The Power of Entertrain-ment: How Making Learning Fun Creates Lasting Impact

With everything moving a mile a minute in hospitality, making training both memorable and engaging can feel like a juggling act. Enter "entertrain-ment" – the perfect blend of entertainment and training that transforms ordinary learning into memorable experiences.

At our recent GM leadership conference, we showcased our new "SAUCE" service model through an immersive, high-energy presentation. Taking inspiration from the popular YouTube show "Hot Ones," we created a live interview format where four of our most influential operational leaders—including our GM of the Year—faced progressively spicier wings while discussing hospitality concepts. Each of the five hot sauces corresponded to a letter in our SAUCE acronym, revealing our service model step by step as the heat intensified. We enhanced the experience with custom presentation slides, branded t-shirts, and humor-filled "survival kits" containing 80's sweatbands, Tums, milk, and eye drops. What began as curious observation transformed into full audience engagement, with the room erupting in laughter and guests eagerly capturing the moment on their phones—the excitement so contagious that curious resort staff peeked in to witness the spectacle.

Why Entertrain-ment Works

The science behind entertrain-ment is compelling. Our brains are naturally wired to remember experiences that evoke emotion, particularly those associated with pleasure and novelty. When we introduce an element of entertainment to training, we activate multiple neural pathways simultaneously, creating stronger memory imprints than traditional instruction methods alone.

Traditional training often struggles with the "forgetting curve"— the tendency for retention to decrease sharply within days of learning new information. Entertrain-ment disrupts this pattern by creating memorable moments that serve as mental anchors for the content. When team members recall the entertainment aspect, they naturally retrieve the associated training concepts.

Additionally, entertrain-ment addresses different learning styles simultaneously. Visual learners benefit from the presentation elements, auditory learners from the discussions, and kinesthetic learners from the interactive components — making the approach universally effective.

The benefits include:

• Increased attention - Entertainment breaks through training fatigue and captures focus when it matters most. Our SAUCE presentation kept GMs fully engaged despite being the final session before lunch and departure.
• Better retention - Information connected to emotional experiences creates stronger memories. By linking our service steps to increasingly spicy wings, we created memorable benchmarks for each component.
• Higher engagement - Interactive elements transform passive listeners into active participants. Our presentation created a shared experience where everyone felt involved, whether they were eating the wings or cheering from the audience.
• Positive associations - When training is fun, it shifts from obligation to opportunity. This enthusiasm directly impacts how successfully teams implement new programs.
• Organic sharing - Memorable experiences naturally generate conversation. Our GMs left eager to tell their teams about the experience, creating pre-launch ambassadors before formal rollout.