Caesars Entertainment is taking its message about the value of wellness at events to six cities across the U.S. as part of its first-ever Wellness Roadshow.
Caesars Entertainment has been incorporated wellness into everything from its menus to available speakers and activities at several of its flagship properties. Now the hotel brand is taking its wellness efforts on the road with its first-ever six-city Wellness Roadshow. In February, the company demonstrated its new wellness menus to planners in Atlanta and Chicago, while this month they’ve headed to Seattle, Philadelphia and Phoenix/Scottsdale. The tour finishes up in early April at destinations including Washington, D.C.
Participants at these invitation-only Wellness Roadshow events get to sample some of the elements the company has developed to increase health and wellness for attendees at meetings and events. Among the educational offerings were sessions on how to select venues and design an event that will promote wellness for meeting attendees, as well as learning from a vetted keynote speaker and wellness practitioner and tastings from the nutrient-rich food and beverage selections from Caesars’ Wellness menu.
The company’s increased focus on wellness began internally, then, spurred by Reina Herschdorfer, Director of Marketing, National Meetings and Events with Caesars Entertainment, decided to bring more wellness awareness to its meeting professional clients and, ultimately, their attendees. As Herschdorfer said on a recent Wellness Podcast, “In our industry, we’re so driven by putting everyone else’s needs first that we often operate on an empty tank. We aren’t making time for ourselves…why not offer something for meeting planners that they can incorporate easily into their programming?”
The company began by offering wellness challenges, powered by Heka Health, during meeting industry shows such as IMEX and PCMA Convening Leaders. Then the idea of offering its Caesars Entertainment Wellness Summit for planners sprouted. Held last June for 70 meeting and event professionals, the company showed how its wellness menu items could be integrated into the overall event’s design. The Summit included group activations in the morning, followed by educational sessions in the afternoon — with some forest bathing, Yin Yoga sessions, and even a rafting trip, topped off by a sound bath at the Caesars Palace Garden of the Gods Pool & Oasis.
Participants in the Caesars Wellness Roadshow may not get to participate in all the wellness offerings showcased at the Summit, but they do get to learn more about how to incorporate food and beverage that will help keep attendees sharp, focused and ready to learn, as well as new ideas on how to incorporate wellness elements into all aspects of their programming.
Why all this emphasis on wellness? According to a recent study by global management and consulting firm McKinsey & Company, wellness is a $480 billion market just in the U.S. — 82 percent of U.S. consumer consider wellness to be a priority in their daily lives. And it’s still on the upswing. McKinsey & Company also projects the market sector to grow by 5% to 10% each year.
And Caesars its betting that it also will continue to be of growing importance to meeting and event planners moving forward. Herschdorfer likened wellness to be the spice that makes a meeting work in the podcast. “The entrée is bringing your people together and the content. Wellness is the salt that accentuates everything — helping people learn and connect better.”
She added that, when wellness is incorporated into an event, “The relationships you develop are on a different level, and when you’re on a different level, you start having different conversations. You open up more, you’re more relaxed and less defensive. You find more commonality, and when you find commonality, you find ways to work together, to do business together. It’s where the creative juices start flowing.”
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