Wellness continues to be a popular topic throughout the meetings and events industry, as everyone continues to navigate a pandemic and subsequent shifts in how and where work gets done. To keep the conversations surrounding wellness- and health-forward events going, Associated Luxury Hotels International (ALHI), a global sales firm representing independent luxury hotels, announced a new partnership and wellness accreditation.
ALHI has partnered with global wellness and real estate technology company Delos—founder of the WELL Building Standard—to create the Delos Wellness Accreditation for Meetings and Events. The accreditation consists of a five-hour course that teaches planners how to design, plan and implement wellness solutions to create safer and healthier experiences for meeting attendees.
The course leads planners through an interactive series of videos on topics such as air, water, light, nourishment, movement, comfort and mindfulness. Each video series poses self-reflection questions and requires knowledge checks for comprehension.
ALHI President and CEO Michael Dominguez has long been a proponent for healthy spaces in the hospitality industry. During his time at MGM Resorts International, he worked with Delos to launch the Stay Well program, which achieved "phenomenal results," Delos President and COO Peter Scialla told Meetings Today.
[Related: How Clean Air Affects Concentration and Productivity at Meetings]
"He and I started to brainstorm on ways that we can offer education to the industry and to meeting planners, that will help them be well-versed in the language we speak, as it relates to what types of things can be done to enhance not only meeting spaces, but the way meetings are designed, the architecture, the order of things," he continued.
Scialla said that the new certificate can be a valuable differentiator when planners are promoting their events, both internally and externally, or wanting to expand their client base.
"As it relates to corporate events, corporate America is highly focused on productive meetings and wellness as a key driver of that," he said. "This can be a differentiator from an organization like ours, which has been converging health, behavioral and building sciences for a better part of a decade."
Ultimately, ALHI and Delos see this new accreditation as a catalyst for change in the industry.
"Folks don't need to be convinced anymore that air, water, light, sound, temperature are all important to the human body and that indoor environments have a profound impact on all of these things," Scialla said. "So we view this as a catalyst to help educate the industry and translate that into meaningful changes and practices."
In a press release, ALHI's Dominguez added, “A healthy meeting is a happy meeting, and when people feel safe in their meeting spaces—that is when the most meaningful meetings can occur. This accreditation also provides planners with a way to attract new clientele. Planners and meeting attendees alike can meet with confidence knowing that they are in as healthy of an environment as possible from a mental and physical standpoint.”
Those interested in taking the course can register here. (Meeting profs can use promo code ALHI25 to save 25%.)
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