Reimagining What It Means to Live Well, Thrive and Belong
GOCO Hospitality embarks on its next chapter
Ingo Schweder and Josephine Leung are passionate about the future of longevity, regenerative hospitality and democratic wellness.
Leading wellness consultancy GOCO Hospitality, has appointed Indigo8 to lead its UK communications as it prepares for its most ambitious chapter yet. After nearly two decades shaping the global wellness hospitality sector, GOCO is entering a new phase of growth with the forthcoming launch of its consumer brand, Fivelements.
The appointment comes as hospitality, healthcare and real estate converge around preventative health, longevity and community wellbeing. Having advised many of the world's leading hospitality and real estate brands while developing its own destinations, GOCO has spent almost twenty years embedding wellbeing into the design, development and operation of places that improve quality of life. GOCO believes the industry's next opportunity is creating places where people genuinely want to live, thrive and belong.
A deeply personal mission
For founders - and married couple - Ingo Schweder and Josephine Leung, this next chapter is rooted in lived experience.
Both have experienced cancer firsthand. Schweder was diagnosed with terminal lung and testicular cancer aged 32, prompting a lifelong exploration of integrative health that ultimately led to GOCO's creation. Three decades later, Leung's own cancer diagnosis and recovery sparked a search to understand which therapies, treatments and practitioners people can trust. She co-founded the Bangkok-based OLiv Longevity clinic, with the goal of helping consumers navigate the fast-growing longevity market with greater transparency.
Today, both believe the conversation around longevity has become too narrowly focused on lifespan. “For us, longevity is about healthspan, purpose, community and healthy environments,” says Schweder. “We judge success by one simple question: do our guests leave a better version of themselves than when they arrived?"
Designing wellbeing from the ground up
Most people have never heard of GOCO, and that’s largely by design. Founded in 2008, the company is the strategist, developer and adviser behind many of the hospitality industry's most ambitious wellbeing projects. Four Seasons, Cheval Blanc, Bulgari, Capella, Ritz Carlton, Rosewood, Waldorf Astoria, McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, PwC and Sotheby's have all sought its expertise.
Few companies can take a project from the first idea through design, development and operation without something getting lost along the line; GOCO sees it through from start to finish, with consultancy expertise delivered by Horwath HTL Health & Wellness, all of which gives GOCO an unmatched command of what works commercially as well as experientially.
“For most of my career, I’ve watched our industry treat wellbeing as an add-on,” says Schweder. “We’ve never seen it that way. Being there from the first sketch, designing the architecture and the daily rhythms of a place, is what gives us the bigger ambition. We're creating places where people live well, thrive, belong, and leave better than when they arrived. Hospitality can become a catalyst for healthier communities, stronger social connections and more resilient destinations.”
That philosophy underpins GOCO's belief in regenerative hospitality. Rather than applying generic sustainability frameworks, each project begins by considering the local community, understanding what already supports health and wellbeing, and designing hospitality that strengthens those existing assets.
After advising hundreds of developments worldwide, GOCO believes the sector must move towards creating destinations that improve people's lives, while remaining commercially sustainable. "Our role is often bridging the gap between aspiration and execution. Beautiful ideas are easy. Creating places that still deliver value - for guests, communities and investors - twenty years later is much harder."
One family of brands, one philosophy
GOCO's portfolio brings that vision to life in different ways:
Fivelements Ubud; Fivelements Montenegro; Fivelements Samui
Fivelements is the company's clearest vision for the future of wellness hospitality. Launching as a global consumer brand later this year, it builds on the success of Fivelements Ubud, the fullest expression of the founders’ purpose and focus on regenerative hospitality. Future developments, including Koh Samui and Montenegro, will adapt the philosophy to new destinations.
Horwath HTL, Health and Wellness - as the world’s largest (50+ global offices) and oldest (founded 1915) consulting brand specialising in hospitality, tourism and leisure, Horwath is a cornerstone of the GOCO ecosystem. It leads on all global wellness projects across concept, design, finance and feasibility. In delivering business solutions to investors, developers and operators, Horwath offers senior expertise, strategic counsel and a sound understanding of how to merge ideas effectively and efficiently.
Glen Ivy Hot Springs
Glen Ivy, the historic Southern California hot springs resort where natural waters have been drawing people since the 1860s, demonstrates GOCO's belief in democratic wellness. Naturebased wellbeing is made accessible to a broad community, rather than positioning it as an exclusive luxury. The resort regularly opens its doors to groups often overlooked, from firefighters to single mothers.
OLiv Longevity, a discreet urban clinic in Bangkok, provides the scientific gateway into GOCO's ecosystem, combining advanced diagnostics and preventative medicine with holistic wellbeing to help consumers navigate the longevity sector with greater confidence. Developed directly from Leung's own experience, it reflects her belief that consumers deserve greater transparency, quality standards and trust.
The same philosophy shapes GOCO itself, where a diverse team representing sixteen nationalities reflects the company's belief that wellbeing begins with culture rather than facilities. GOCO’s Bangkok headquarters serves healthy lunches cooked fresh by a private chef; there are monthly therapy sessions for office staff; and “Daily Learning Time,” a fifteen-minute ritual where anyone, whatever their role, shares something they’ve learned.
That lived experience also gives the founders unusual credibility within today's longevity conversation. "As cancer survivors, we've both been on the receiving end of this industry," says Leung. "We've asked the difficult questions because our own health depended on the answers. That's why we hold everything we create to the same standard we'd expect for our own family."
As longevity continues to become one of wellbeing's fastest-growing sectors, Schweder and Leung believe consumer trust, integrity and meaningful outcomes will define its future. For GOCO, more than extending life, it’s about creating places where people and the communities around them can genuinely live well for longer.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Interview topics:
Redefining longevity beyond lifespan
Healthspan, preventative health and consumer trust
Regenerative hospitality and destination development
The convergence of hospitality, real estate and wellbeing
Democratic wellness and making wellbeing accessible
Why so many wellness developments fail
Building commercially sustainable wellbeing destinations
The future of Fivelements, Glen Ivy and OLiv Longevity
About GOCO Hospitality
Founded by Ingo Schweder in 2008, GOCO Hospitality is a strategy, intelligence and development group widely regarded as one of the architects of modern wellbeing hospitality. Working end-to-end across consultancy, concept creation, development, design and operations, GOCO advises many of the world’s leading hospitality, real estate and investment organisations. It is the parent group behind Fivelements, Glen Ivy and OLiv Longevity, with consultancy expertise delivered through Horwath HTL Health & Wellness.
About Horwath HTL Health & Wellness
Horwath HTL Health & Wellness is the specialist health and wellness advisory practice of Horwath HTL, the world's leading hospitality, tourism and leisure consultancy. The team advises investors, developers and operators on the planning, development and optimisation of wellness-focused destinations, resorts, spas and hospitality projects, providing expertise across market research and feasibility, concept development, strategic advisory, operator selection and asset management. Working in collaboration with strategic partner GOCO Hospitality on design development, master planning and technical services, Horwath HTL Health & Wellness has supported projects across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the Americas, helping create commercially successful, future-focused wellbeing destinations.