Keep meeting guests active—and entertained—with these creative, wellness-focused activities.
At the Hotel Palomar Chicago, meeting guests can take a break on the sun deck and learn a local workout. Invented in Chicago, Barre Bee Fit is a popular exercise program that combines elements of dance, Pilates, yoga, and light weight lifting. The session typically lasts one hour; afterward, the catering team can provide healthy snacks such as fruit smoothies and baked tortilla chips with fresh salsa.
Among the hotels to capitalize on the recent popularity of stand-up paddle boarding, Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Destin, Florida, offers YOLO Boards, named after the anagram for “You Only Live Once.” The year-round beach activity takes about 90 minutes, including 15 minutes of instruction. Worried about less-than-athletic group members? Staffers swear the activity is easy to learn.
Bonaventure Resort & Spa in Weston, Florida, has a new teambuilding offering called Yoga on the Green. Held on its championship golf course, the 90-minute vinyasa yoga class can be modified for different skill levels. After the activity, guests can sip freshly squeezed juices and smoothies and nibble on healthy snacks.
Now available at all Westin Hotels & Resorts properties is the company’s New Balance running gear lending program. For $5, health-minded guests can borrow running shoes with disposable insoles, as well as a variety of jogging apparel like shorts, sports bras, and socks. Equipment-free, in-room fitness routines designed by celebrity trainer Holly Perkins and maps of local running trails are available as well.
The Ritz-Carlton, Naples in Florida is serving up healthy meeting break spreads, including the “VegOut” package which includes verrines, or layered appetizers, made with ingredients like harissa asparagus, tomato vierge, and truffle cauliflower; each verrine has fewer than 150 calories. The spread also offers house-made vegetable drinks made with fresh fixings such as pomegranates, wheatgrass, celery, and ginger root.
The Mandarin Oriental San Francisco has a yoga-centric breakout package for corporate groups. Held on the hotel’s 40th-floor sky deck, the session includes guided stretching and breathing and can last from 15 minutes to two hours. Staffers provide yoga mats, fresh towels, and water.
Located minutes from O’Hare International Airport, the Biggest Loser Resort in Chicago offers corporate wellness programs and teambuilding retreats. Expect activities like the “Smart Choices Challenge,” which has teams compete Family Feud-style to make healthy choices based on scenarios such as: “You are running through the airport and need a quick snack. Which has fewer calories? A: the CPK barbecue chopped chicken salad, or B: the McDonald’s grilled chicken Caesar salad?” (For the record, the answer is B.)
The Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa in Hollywood, Florida, can set up a teambuilding obstacle course on its 18-hole golf course. Participants run, jump, and crawl through hurdles while completing challenges such as spear-throwing, weighted-tire running, and climbing over eight-foot walls.
The Sea Pines Resort in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, hosts plenty of sporty group activities, including kayaking. Dispatched in one- or two-person boats, guests are given certain teambuilding tasks to complete while paddling through the low-country waters. Quick “debriefings” are held at rest stops along the way.
