MEETINGS of the
“ hubs ,” with the idea being to offer healthy options strategically throughout the day , giving meeting-goers options instead of limiting their snacking to certain blocks of time .
“ We look at that whole day-long meeting experience . We ’ re serving a lighter breakfast , we ’ re serving a lighter lunch , and then we ’ re giving you this nourishment hub in the afternoon that features lighter foods so that people , if they want to nosh all day , don ’ t feel like they want to run out of the hotel and go to sleep .”
And the sleeping is a real issue , according to a 2016 study commissioned by Hilton . Out of a sampling of U . S ., German and British workers , some 39 % of meeting attendees reported falling asleep or feeling drowsy during a meeting .
Creating meetings that didn ’ t send
Meeting guests cut their greens at the Capital Hilton .
attendees to dreamland was part of what inspired Hilton to create its “ Meet with Purpose ” meetings in 2015 , a pilot program among some 40 Hilton hotels that included options pairing yogurt and yoga , instructor-led routines with healthy snacks , and Cut and Create , a salad bar that encourages guests – like some health-frenzied Edward Scissorhands – to snip their own greens tableside .
THE ‘ AHA ’ MOMENT Cut and Create was popularized by Philip Thompson , executive chef at the Capital Hilton in Washington , D . C . But it was the moment people started taking out their phones to post pictures of their co-workers harvesting salad that Hilton Director of B2B Marketing Toni Zoblotsky says she knew the hotel was onto something .
F & B
MEETINGS of the
FUTURE
So what ’ s next in meetings ? Eliminating food waste is an avenue , and Hilton is one of several hotels partnering with the World Wildlife Fund in a 12-week pilot to get a handle on the startling fact that onethird of the world ’ s available food either spoils or gets thrown away . Here are some observations about what else is coming down the pipeline in the meeting world .
HILTON ’ S TONI ZOBLOTSKY :
“ I ’ m focused on what we can do with food waste mitigation in our future world because in banquet settings there ’ s a lot of food that goes uneaten . So we ’ re looking at what we can do to do a better job there . That ’ s where I would like to be focused in 2018 and beyond .”
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