Latest / Brand Insiders / Aslihan Ozgur of TheLifeCo on the Caribbean's First Longevity Village, Physician-Led Detox, and the Future of Health-Integrated Hospitality
Transcript
- 0:12SPEAKER_00: Welcome to a very exciting episode of HospitalityNets Brand Insiders.
- 0:18SPEAKER_00: I'm joined today by Aslan Oscar.
- 0:22SPEAKER_00: She's on the board of directors of Aila Developments out of St.
- 0:27SPEAKER_00: Lucia.
- 0:28SPEAKER_00: And we're here to talk specifically today about the first hotel to launch with in the Ayla development in St.
- 0:38SPEAKER_00: Lucia, the Lifeco St.
- 0:40SPEAKER_00: Lucia.
- 0:40SPEAKER_00: It's a very special property.
- 0:42SPEAKER_00: But first, Aslan, over to you.
- 0:45SPEAKER_00: Just tell us what is Ayla Developments.
- 0:49SPEAKER_02: Of course.
- 0:49SPEAKER_02: Hello, first of all.
- 0:52SPEAKER_02: So the Isla, it's very good to see you, thank you.
- 0:56SPEAKER_02: So Isla Developments.
- 1:00SPEAKER_02: I would like to highlight the scales of ambition of the Isla Resort Development.
- 1:04SPEAKER_02: This is a 1 million plus investment in San Lucia, the Caribbean first launder vita village.
- 1:12SPEAKER_02: There will be three resorts, five laundry vita residents, 200 restaurants, medical district, and one of the largest conference centers in the Eastern Caribbean, which is going to be 2,500 indoor seating capacity.
- 1:28SPEAKER_02: At the heart of all of this, the LIFECO, the wellness anchor that makes more than the real estate project.
- 1:36SPEAKER_02: It's a destination built around the idea that how you live, how long you will live, can be designed.
- 1:45SPEAKER_00: Wow.
- 1:46SPEAKER_00: One billion plus development and the first true master planned longevity community in the Caribbean.
- 1:59SPEAKER_00: That is tremendous, but it speaks really to where the world is going.
- 2:19SPEAKER_00: So tell us about this property size and the overall experience.
- 2:24SPEAKER_02: Of course.
- 2:25SPEAKER_02: Yes.
- 2:26SPEAKER_02: The Life Coast St.
- 2:27SPEAKER_02: Lucia is our first holistic well-being center.
- 2:32SPEAKER_02: Life Coast is a physician land, Langevite and Detox Brand with the properties across multiple global destinations.
- 2:40SPEAKER_02: The Life Coast St.
- 2:41SPEAKER_02: Lucia is our largest resort to date.
- 2:44SPEAKER_02: It's around 100 key purpose-built bands destinations from Grand Around Detox Transformation and the Launch of It programs.
- 2:55SPEAKER_00: Wow.
- 2:56SPEAKER_00: So 100 keys, and then there's a lot more coming between the residential units and more hotels.
- 3:02SPEAKER_00: And part of this whole idea of a village is from what we know about the blue zones, is that social wellness and sense of community is incredibly important for longevity.
- 3:18SPEAKER_00: So with the LifeCo St.
- 3:21SPEAKER_00: Lucia now officially open, how does this hotel and the master plan help to create that sense of community?
- 3:33SPEAKER_02: The Lifeco Center should open May 26th, which is recently.
- 3:38SPEAKER_02: It sits on a hundred thousand square meters footland compass atop of Mount Pimart.
- 3:44SPEAKER_02: We have a panoramic Caribbean Sea View, and it's the broader other resource development surrounding it's a Pine Rank Lodge of the Caribbean Sea, which is a village concept with the ultimate features three resorts.
- 4:01SPEAKER_02: As I told you, 500 Longewit residences, 20 different restaurants, retail center, and medical and commercial district.
- 4:11SPEAKER_02: And the development also includes Marquez Estates, which is a historical 600-acre former sugar plantation on the North Coast, which will serve as a source of the fresh organic produce for entire project complex, which is we needed exactly.
