About a year ago, the 517-room W Fort Lauderdale launched its new "Sensory Reset” experience for groups—which includes a dedicated room for a unique mental reset between meetings. The idea is to stimulate the five senses, with offerings like fidget spinners for touch, ASMR videos on loop for sight and sound, aromatherapy and an oil bar for smell, and a selection of mints, frozen fruit, and other bites for taste.
“More and more, people are recognizing the importance of a ‘healthy’ meeting—one that takes care of business, but also takes care of the mind, body, and soul,” Brigette Bienvenu, the hotel's director of sales and marketing, told BizBash at the time.
Options like that are becoming increasingly commonplace, as event organizers of all types are becoming more in tune with what guests need now. The newly reopened Anantara Veli Maldives Resort, for example, now offers a fully customized wellness villa experience—complete with wellness consultations for guests—while the Overland Park Convention Center recently opened a dedicated space created by medical professionals that has reduced lighting and noise for guests who may feel overstimulated during conferences.
Brands are taking notice too, hosting activations with creative, wellness-centric features like stress-release sessions, group fitness classes in unique environments, and even gut-friendly cocktails (or in the case of a Goop-hosted event, collagen martinis!).
Keep scrolling for a look at some of our favorite ways brands, venues, and event organizers have nourished guests' minds and bodies in recent years...
Poppi's Gut-Happy Holiday Party
In December 2022, beverage brand Poppi—which bills itself as a “prebiotic soda” made from apple cider vinegar that can help reduce inflammation, control appetite, improve cholesterol, and more—hosted what it cleverly called a "gut-happy" holiday party at Remedy in Los Angeles. Invited influencers could experience Poppi-based gut-friendly cocktails and mocktails, and enjoy bright, colorful decor inspired by the brand’s colors. Rose Gold Collective handled event design and production.
Photo: Eugene Lee
Custom-fabricated signage highlighted the brand’s health-focused qualities.
Photo: Eugene Lee
The event also featured a number of wellness-centric services, including “acupuncture to go,” which used an adhesive to attach smell pellets to the ear to simulate acupressure points.
Photo: Eugene Lee
Anantara Veli Maldives Resort's Wellness Villa
Set in the Indian Ocean southwest of Sri Lanka and India, the Anantara Veli Maldives Resort reopened on Dec. 1, 2022, following nine months of extensive renovations. In addition to luxe overwater villas and brand-new beach villas with private pools, the resort also opened a personalized Wellness Villa experience. Enhanced with light, sound, and scent therapy that changes the ambiance from day to night, the villa comes with Ayurvedic spa amenities, an earthing mat for meditation, and a wellness minibar with herbal teas, healthy shakes, and whole food snacks. All stays in a Wellness Villa include a wellness consultation upon arrival, daily yoga or personal training session, a healthy cooking class, and 20% savings on treatments at Balance Wellness by Anantara—the resort’s on-site space that features a resident naturopath and nutritionist, personal trainer, and yoga and lifestyle coach. For events, the resort has a meeting room that holds 50 people.
Photo: Courtesy of Anantara Veli Maldives Resort
Hulu's 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Wellness Pop-Up
In Hulu's Nicole Kidman-fronted miniseries Nine Perfect Strangers, a group gathers at health and wellness retreat Tranquillum House, which promises to "transform and heal" its guests. And in September 2021, Angelenos could visit a Tranquilum House of their own at Westfield Century City mall. Designed by Gold Sky Productions as an oasis from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles, the free, immersive pop-up was designed as a multi-stop journey, with various areas including an aura reading, a greenery-filled spot where guests wrote down their intentions, and a personalized astrology reading. There was also an on-site specialist teaching guests proper posture to reduce stress (pictured), as well as crystal healing, a smoothie pop station, and giveaways from online boutique Smudge Wellness. See more: 14 Wellness-Focused Event Ideas From Hulu's 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Activation
Photo: Carly Otness Photography
Lärabar x Pandora's Wellness Event
Energy bar company Lärabar teamed up with Pandora to host a music- and wellness-focused event in September 2019 at Palihouse West Hollywood. The rooftop event was intended to showcase how both music and healthy eating fuel people's lives; the gathering offered healthy snacks and yoga, meditation, and dance classes, all accompanied by a live DJ. Producer Stoelt Productions designed the rainbow-colored event, which was inspired by the different Lärabar flavors; six glass panels were covered in colorful translucent vinyl, while six custom shade sails provided sun protection for guests.
Photo: Paul McKelvey/Vero Image
Overland Park Convention Center's Sensory Room
Of course, wellness goes beyond just the physical. In Kansas, the Overland Park Convention Center’s new sensory room is a dedicated space—created by medical professionals with reduced lighting and noise—for guests who may feel overstimulated and need a more secure environment. Open since January 2022, the space offers bean bag chairs, visual light panels, bubble walls, noise-canceling headphones, fidget tools, weighted lap pads, and more; there are also activity panels and a custom tactile art piece created by an autistic artist. The space was created by KultureCity—a nonprofit that focuses on creating sensory accessibility and inclusion—and its team of occupational speech behavioral therapists and physicians. See more: Tips for Accommodating Neurodiverse Attendees at Your Next Event
Photo: Courtesy of Overland Park Convention Center
Constellation Culinary Group's Ube Ice Cream
Constellation Culinary Group, the official caterer for the Pérez Art Museum Miami (among other high-profile venues), is focusing on a number of food and drink options that promote wellness this year—including a rise of grazing tables with vegan and plant-based options, along with an increase in creative mocktails that cater to guests looking to abstain from alcohol. Another trend the team is loving? The rise of ube, a sweet, purple yam making its way into treats like doughnuts and even soft-serve ice cream (pictured). Ube is known to be high in healthy carbs, vitamins, fiber, and extra-high levels of antioxidants.
