At the 153-room JW Marriott El Convento Cusco, groups can embrace the growing wellness trend with fitness breaks, ancient Inca-inspired spa treatments and energizing break snacks.
“More than a trend, health and well-being is being embraced as a lifestyle, and more and more, we are coming across groups seeking to incorporate wellness into their experience,” says Cecilia Rispa, a sales executive at JW Marriott El Convento Cusco. “Our approach is to draw inspiration from Cusco’s local culture, our rich history and, of course, the abundance of fresh ingredients found in our region to deliver an experience that is invigorating, compelling and transformative.”
Meeting planners can work with property staff to incorporate a 10-minute yoga session into a meeting. Attendees will leave the meeting room, and enjoy the brief yoga class in the property’s 16th century courtyard, which maintains the original dimensions, columns and arches as the San Agustin Convent. The property’s spa technicians can also offer attendees short reflexology massages during breaks. The Chinese technique focuses on reflex points on the feet and hands that correlate to specific organs and integral body systems, enhancing body circulation and creating balance from within.
If attendees like the reflexology technique, they may want to visit the property’s spa for treatments inspired by the Inca’s calendar and magic rituals. The Purification Sacrifice treatment is inspired by the ancient tradition in which the Incas offered sacrifices to purify their souls and land payments to ask for prosperity. The ritual includes an exfoliation that will gently remove dead skin cells in preparation for a warm chocolate wrap that renews and hydrates the skin, followed by a massage. The Anta Situwai Purification Massage uses the pututo (an ancient Incan musical instrument) to alert the mind and then calms it with the scent of the palo santo, which is supposed to purify the room from bad spirits and energy before the massage ensues.
During meeting breaks, the F&B team also offers wellness-oriented menus inspired by the region’s seasonal ingredients. These can include fresh juices made with locally grown vegetables and fruit such as agaymanto (Peruvian ground cherry) and carambola as well as carrots, spinach, alfalfa sprouts, mango, peaches, chica and beetroot. Made-to-order sandwiches with homemade multigrain bread, grilled vegetables and meats and fish, including Andean trout, are also available. For a dessert station, the team can prepare truffles made with chocolate from the Quillabamba region and fruit tarts with seasonal fruit, also from the region.
The property can also organize visits to the local Museum of Sacred, Magical, and Medicinal Plants, where visitors learn about ancient healing traditions as well as present practices for surviving in the surrounding Andes and Amazon region.