- 4:32SPEAKER_02: So next to lunch is Buluso, it's a residence concept with the Mediterranean restaurant opening on June 26, and followed by Isle Pan, which is 159 rooms family hotel, which will be the largest family hotel in Saint Lucia, and opening in December 26.
- 4:52SPEAKER_02: Together, these three phases are what creates the sense of living, evolving language with the community rather than just a single resort.
- 5:04SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, you know, you mentioned a lot of great terms there that intersect an ambassador plan.
- 5:10SPEAKER_00: The of course a family resort, families can come down, that is community, they can connect with one another.
- 5:17SPEAKER_00: You have all the on-site farming, so you're introducing the good ingredients as well as experiences around that, and 20 restaurants, thinking about restaurants not just as a place to dine, but a place to see people day in, day out as they're living down there or coming for extended periods of time, particularly uh during Canadian winter here as I'm recording from Toronto.
- 5:39SPEAKER_00: So with this launch of the Life Co, which is the very specific medical slash detox brand, it was uh the the brainchild of Urs and Pamasukar.
- 5:55SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, he started in Turkey, and they have centers in Bodrum, Antalya, they have one in Phuket, they have their head office in Istanbul, and they've uh developed and enhanced this program over decades.
- 6:11SPEAKER_00: But really, the core of it is it works so well that guests come back year over year to the Life Co properties, and sometimes they're booking six months in advance for this really specific experience.
- 6:31SPEAKER_00: So can you tell us from your time working with the Life Co, working with Ayla Developments, and working directly with Mr.
- 6:39SPEAKER_00: Pamasukar?
- 6:41SPEAKER_00: What have you seen in terms of the magic that makes that happen?
- 6:46SPEAKER_00: That makes guests come back year over year to the Life Co properties?
- 6:51SPEAKER_02: Okay.
- 6:52SPEAKER_02: Um, just a small correction because you're Canadian.
- 6:55SPEAKER_02: His name is Ayson Pamux Suzar.
- 6:58SPEAKER_02: Just a Pamuksuk, yeah.
- 7:00SPEAKER_02: Pomuksar, yes.
- 7:02SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, he's our founder, and he is such an intelligent and interesting guy.
- 7:09SPEAKER_02: As you know, he's 70 years old, so the life code is built 20 years ago around his vision.
- 7:16SPEAKER_02: So, yes, you are right, the loyalty is real.
- 7:21SPEAKER_02: It's earned across the global portfolio.
- 7:24SPEAKER_02: What we see is the 65% repeat visits rate among the guests, which is extraordinary for wellness retreats.
- 7:34SPEAKER_02: So, what drives us is a transformation the guests can actually feel and measure.
- 7:41SPEAKER_02: When someone arrives exhausted, inflamed, or metabolically off balance, and leaves feeling genuinely different.
- 7:50SPEAKER_02: Not just rested, but renewed at the cellar level.
- 7:55SPEAKER_02: They come back and then they come back with the people.
- 7:59SPEAKER_02: They will bring the people with them.
- 8:01SPEAKER_02: At Saint Lucieux, we are in early months, we are we're aware, but the foundation that the same loyalty is being built through to the same principles: medical care, medical great care, depersonalization, and environment.
- 8:19SPEAKER_00: Wow.
- 8:20SPEAKER_00: So to pick out a term that you said there, that whole idea of metabolically imbalanced.
- 8:26SPEAKER_01: Yes.
- 8:26SPEAKER_00: And that is so critical now because all the evidence that the scientists are studying basically says you are what you eat.
- 8:37SPEAKER_00: The LifeCo program is not only saying yes, you are what you eat, but you also are what you don't eat, uh, in terms of the term restricted eating or intermittent fasting.
- 8:51SPEAKER_00: And, you know, these are now they're becoming very popular, time-restricted eating, but the LifeCo's again been doing that for decades in a supervised manner.
- 9:01SPEAKER_00: So could you talk to us about, in a general sense, how that works with the supervised detoxing and restricted eating program?
- 9:09SPEAKER_02: Of course.
- 9:10SPEAKER_02: Actually, right now I'm one of two uh intermittent fasting programs, and I will just start with my master detox, which is the award-winning programs, which is all gonna um sharp brief uh later.
