After continually hearing that meeting planners were looking to infuse more health, wellness and sustainability into their agendas, Hilton Hotels & Resorts created Meet with Purpose in 2015. As it has evolved, the turnkey program—and its focus on Mindful Eating, Mindful Meeting and Mindful Being—has been increasingly customized to reflect each hotel and each meeting.
“The beauty of Meet with Purpose is that it’s all about customization and personalization,” says Michael Vaughn, executive chef at the 1,921-room Hilton San Francisco Union Square, which features 130,000 square feet of meeting space. Chef Vaughn says the culinary team meets with planners to create unique, healthy and sustainable food and beverage offerings combined with design elements that bring them to life. “When putting together these activities, we like to say, ‘your story, our flavors,’” notes Vaughn.
Vaughn reports that the program has been well received by both planners and attendees and that often a wellness activity is combined with a healthy meal. “Incorporating an activity at breakfast has become very common,” says Vaughn. Examples include Yoga & Yogurt, which features a yoga class followed by a yogurt parfait bar, or Boot Camp Power, which couples a protein-filled breakfast with a high-intensity workout.
At the Waterfront Beach Resort, a Hilton Hotel, in Huntington Beach, healthy break options include the Midday Stretch, where an instructor-led session focusing on posture, breathing and stretches is paired with seasonal fruits and salads, and the Meditative Moment, which combines smoothies, healthy snacks and local fruit with a guided meditation session. With the recent completion of an extensive expansion project, the Waterfront Beach Resort now features 437 guest rooms and more than 50,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space.
Other “Meet with Purpose” activities include “Puppies and Ice Cream Meeting Breaks” and “Orange is the New Break,” a “Citrus Lift” breakfast or morning-break menu that features vitamin C-powered snacks.
