The Relentless Pursuit of Excellence with The Estate's Kenneth Ryan

At the unseasonably chilly start of summer, we had the opportunity to sit down with Kenneth Ryan, who’s pioneering the role of Chief Longevity Officer at The Estate. Redefining luxury through longevity science and personalized wellness, Ryan shares his insight on what luxury wellness is and how it's shaping the broader wellness conversation as a whole.

Fully integrated wellness is a growing cultural movement positioning wellness as the matrix connecting all areas of life. As such, many spas and resorts are innovating more ways to accommodate a wider array of offerings. This holds especially true for destination spas, where oftentimes local influences about stress, rest and nutrition are woven into the wellness regimens offered for an immersive, refreshing experience.

“The Estate seeks to serve the intentional wellness traveler seeking transformative, life-changing experiences and the discerning guest for whom wellness is a natural extension of their lifestyle,” says Ryan. “The former is really driven by rejuvenation, optimism and profound health intervention. It used to be that luxury was about having all this opulence, but now it’s really about wellness and longevity because people who have obtained that level of wellness and wanted that luxury environment want a quality of life that’s really being supported around them. It’s no longer good enough to have a luxurious stay, but what are you doing to really enable my lifestyle so I can have a better quality of life.”

The differences in our wellness journeys are gleaned from the various facets of our lives. It’s why making incremental changes is so critical—not only are we not the same as each other, but we don’t stay the same person as circumstances change either. The Estate focuses on curating potential changes for well-seekers who stay with them. Ryan cites sleep as being a good example; if a traveler comes to stay with them and typically has trouble falling asleep in their room, surrounded by phones, TVs, smartwatches and various other devices, but then comes to The Estate, and unplugs, then that’s a small change they can experiment with that could potentially have a huge impact on their life, especially since sleep is foundational to our overall health and wellbeing. “People want knowledge,” Ryan says. “We seek it…When you’re surrounded or immersed in something, you pick things up without realizing it, and once people have knowledge, they want to share it.”

Ryan states that it’s not about trying everything—as new wellness technology, equipment, products and practices crop up every day, that’s neither possible nor productive. Instead, it’s best to try things that have synergy with your needs and lifestyle. Product fatigue is a major issue in beauty and wellness currently, and as Ryan points out—products are all trying to convince consumers that they’re best for them without knowing who they are. That’s where The Estate’s advanced diagnostic program comes in, which becomes intimately acquainted with clients’ needs and wellness goals. “Become the CEO of your own health,” Ryan urges.

When it comes to longevity, the earlier you start the better. What happens if you’re starting your wellness journey a little later than you hoped? That’s fine, Ryan reassures—he meant it when he said The Estate could help all types of well-seekers. They accomplish this by finding a traveler’s baseline, and from there, they can evaluate where areas of improvement are, and work with The Estate’s elite team of highly-qualified staff to improve those metrics. For example, let’s say someone goes to The Estate and finds that they have below average range of motion. The Estate has personal trainers and yoga instructors on-site to work with well-seekers in a way that works for them. People aren’t static—one of the best things about our lives is that we can be changed and improved upon. The same goes for cognitive function. The Estate has a hyperbaric chamber on site to improve blood flow and oxygen delivery to brain cells, which helps keep brain cells rejuvenating and functioning properly. Ryan notes that they’ve seen a spike in people using the Hyperbaric chamber, especially since the rise of long COVID.

To Ryan’s earlier point, a luxurious wellness experience isn’t about gilded rooms and skin care treatments born of rare specialty ingredients. Ryan sums it up as “integration of precision, personalization and profound attention to detail. It’s the artful orchestration of every moment.”