- 9:24SPEAKER_02: For the um time restricted and eating and fasting programs.
- 9:29SPEAKER_02: This is what we offer.
- 9:31SPEAKER_02: We offer two medically supervised fasting paths.
- 9:34SPEAKER_02: The first one is complete water fasting, the second is 16 to 6 method, which is two meals and one snack within six hours eating window.
- 9:45SPEAKER_02: Having a full clinical team on site with daily blood pressure monitoring and the regular glucose monitoring and the catch-on tracking, which allows us to safely offer both.
- 9:59SPEAKER_02: We can also combine the two methods which some guests prefers as a gradual interdeeper fasting.
- 10:07SPEAKER_02: The philosophy rooted in orthophagia, which is the body cell repair mechanism.
- 10:15SPEAKER_02: When digestion pauses, the energy that would normally go to processing food is redirected to repairing cells.
- 10:24SPEAKER_02: We've seen type 2 diabetes patients reduce or come off medication.
- 10:30SPEAKER_02: Autoamine flares up quite down, chronic inflammation is and the guests with chronic fatigue regain energy that they hadn't felt in years.
- 10:43SPEAKER_02: And fasting is only half of the equation.
- 10:47SPEAKER_02: How you break the fast, it matters just as much.
- 10:51SPEAKER_02: At the life call, guests doesn't just benefit from the fasting itself, they leave understanding how to approach the food afterward.
- 11:01SPEAKER_02: The education what turns in one-time program into lasting lifestyle changes.
- 11:09SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I love that you mentioned the refeeding phase uh after autophagy-based fasting because it's equally as important.
- 11:17SPEAKER_00: Um, you reminded me of the one person in the 1920s who he fasted for 380 days or something like that.
- 11:26SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
- 11:27SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh, and then it was his first meal afterwards was something like something very light.
- 11:32SPEAKER_00: I think it was like only two farmed fresh eggs or something like that.
- 11:36SPEAKER_00: But yeah, to everyone who's listening, you can look up that case.
- 11:39SPEAKER_00: This person went 380 some odd days without eating.
- 11:44SPEAKER_00: Um, but now to drill down, yeah, to drill down a little bit further into this um supervised fasting, you mentioned you're doing continuous glucose monitoring, ketone monitoring.
- 11:55SPEAKER_00: Of course.
- 11:56SPEAKER_00: Technically, anyone can do fasting at home, but it's so hard to do at home.
- 12:05SPEAKER_00: What ways does the Life Co's supervision, medical as well as hospitality, really help to help guests get into autophagy and then also make these detox programs so exceptional?
- 12:20SPEAKER_02: Okay, this is what the Life Co is actually.
- 12:23SPEAKER_02: It's the core idea in the core.
- 12:25SPEAKER_02: So Avery Life Co Center operates a full clinical team, which includes two doctors, five to six nurses, dietitians, psychologists, and physiotherapists.
- 12:38SPEAKER_02: So this multidisciplinary team shapes each guest program and follows up daily, creating the level of the safety that simply cannot be replicated at home.
- 12:51SPEAKER_02: That safety isn't just a medical procedure, it's a performance factor.
- 12:56SPEAKER_02: When the guests feel calm and secure, knowing that they are being monitoring by professionals, but they can go deeper into healing.
- 13:06SPEAKER_02: Imagine you're at the center and two doctors, five nurses, and wellness coaches, even the Jews biartenders are taking care of you.
- 13:17SPEAKER_02: So you feel so secure.
- 13:20SPEAKER_02: We offer 14 different nutrition plans and over 200 therapies across our center.
- 13:26SPEAKER_02: So each location also runs daily schedules, activity programs and the treatments such as daily yoga activities, morning walks, some meditations like drawing meditations, so on.
- 13:42SPEAKER_02: So personalizations don't stop.
- 13:45SPEAKER_02: We personalize the program according to guest needs.
- 13:49SPEAKER_02: So introducing the IV treatments, incorporating with the biohacking devices, technologies, and the shifting the nutrition plan, it's all about the guest needs.
