors, the appeal is clear. A conventional hotel stay is often measured in nights, service and amenities. A longevity offering creates the possibility of a more personalised relationship, built around assessments, treatment programmes, follow-up appointments and repeat visits. Combining hotels with private residences may extend that relationship beyond a single holiday.
The Credibility Test
However, longevity is not simply another label for luxury wellness. The term covers a wide range of services, from established preventive healthcare and lifestyle interventions to emerging treatments whose long-term benefits may be less certain. The distinction matters when properties make health-related claims.
The Global Wellness Institute’s emphasis on credibility reflects a challenge for the sector: sophisticated facilities and scientific language do not automatically demonstrate that a programme works. Guests will need clarity about the evidence behind treatments, the qualifications of medical professionals and what results they can reasonably expect.
Oakmond’s €260 million development signals confidence that longevity can support a substantial hospitality investment. But the project is not expected to open until 2029, so its commercial performance remains to be seen. The same is true of the wider category as operators test whether guests will pay a premium for health-focused stays.
The direction is becoming clearer. Luxury hospitality is moving beyond offering guests a place to relax towards offering them ways to invest in their wellbeing. Whether longevity becomes a lasting category will depend on more than the promise of living longer. It will depend on whether the experience can deliver credible, meaningful benefits.