Sustainably-led, independent hotel group Crystalbrook Collection launched ‘Meet Mindfully’ – a cleaner, slower, more conscious way to travel and gather for meetings and events. 

Tapping into the rising trend for work wellbeing, Meet Mindfully is designed to remove the stressors and environmental pressures of conventional corporate meetings, instead facilitating meetings of purpose and value.

Each Crystalbrook hotel will also stir in its unique personality with proudly local destination experiences, transforming traditional concepts of team-bonding. Highlights include: guided sound healing at Crystalbrook Byron, local gin blending at Crystalbrook Kingsley and beehive workshops at Crystalbrook Riley. 

“Crystalbrook’s goal is to provide attendees with the space and culture that heroes the local environment, while also being empowering. We want guests to leave meetings at Crystalbrook feeling invigorated, both professional and personally,” said Crystalbrook CEO, Geoff York.  

While every Crystalbrook property shares many similarities, the brand loves to champion each property’s unique personality and this truly comes to life in meetings. When it comes to Meet Mindfully, Crystalbrook Collection has curated a series of team-bonding activities which encapsulate the very best a destination has to offer. Highlights include: 

Crystalbrook Byron, Byron Bay 

·         Guided Sound Healing, using a crystal quartz singing bowl and chimes to leave delegates feeling uplifted. The sound frequencies slow down brain waves to a deeply restorative state, which activates the body’s system of self-healing.  

·         Palm Weaving: immersion in a traditional artform that is both relaxing and energising. Delegates will begin the exercise with a guided walk through Crystalbrook Byron’s on-site rainforest, followed by an hour of string making using palm fronds from the rainforest.  

·         Forest Bathing: immersion in the rainforest, tapping into its healing qualities through a quiet, guided, mindful walk focused on soaking up the sounds, scents, colours and “feel” of the forest. 

Crystalbrook Kingsley, Newcastle 

·         Gin Blending Class with Earp Distilling Co: learn from the Earp distillery team about the history of gin and distilling, exploring both traditional and contemporary gin profiles before crafting your very own gin blends.   

·         Newcastle Afoot Walking Tour: venture on a personally curated tour of Newcastle, unveiling the best kept secrets of Australia’s second oldest city.  Explore Newcastle architecture, street art, seascapes, and laneways to uncover hidden secrets and learn about the city’s history and new developments. 

Crystalbrook Vincent, Brisbane 

·         A Vincent-Inspired Sketch ‘n Sip: take a guided walk-through corridors of Crystalbrook Vincent and be inspired by the art of Vincent Fantauzzo. Then, delegates will join the hotel’s resident artist to be led through a guided sketching session to create their own piece of art, all whilst sipping on a range of drinks created in Brisbane.  

·         Laughter Therapy / Laughing Yoga: humour is an effective tool to develop staff resilience and maintain a positive outlook. It increases engagement levels and creates a healthy working environment, helping teams to communicate and work better together, and solving problems faster. During this one-hour session, delegates will learn that laughter is a strong medicine.  

Crystalbrook Riley, Crystalbrook Bailey and Crystalbrook Flynn, Cairns 

·         Beehive Workshop: experience an educational tour with Cairns Local Hero Graham Thornton for corporate groups to build camaraderie and a renewed focus on teamwork as evidenced by the beehive structure in nature.  Each workshop includes a Q&A, before smelling and tasting a variety of honey, followed by a hands-on activity constructing a native bee house which will be donated to parks, community centres and schools.   

·         Dreamtime walk: including full dance performance over an Aussie BBQ lunch by the Pamagirri Aboriginal Cultural Enjoy a didgeridoo playing and spear-throwing demonstration after lunch and learn how to throw a boomerang and then paint your own personal boomerang to take home with you either in group colours or with a personalised design.   

·         Paint Yourself Tropical: learn from Cairns local hero Grace Hopkins, an experienced art curator, and paint yourself a tropical scene in Cairns whilst sipping spritzes from the local Wolf Lane Distillery.   

Meanwhile, all properties will also feature the below overarching initiatives: 

·         Daily Card Ritual: Individuals get to draw a card from the deck at the start of the day. The card will display a message cue, encouraging individuals to integrate this into their energy for the day. It could be to bring joy, to listen, to open up or to support another – each day, each card will have a special resonance for that person that day.  

·         Power-down Plans: adding a technology power-down period will allow delegates the freedom to consciously connect as a group and help limit emissions and carbon footprint. Individuals are also welcome to pop their phones into a locked “powerdown box” and head out into the area – from the Byron beachfront to the Cairns esplanade to backstreets of Newcastle, there’s something unique at each of the destinations.  

·         Bike Around The Block: Groups can divide into smaller breakouts and each jump on a bicycle around the block (or along the beachfront.) This quick rush of activity stimulates blood to the brain and revives the spirit to vamp delegates up to engage fully in the next component of the meeting.  

·         Clean Up Kits: Australia’s waste challenges go far beyond one day. With the help of a Clean Up Australia kit, Crystalbrook hope to inspire and empower groups to play their part to clean up, fix up and conserve the environment. 

·         Paperless Communications: where possible, Crystalbrook has removed the use of paper from meetings. Where paper is required, Crystalbrook uses forest stewardship council (fsc)® certified paper.  

·         Mindfully Safe: As well as ensuring all physical areas are covid-safe, Crystalbrook ensures wellbeing for the mind. Crystalbrook have partnered with The Indigo Project to provide attendees with free-of-charge meditation and tools to increase productivity and minimise stress. Attendees also receive a complimentary ‘Five Day Choose Yourself Challenge’ and ‘Power Down Plan’ to maximise mindfulness and improve wellbeing.  

·         No plastics policy. Crystalbrook offers filtered water in reusable glass bottles.  

·         Local produce: 80% of all produce on banquet menus comes from within a three-hour drive of each hotel. As a group-wide initiative, Crystalbrook endeavours to support local and really bring to life their ethos of being authentically Australian.

·         Recycled waste: All meeting waste is recycled under the brands ‘Container for change program’. Crystalbrook also works with OzHarvest to collect unused food from meetings to distribute to those in need within local communities.

·         Coco Starter Kit: Each delegate will receive a CoCo Starter Kit, an environmental planter to grow their own herb kit.  

The Meet Mindfully initiative is now available across the six Crystalbrook hotels mentioned above.