- 14:01SPEAKER_02: So after 20 years and the 55,000 guests, we have accumulated something that cannot be bought, which is institutional wisdom.
- 14:12SPEAKER_02: So we know what to expect from every type of detox journey.
- 14:17SPEAKER_02: The breakthroughs, the plateaus, the emotional shoots, and the pains.
- 14:23SPEAKER_02: But the founding philosophy hasn't changed, that's evolved in the breath, the programs built around it.
- 14:31SPEAKER_00: Wow.
- 14:32SPEAKER_00: It's so incredible to hear about that degree of detail and personalization that goes into making each guest stay exceptional and now repeated over 55,000 times from what you said.
- 14:47SPEAKER_00: To pick out something that you said earlier about people coming to the resort who have type 2 diabetes, and they're experiencing some sort of relief or even possibly reversal of that pathogen, that disease outcome by going through the Life Co program.
- 15:06SPEAKER_00: And that speaks to this larger trend of looking at preventative wellness or functional healing instead of just the old thing which is, oh, take this pill, metformin, and you're on it for all time, and that's it.
- 15:21SPEAKER_00: So I'm wondering if you could unpack.
- 15:24SPEAKER_00: You've mentioned diabetes, but people are coming to the LifeCo for other specific health reasons and outcomes.
- 15:33SPEAKER_00: What other reasons or outcomes are people coming to the LifeCo properties for?
- 15:39SPEAKER_02: So many guests call it targeted goals, like stress reduction, detoxification, improved sleep, weight management, burnout recovery, which is for younger generations, they need that desperately.
- 15:55SPEAKER_02: So the the experience goes much further.
- 15:58SPEAKER_02: Some guests with a simply resort and a disconnect from the pace of everyday life.
- 16:05SPEAKER_02: So the Love Coast and Lucia, it's also appropriate to introduce longevity holidays, which is flexible, leisure-oriented stays that don't require the common fundructure programs.
- 16:19SPEAKER_02: Guests can enjoy the full range of the Venus facilities.
- 16:23SPEAKER_02: We have a vegan and cart dining and the spot treatments as well.
- 16:29SPEAKER_02: So for younger people who are really looking for vans careers travelers once across about that obligation.
- 16:37SPEAKER_02: So this is also very new for the brand.
- 16:41SPEAKER_00: Wow.
- 16:42SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it's new, but you know, I can see it just being rapidly adopted because of how many people that need these programs, myself included, for sleep problems and burnout.
- 16:53SPEAKER_00: I'm wondering, you know, just to drill even further, when we're talking about health reasons and health outcomes, we're looking broadly at this new category of hotels called Health and Longevity Integrated Resorts, of which the Life Co is a perfect example.
- 17:10SPEAKER_00: So just to sort of tell people about how much the Life Coast St.
- 17:16SPEAKER_00: Luci is on the cusp of medical wellness, what other facilities and services are available at this property that can really help guests in significant ways?
- 17:27SPEAKER_02: Sure, of course.
- 17:29SPEAKER_02: This is a clinical um depth, actually.
- 17:32SPEAKER_02: Hotel wellnesses, generally of spa, yoga classes, and the health food.
- 17:38SPEAKER_02: And the longevity program is physician-lit, so personalized biomicers and designed to produce measurable physical changes.
- 17:48SPEAKER_02: So the LAFCO at the San Lucia, we operate full integrated medicine clinic with biohacking technologies, including NAD plus IV, infusions, EPO tube, which is a process with the blood is drawn, infused with ozone and oxygen, and reintroduced to the body and support overall wellness.
- 18:12SPEAKER_02: And we have hyperbolic oxygen therapy, which gives breed 100% pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber to support the tissue repair and healing.
- 18:25SPEAKER_02: So we also use Sikeneca, it's an advanced contact-free 3D body analyzer system, and PMF therapies, which is pulls electromagnetic fields that interact with cells, tissues to improve the circulation, oxygen, and cellular repair.
- 18:46SPEAKER_02: Those are the therapies not found anywhere else in the global at the LIFECO.
