The Breakfast Sessions buffet was housed in the Red Bull Guest House at the Sagamore Hotel during the Winter Music Conference in Miami from March 24 to 28. Offered as a late-night snack, the buffet served munchies including Pop Tarts with dipping sauces, mac 'n' cheese, chicken-and-waffle sandwiches, and Twinkies.
Off site but near festival grounds, Soho House Chicago teamed up with food website and mobile app the Infatuation to host an Ice Cream Social for festivalgoers on Friday. The event included a complimentary D.I.Y. sundae bar, where toppings inspired by the hotel's eateries included melon, basil, and bits of apple pie.
At the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, “local products that provide a sense of place continue to be hot,” said public relations director Jenny Barker. For example, a popular meeting break option is a biscuit station that focuses on the flavors and culture of the South. Chefs prepare the biscuits in front of guests who can then pair them with house-made butters and local jam.
For a recent conference where the theme was built around growth, the Hyatt Regency New Orleans created a break with a garden concept. Guests could choose from snacks hanging from trees and coming out of flower pots. Throughout the day, catering staff added new options to the garden.
The demonstration kitchen at the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort provides a unique setting for a meeting break. Chefs can do a brief demonstration of a food or beverage item, and then guests can sample the final product. Menu options include Spanish tapas, Southern food, risotto, desserts, and even German and Turkish food. Planners can also opt for longer hands-on cooking classes.
Attendee-led fitness activities were a popular option at the Hyatt Global Summit in July at the Hyatt Regency Orlando. Organizers identified some attendees who were willing to lead a boot camp at the resort pool, runs around the property, and yoga. “I think it created a different kind of networking opportunity, and it encouraged more attendees to join in the activities since they weren’t as structured as your typical breakout with a hotel leader or other leader from the event in charge,” said Megan Licata, the hotel’s marketing manager.
Take a nature break with a 50-minute guided kayak tour on Lake Arrowhead at the Lake Arrowhead Resort & Spa, located in the San Bernardino National Forest in California. The resort also offers boat rentals and fishing charters.
The JW Marriott Orlando Grand Lakes provides a true “farm-to-table” experience with its “Bee Break.” The resort’s resident bees are part of the food display, with the hive enclosed in a glass case. Guests can choose from a variety of foods prepared with honey from those bees, such as almond croissants drizzled with honey, and honey, orange, and chocolate chip muffins.
Meditation narrated by Dr. Deepak Chopra via video is one of the many Wellness Moment Programming activities offered at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The short mental and physical activities have been developed by Delos in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic Wellness to provide energy, creativity, relaxation, and focus to meeting attendees.
Help guests rejuvenate mentally and physically with a yoga break at the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort. A certified yoga instructor from the resort’s spa can lead a short beginner yoga session on one of the property's many lawns. Following yoga, the catering team can serve a healthy snack such as homemade power bars, smoothies, or juices with wheatgrass shots.
Meetings in exotic destinations provide an opportunity to help guests understand the local culture. At the Eden Roc at Cap Cana Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, instructors can teach guests about local music, with hands-on lessons using maracas, tambura, and guira. After the lesson, participants can perform for their fellow attendees.
Grande Lakes Orlando, home of both the Ritz-Carlton Orlando and JW Marriott Orlando, provides a true “farm-to-table” experience with its “Bee Break.” The resort’s resident bees are part of the food display, with the hive enclosed in a glass case. Guests can choose from a variety of foods prepared with honey from those bees, such as almond croissants drizzled with honey, and honey, orange, and chocolate chip muffins.
During this pre-dinner interactive experience from Wolfgang Puck Catering, guests break into groups and move from station to station pickling their own ingredients. Two weeks later, the jars are ready to eat. The catering company also provides recipe ideas with ways to use the new pickled ingredients.
At Kimpton Taconic's adult summer camp in Manchester, Vermont, guests spend a weekend participating in outdoor activities, including hiking, kayaking, yoga, kite making, glass blowing, and zip-lining. Plus, attendees learn how to master the pit with alfresco barbecue lessons. The hotel offers two camp sessions (June 23 to 26 and August 25 to 28), with other weekends available upon request with three weeks’ notice. The cost is $418 a night per person.
Launching this fall, the Hilton New Orleans Riverside will be offering hands-on mixology classes in Public Belt, the speakeasy-style piano lounge on the hotel’s second floor. The crash course begins with a cocktail history lesson, followed by an interactive demonstration of the city’s signature drink: the old-fashioned. Participants receive recipe cards and a Public Belt T-shirt. The fee is based on group size, with a maximum of 20 meeting attendees. And across the Mississippi at Whiskey and Rye at the Omni Fort Worth Hotel in Texas, groups learn how to make a local favorite: the Depot. The cocktail is served with Texas whiskey, muddled blackberries, Grand Marnier, lemon juice, and sugar.
The Thompson Playa del Carmen in Mexico offers up a “Catch of the Day” program, where guests team up with local fishermen to catch fresh fish offshore, which can then be grilled or made into ceviche or sushi for the group dinner. In addition, guests can pair their fish dishes with the hotel's tequila and mezcal flight-tasting classes.
At the Towers of the Waldorf Astoria New York, small groups can book an exclusive beekeeping experience, where they can explore the hotel's rooftop hives with a culinary team member and learn how the honey is incorporated into their three-course lunch of honey-infused dishes.
At the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, groups head to the hotel’s herb garden to handpick their own mint to be muddled into cocktails during mojito mixology classes. And in Michigan, groups can create a farm-to-flute pineapple sage mojito at the JW Marriott Grand Rapids’ bar Jdek, which features an outdoor garden [pictured] and a living wall of herbs, fruits, and vegetables where participants learn how to pick pineapple sage and muddle it with fresh fruit.
In their spacious shop, the owners of Jersey City, New Jersey-based Bucket & Bay Craft Gelato Company teach guests how to make the company's inventive flavors from scratch, including gelato made with seasonal ingredients and infused with spirits like whiskey, rum, or mezcal. Bucket & Bay offers one-of-a-kind flavors such as Rose Latte (rose-petal-infused milk gelato); Purple Sticky Rice (black sticky rice and lemon grass); and Black Label Vanilla with Johnnie Walker Black Label.
At the Waldorf Astoria Orlando and Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, guests create seasonal meals by plucking produce from an indoor herb wall and vegetable garden. Elsewhere in Florida, the Hilton West Palm Beach offers an experiential Mason jar salad-making class where attendees handpick oranges from the potted trees located on the Palm Deck to make a flavorful citrus dressing.
Denver-based winery the Infinite Monkey Theorem offers a blending trial at its Austin, Texas, location in which groups create their own vessel of wine. Guests can then take home two growlers of their custom blend.
The historic Clifton Inn in Charlottesville, Virginia, offers guests the opportunity to explore the 100-plus-acre property with hands-on foraging sessions and cooking classes as part of its two-day “Forage & Feast” package. In addition, guests learn basic culinary lessons, such as how to sharpen knives and how to clean and prepare fresh fish. The package costs $4,000 and requires a minimum of six guests.
Through its partnership with Wicked Dolphin Rum, guests of the Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village in Florida can tour the distillery, learn the art of making rum, and sample specialty flights. Groups are provided with recipe cards and challenged to craft a cocktail with the company's rum and seasonal ingredients.
