Bacon. Bacon. Bacon. Bacon. More bacon.
There you go – five delicious, crispy reasons to have brunch at a hotel.
In all seriousness, though, brunch can be a great option for a meeting, because it’s more casual and flexible than some other meals/dayparts. And meeting for brunch at a hotel can make it even easier to ensure a successful gathering because you’ll have easy access to many meeting-oriented resources and turn-key options.
We’ve put together a few reasons it makes perfect sense to host brunch meetings at a hotel.
1. Parking is convenient.
If you’ve tried to get a group together at a trendy restaurant, you know that parking can be a headache and a hassle.
Meeting offsite can generally involve trying to get everyone into the meeting in a timely manner, hoping you can all successfully avoid traffic, and having to rush away to feed meters and keep your cars from being towed. All that additional stress can make it hard for everyone to focus and feel fully present.
When you meet at a hotel, though, you know you have a full parking lot at your disposal, and that you and your team can walk straight in with minimal hassle.
2. You can use technology.
If part of your meeting includes a video, PowerPoint or another method of presentation, it can be convenient to have a catered brunch in a hotel meeting room. In this space, you’ll be able to pull up slides or demos or to conference in team members who aren’t able to be there in person.
Whether you’re planning an intimate meeting like a leadership strategy session (which can fit in a hotel conference room like at the Wyndham Garden Hotel), wooing a potential client, or planning to wow an all-staff gathering (in a palatial space like the 500 Pearl’s Forbes Theatre), every type of meeting goes over better with waffles and Eggs Benedict, or at least that’s what we like to think.
At the very least, you’ll have a group of happy, satisfied people even before you start sharing transformative information during your presentation.
3. It’s much easier to get up for brunch.
Breakfast meetings are hard, especially when they start before the technical start of the workday.
It’s not easy for parents of toddlers, or even of school-age children, for example, to be able to participate in these meetings without rearranging their childcare and transportation options, Making all those shifts can cause additional stress and make the meeting itself less palatable and your participants less engaged.
With brunch, people have the opportunity to visit their office, check email and get settled before heading over to meet. Or, they can arrive onsite early and feel comfortable using the lobby or business center as needed, something that can’t always be done in a hectic restaurant lobby.
4. Brunch is more rewarding for your staff.
Sometimes as a manager, it’s enjoyable and strategically smart to recognize your team for a job well done. The typical go-to is a business lunch or a happy hour.
However, both types of events can cut into employees’ personal time. After work, they may need to rush out to pick up children from daycare, to make it to a workout or college class, or even to go to a second job. They may rely on their lunch breaks as opportunities to run errands, pay bills or catch up on other work tasks between meetings.
Putting a mysterious meeting request on their calendars, then taking them out for brunch can be a great way to celebrate their achievements and honor their commitment to your team and company.
Instead of taking them away or taking their personal time, you’re actually giving them the gift of time alongside the gift of fluffy omelets and hot coffee. If they didn’t already love you, we’re pretty sure you can cement their loyalty with this type of thoughtful appreciation event.
5. A hotel brunch gives you privacy and space so you can communicate effectively.
When you’re considering a meeting option, it can be fun and surprising to treat team members, client prospects or a leadership team, to a delicious brunch option.
Holding the event at a hotel makes it even easier to connect because you can use a private room to gather your team. In a public forum like a restaurant, it can be easy to get distracted, and staying at your corporate campus can also be problematic because people tend to slip back to their desks or to struggle with being candid while in the corporate environment.
Starting an executive leadership retreat with an off-site hotel brunch can be a great way to get everyone off-site and both physically and mentally present for a conversation.
For this type of meeting, the conference space at The Giacomo is a perfect fit; especially since your leadership staff can stay on-site and keep the collegial atmosphere going from brunch onward throughout the remainder of their discussions.
The best thing about brunch meetings, besides the bacon, of course, is the way that they can set the mood for an entire gathering.
Brunch is a festive, fun, interesting meal and one that’s typically associated with pleasant, connected gatherings. If you can work a hotel brunch into your Buffalo business event, it makes sense and can make achieving your goals a lot more fun, and a lot more flavorful too.
