OPUS HOTEL
— In Vancouver, Canada, the Opus Hotel is taking meeting breaks to a new level of relaxation and innovation with their Matcha Tea, Guided Breathing, and Oxygen breaks. Daniel Craig, GM of Opus, explains that the boutique hotel attracts many creative types, like advertising executives, and these breaks are a hit with clientele. First up, Matcha Tea, a green tea credited by Buddhist monks for their ability to focus for long periods, possesses over 70 times the antioxidants of orange juice, nine times the beta carotene of spinach, and numerous other vitamins and minerals.

“Matcha tea gives you the energy boost of caffeine but without the jitters,” adds Craig. The break includes full tea service and house-made energy bars, which are granola bars made with all natural ingredients including nuts and honey.

The Guided Breathing break is led by wellness trainers who assist the meeting goers in performing a series of short breathing and visualization exercises followed by a gentle stretching session, which places emphasis on high stress areas such as the neck, shoulders, and upper back. The package also includes Voss bottled water, fresh cut seasonal fruit, and herbal tea.

Finally, the Oxygen Break consists of either individually served or banquet table set-ups of hand-held Oxia oxygen canisters (as well as energy bars, fruit, and bottled water). Meeting attendees simply flip the lid on the canisters and inhale 90 percent pure oxygen; the canisters hold four minutes or 10 to12 usages.

“It’s been proven that pure oxygen stimulates cells, increases metabolism, and provides increased energy and exercise performance. Other benefits include strengthening the immune system, aiding in digestion, and improving cognitive performance. It can even help you get over a hangover,” laughs Craig.—Ashley Brown Allen

W NEW YORK UNION SQUARE
— At W Hotels, meeting breaks are called “Recess,” harkening back to school days when we all yawned through our morning classes and practically toppled our desks over when that noon bell rang. W recognizes meetings can be a lot like those boring school lessons, and with themes like Entertain, Inspire, and Revive, their concept for breaks is geared toward bringing out your inner child, says Melissa Brown, field marketing director for the West Coast.

“At W New York, Union Square, we have an Entertain package called ‘Retro,’ which includes lunch boxes filled with Pop Rocks, Sugar Daddies, Fun Dip, candy necklaces, Charleston Chews, 100 Grand bars, Jell-O, chocolate pudding, Pop-Tarts, Yoo-Hoo, and Dr. Pepper. Then we set out fun retro kids’ games like Etch a Sketch, Rubik’s Cubes, Play-Doh, Chutes and Ladders, Twister, Operation, Pokeno, Candy Land, and Trivial Pursuit.”

Other Union Square packages include “Central Perk,” in the Inspire category, which offers chocolate-covered coffee beans, hot pretzels, hot dogs with New York fixings, Junior’s Brooklyn Cheesecake, Dylan’s Candy, Starbucks iced and hot coffee bar (with assorted flavors, creamers, cinnamon, and whipped cream), and Teany Teas. New York lottery tickets, souvenirs, fact cards, and Central Park key chains are also provided, and recess ends with a scavenger hunt around the hotel or the city (if time allows).

The “W Oxygen Burst” fits into the Revive category of Recess and includes an oxygen bar with pure oxygen bottles provided, Vitamin Water, Teany Ginseng Tea, Naked Juice, soy milkshakes, crisp raw veggies with hummus, baskets of fruit, spiced nuts, protein powders, and energy and power bars. After re-energizing, attendees can participate in a finger painting contest before returning to the meeting—a last call for reliving the days when getting messy meant having fun.