- 18:51SPEAKER_02: This is only for the LifeCoast, yeah.
- 18:55SPEAKER_00: Wow.
- 18:56SPEAKER_00: And yeah, uh the listeners or viewers here can drill down into all those specific machines because they are quite advanced in terms of what they do as well as what's required to operate them.
- 19:11SPEAKER_02: And also, I'm sorry, but I missed that, but also we provide stem cell therapies as well.
- 19:16SPEAKER_00: Oh, of course, just missing the most advanced ones, stem cells, right?
- 19:22SPEAKER_02: Yeah, sorry.
- 19:24SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 19:25SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 19:26SPEAKER_00: You know, and yes, stem cells, everyone has heard the term stem cells, but it is incredibly complex to administer, to source, to transport, to have those stem cells locate and differentiate into the desired cell type.
- 19:42SPEAKER_00: It's a very, very complex, and you need that medical supervision and that extended length of stay to really uh have that work as a treatment.
- 19:51SPEAKER_00: But fantastic to see that you have it.
- 19:54unknown: Thank you.
- 19:56SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 19:57SPEAKER_00: So one other area we haven't talked about as it relates to uh overall wellness and well-being is fitness.
- 20:06SPEAKER_00: And when I was on site, when we toured the construction site at the time, you said, oh, you know, in this corner, we're gonna have a water treadmill, and it's gonna really help people with joint problems to do a proper workout without any pain.
- 20:21SPEAKER_00: Uh and now you've built out that entire fitness center and you've even incorporated some AI-assisted technologies there.
- 20:30SPEAKER_00: So tell us about the fitness center and how it complements everything else.
- 20:34SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 20:35SPEAKER_02: So this is the one special for the life course Saint-Lucie on there.
- 20:40SPEAKER_02: So we have five different devices, which is operate with the AI technology.
- 20:46SPEAKER_02: So it's also five of them combine each other and they create a great workout.
- 20:53SPEAKER_02: So React Sport, which is reactive neuromuscular training, challenges, balance, and coordination through the unpredictable movement patterns.
- 21:02SPEAKER_02: This is one of the new devices.
- 21:05SPEAKER_02: It's, I guess we are the third center using on this in the whole market.
- 21:12SPEAKER_02: So the Carol bike, which uses AI to deliver the personal high-intensity interval training as little as eight minutes based on each individual's fitness level.
- 21:26SPEAKER_02: But in eight minutes you can see the results.
- 21:30SPEAKER_02: So, and then another device is called Clumber.
- 21:33SPEAKER_02: It is for full functional vertical training that engaged the entire posterior chain, and uh it comes to the formal lift, it's an AI guided strength training with real time form feedback to ensure the safe and effective moment.
- 21:53SPEAKER_02: So together, these allowed our team to design her highly personalized moment.
- 22:00SPEAKER_02: Programs or the guests who are a seasoned athlete or returning to exercise after years.
- 22:07SPEAKER_02: So it makes so difficult and easy.
- 22:11SPEAKER_00: So aside from fitness, um, you've also mentioned there's a lot of programming around the whole idea of guest education, whereby it's not just about the time on property, on resort, but giving people something to bring home to improve their lives back at home, and then they come back and visit and learn more.
- 22:34SPEAKER_00: So, first off, in a general sense, why is guest education such an important part of longevity?
- 22:41SPEAKER_00: And then if you could also tell us how does the Life Co incorporate guest education into its programming?
- 22:51SPEAKER_02: Okay, so the longevity is a long-term lifestyle practice, it's not a short-term fix.
- 23:01SPEAKER_02: We get the life co can initiate the physical changes, but what sustains the understanding, guests who live knowing what they feel different, and how to maintain that feeling are the ones who come back and who actually change their lives.
- 23:20SPEAKER_02: That's why education is woven into everything that we do: daily wellness talks, consultations with doctors and the wellness coaches, dietitians and the psychologists.
- 23:33SPEAKER_02: That knowledge is what turns into retreat into turning point.
- 23:39SPEAKER_02: So during the stay, every day we teach you, we are trying to teach our guests how to make shopping, how to pick real foods, what's the real food is.