Photo: Courtesy of Constellation Culinary Group
Rock the Bike's Recharge Station
Rock the Bike, based in Oakland, Calif., brings bicycle-powered activities to events throughout the continental United States. The company offers the Recharge Station, a bike that can charge as many as eight phones at once, and offer a fun icebreaker and stress relief option at conferences such as Adobe Max in 2018 (pictured). An integrated "pedalometer" shows attendees how hard to pedal to maintain consistent charging. The desk and wheels can be branded with company logos and custom colors.
Photo: Jordan Strauss/AP Images for Adobe
L'Auberge de Sedona's 'Power of Presence' Program
In spring 2022, L'Auberge de Sedona in Arizona launched its Power of Presence program, which includes unique options like sound baths (pictured), manifestation and intention cards, and an immersive “Drink Your Chakra” experience to help groups find balance in between meetings. See more: How Hotels Are Leaning Into Unconventional Experiences to Bring Back Group Business
Photo: Courtesy of L'Auberge de Sedona
The Pop Shop by Vita Coco
As part of the coconut water brand’s “Bubbles With Benefits” marketing campaign, Vita Coco held its first experiential pop-up in July 2018. The brand partnered with Invisible North to produce and design the colorful activation, which had four rooms, each inspired by the brand’s sparkling coconut water flavors and cans. The grapefruit room (pictured), for example, had cans hanging from pink balloons, while the green room—inspired by the pineapple passionfruit flavor—held fitness classes and activities including yoga, meditation, and dance workouts throughout the weekend.
Photo: Courtesy of Vita Coco
A yellow room, inspired by the flavor lemon ginger, had a hanging installation of balls on strings that offered popular Instagram fodder. Additional photo ops included three different “changing rooms” with mirrors that displayed confidence-building and on-theme tag lines such as “I’m full of flavor” and “I’m popping.”
Photo: Courtesy of Vita Coco
La Quinta Resort & Club Charcuterie-Inspired Boards
The 617-room La Quinta Resort & Club in Palm Springs, Calif., has a healthy—and Insta-worthy—new dining option for groups: charcuterie-inspired boards. The creative boards offer a fun and social gathering experience, and include charcuterie boards, dessert boards, and mimosa boards. The desert resort also offers 41 temperature-controlled pools—and for active groups, eight pickleball courts for leisure play as well as private and group pickleball lessons and clinics from certified IPTPA professionals.
Want more inspiration for healthy charcuterie boards? Check out our recent tips for incorporating grazing tables successfully into an event.
Want more inspiration for healthy charcuterie boards? Check out our recent tips for incorporating grazing tables successfully into an event.
Photo: Patrick Gray
Equinox's Yoga Series at Hall des Lumières
In fall 2022, Equinox hosted a six-week yoga series in partnership with Hall des Lumières, New York City’s new permanent center for custom-designed immersive art experiences. The classes featured a 45-minute vinyasa flow class surrounded by the venue's inaugural installation, Gustav Klimt: Gold in Motion, a multi-sensory experience of the artist’s iconic work. During sun salutations and flows, guests were surrounded by glowing, animated, 30-foot-high custom displays of art images—all synchronized to an original soundtrack.
Photo: Courtesy of Equinox
Wolfgang Puck Catering's Spa-Water Hydration Station
For a healthy meeting break option, Wolfgang Puck Catering offers a spa-water hydration station. Fresh fruit and herbs can be added to water, and combinations include orange, mint, and lemon for an immunity boost; blueberry, apple, and raspberry for an antioxidant boost; and cinnamon and strawberry for a metabolism boost.
Photo: Jessica Lynne Photography for Wolfgang Puck Catering
In Goop Health
At the inaugural In Goop Health summit, held in June 2017 in Culver City, Calif., actress Gwenyth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand was brought to life via panels and a variety of experiential offerings—which varied from sound bath meditation and crystal therapy sessions (pictured) to aura photography selfies and B-12 shots.
Photo: Owen Kolasinski/BFA.com
Beauty appointments and fitness classes were also offered throughout the day, and curated pop-up shops sold Goop-approved health items, beauty products, and workout clothes. A food hall featured options from local healthy restaurants, as well as drinks and snacks from Sweetgreen, Bai, Moon Juice, Tropicana Probiotics, and more. One memorable and on-brand highlight: At a Paltrow-hosted cocktail party held at the end of the day, Austin-based Tito’s Handmade Vodka served “collagen martinis." See more: See Inside Gwyneth Paltrow’s $1,500-Per-Ticket Wellness Summit
Photo: John Salangsang/BFA.com
IMEX America's Meditation Rooms
IMEX America has hosted a dedicated meditation room for several years. During breaks in the busy three-day conference, guests can step inside for regular sessions on yoga, mindfulness, and meditation run by Lee Papa, a mindfulness and meditation speaker and trainer who specializes in the meetings, events, hospitality, and travel industries. (BizBash previously spoke to Papa about how meditation breaks can benefit meetings; check it out.)
Photo: Courtesy of IMEX
