Who knew team building, morale enhancement and networking could be so much fun?
From cooking classes and food truck events to watersports Olympics and wine-making competitions, today’s resorts offer groups a seemingly endless line-up of creative functions and activities to enhance meetings and incentives.
Multi-amenity resorts have been working overtime to develop innovative activities that help attendees alleviate stress from intense meetings as well as provide opportunities for team building, socialization, camaraderie and just plain good times.
“Resorts offer more networking opportunities by keeping attendees close at hand for meals and functions,” says David Gabri, CEO of Associated Luxury Hotels International (ALHI), a national sales organization that represents more than 160 luxury properties. “Meeting at a resort can also contribute to positive and creative thinking and provide a more discrete environment to share plans, objectives and directives.
“Larger resorts typically offer on-site recreation and diverse activities that encourage interaction between attendees,” Gabri adds.
While swimming pools, outdoor patios and golf courses have long served as activity venues for groups, a new genre of activities and settings provides planners with exciting possibilities for successful and productive outings.
At resorts, the executive chef, wine sommelier and recreation activities director are often key players in developing and executing unique events and team-building programs. PageBreak
Foodie Fun
Resorts are capitalizing on the public’s fascination with culinary culture by devising events that incorporate food trucks, cooking classes and demonstrations, chef’s table dinners and interactive meal preparation programs.
“Just the sight of food trucks always seems to put people in a great mood,” says Lindsi Wyner, senior convention services manager for Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa near Austin, Texas.
Instead of attendees traveling to Austin about 20 miles away, her staff brings the flavor of the city to the resort. Austin is a trendsetter in food truck culture and is renowned for its dynamic live music club and bar scene and barbecue joints.
“We set up the trucks, which feature everything from barbecue to gourmet entrees, add some mood lighting, provide live music by a local Austin band, and everyone gets into the festivities very quickly,” Wyner says.
A popular cooking class and competition at Lost Pines involves Texas-style barbecue.
“Teams prepare a barbecue dry rub with the seasonings of their choice, and it has proven to be a great team-building activity,” she says.
Food preparation is an increasingly popular team-building activity at many resorts.
“We use food-focused events and competitions as important interactive entertainment for some of our programs,” says Katie Clift, senior conference service manager for Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort, Bonnet Creek, in Florida. “People love to talk about and prepare food in group settings.”
Clift continues, “Some of our more popular foodie events are Iron Chef competitions, preparing the starter salad with the chef for a group dinner, and a food truck party with the menu created by the meeting planner and chef.”
Currently, trendy food team-building experiences at resorts include cupcake designing, sushi rolling and creating chocolate desserts.PageBreak
Grape Expectations
Wine-loving groups do a lot more than toasting and sipping at resorts these days.
With a backdrop of hillside vineyards, the Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa, Calif., offers groups wine-themed team-building exercises and events. One of its more popular experiences is “Wine Blending,” which separates groups into teams to develop their own perfect blend with the wine provided. Teams then design a wine label, create a story for their wine and make a presentation on why their wine is the perfect blend.
How about a team-building event where you can really stomp out the competition?
At the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa in Sonoma, Calif., groups bond and compete over a barrel, so to speak. The Authentic Grape Stomp is a team-focused competition, which also highlights individual effort.
“For our grape-stomping activity, we set up a platform with three wine barrels and fill each one halfway with ripe grapes,” says Ben Shih, Fairmont Sonoma’s director of sales and marketing. “One team member jumps into the barrel and stomps away. Other team members catch the juice trickling out of each barrel’s spout, and whichever team has the most juice at the end of the activity is the winner. Each winning team member gets a bottle of wine from one of our preferred wineries, plus bragging rights.”
Wine-loving groups can select from an eclectic winery/resort list highlighted by meeting-friendly properties such as the Renault Winery Resort & Golf in Egg Harbor City, N.J., Chateau Elan Winery & Resort in Braselton, Ga., and South Coast Winery Resort & Spa in Temecula, Calif.PageBreak
Water Wonderlands
“Life’s a Beach” is the rallying cry from some groups who savor sandy shores for bonding and building team unity.
“We customize our beach Olympics activity for each group, but it can include kayak relays in the Gulf of Mexico, beach soccer, sand volleyball, tug-of-war and even horseshoes and corn hole,” says Jason Parsons, general manager of The Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club in Naples, Fla. “Everyone in the group can participate, you don’t need prior experience, and when top executives join in, that seems to really make a positive impression on the group.”
The beach isn’t just for sunbathing and swimming, as many resorts have expanded the activities possible for groups. At the Ocean Edge Resort and Golf Club in Brewster, Mass., on Cape Cod, the list of options includes sand sculpting competitions and beach bonfires complete with marshmallows and an acoustic guitar musician.
Even if you don’t have a beach, it’s not a problem at many resorts with “new wave” watersports facilities.
The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz., recently introduced the Kierland FlowRider wave machine that provides a boogie-boarding and surfing experience.
“It has been a huge hit with groups because it’s a completely unique experience and it’s as fun to watch as it is to ride,” says Liz Franzese, director of sales and marketing at the resort. “Meeting planners love it because it’s located right at the resort so there’s no transportation involved and it’s actually quite an affordable option for them.”
The Kierland FlowRider can be operated for approximately 15 riders per hour or as many as 30 riders per hour. Most groups book two hours and the charge is $500 per hour for one lane or $750 per hour for two lanes.
For water-happy groups who want to enjoy wet and wild wintertime fun at a northern destination, the Kalahari Resort & Convention Center in Wisconsin Dells, Wis., with 100,000 square feet of meeting space, has a 125,000-square-foot indoor theme park highlighted by an expansive waterpark with a lazy river, huge wave pool, raft ride, whirlpool spas and private indoor cabanas with a flat-screen television and chaise lounges.
Edward Schmidt Jr., an Orlando-based writer, loves to mix business with pleasure at resorts, especially those with lazy rivers.