- 23:52SPEAKER_02: So how to eat, how to wash, and how to take care of our bodies, how to avoid from the chemicals.
- 24:01SPEAKER_02: Not everyone has to be a vegan, but we can make our choices.
- 24:07SPEAKER_02: So start using the natural products.
- 24:11SPEAKER_02: So within a week, we are trying to teach our guests how to live healthy and longer.
- 24:19SPEAKER_00: Wow.
- 24:20SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean the grocery store itself is a little bit of a minefield in a lot of ways where you know you have vegetables and organic, non-organic, and then everything in the middle with these processed foods that just our guts, uh, our microbiomes are not designed for.
- 24:36SPEAKER_00: You mentioned about natural products.
- 24:39SPEAKER_00: And besides the on-site experience, the LifeCo also offers its own range of packaged goods, natural products, and supplements for the long-term support uh outs in between or outside of visits to the LifeCo properties.
- 24:56SPEAKER_00: So, can you describe some of these packaged goods that you offer through the LifeCo and how they encourage repeat visits?
- 25:05SPEAKER_02: Sure, of course.
- 25:06SPEAKER_02: So at the LifeCo we offer 93 different products, which we are providing during their detox program, but the three products which is very important and it's the main component in our programs, which is Ficillium Husk powder, probiotics, and the digestive enzymes.
- 25:28SPEAKER_02: So Ficillium Husk powder is a natural fiber source that maintains fullness, and it's a key component of our award training master detox program, which is I am on it right now.
- 25:43SPEAKER_02: And the parabiotics are giving to entire guests daily during their stay, and the guests continue taking them at home because they see the immediate effects and the results.
- 25:55SPEAKER_02: Enzymes helps maintain gap head between the wizards and bridging the gap between the control nutrition and centered everyday life.
- 26:03SPEAKER_02: So when our products are in the guest kitchen, they keep life code present in a daily life.
- 26:11SPEAKER_02: And that visibility is a constant reminder how their body fed during the program and that the memory drives an action.
- 26:21SPEAKER_02: It's one of the reasons that we have 65% repeat visits.
- 26:27SPEAKER_02: Wow.
- 26:29SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh I I take psyllium husk personally as well at home, and we could drill into the biomechanics of that, but that's beyond scope for a light interview just about introducing the Life Coast St.
- 26:41SPEAKER_00: Lucia.
- 26:42SPEAKER_00: Um Aslahan, we've covered so much ground, and this is so inspirational for really where health is going as well as where hospitality is going and that intersection in the in this whole idea of a longevity village.
- 26:58SPEAKER_00: Is there anything else that's important we haven't covered yet?
- 27:03SPEAKER_02: Uh actually we covered everything, but I would like to highlight just the general view of the project, and again.
- 27:10SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 27:11SPEAKER_02: Um as you know, the Life Co is the first phase of the project and the whole project around it by Life Co.
- 27:20SPEAKER_02: So the Life Co St.
- 27:21SPEAKER_02: Lucia flag of the all other Life Coast.
- 27:25SPEAKER_02: It's one of the biggest Life Co.
- 27:28SPEAKER_02: And then all that other resource around by the Life Co bringing us the Longerity Village, which is such a brand new concept for the whole Caribbean.
- 27:39SPEAKER_02: And we are very proud of that.
- 27:41SPEAKER_02: We bring that concept to the Caribbean because we see that the whole Caribbean suffers from the type 2 diabetes and some other cardiovascular disease.
- 27:52SPEAKER_02: And even not only from the guests from the abroad, we believe that contribution to the Saint Lucia will help to improve their health issues as well.
- 28:03SPEAKER_02: So we are not only here for the guests, we are here for the Saint Lucia too.
- 28:09SPEAKER_00: Wow.
- 28:10SPEAKER_00: Um, thank you so much, Aslehan.
- 28:13SPEAKER_00: It's been a fantastic interview to really learn and talk about what I love about this whole idea of a longevity village and everything that you're doing at the Life Co.
- 28:26SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much, Adam.
- 28:27SPEAKER_00: For coming on, it was a pleasure to