Best Practices for Planning an Incentive Trip

Any incentive travel program should aim for the "wow" factor. You're not just planning a nice trip, you're giving winners an extraordinary experience that will reinforce loyalty to the host company and spur a burning desire to come out on top again next year.

Special moments can encompass after-hours cocktails in a museum, dinner on the beach or a bagpiper playing as attendees walk past torches into a Scottish castle for an event. You have to find what will motivate people to work harder all year long, and the first step in building that excitement is marketing the destination right from day one.

 
CHOOSING THE DESTINATION
Your budget is the biggest factor when choosing where to go. There's no point wasting time looking at wish-list spots if money is an issue. Another consideration is "perception, understanding how your potential audience feels about a destination," says Dahlton Bennington, CMP, CMM, director of meetings and incentives for PROfound Planning.

Knowing your audience helps, says Mike May, CITP, CMP, IP, president of Brightspot Incentives & Events, adding, "The CEO might say, 'I just got back from Pebble Beach and it's the most amazing place. We've got to take our Millennial sales force there because they will never have experienced that before.' But chances are those Millennials aren't as into golf as the 60-year-old CEO."

Trips don't always have to start with a beautiful sunset reception or always be at a beach resort. "There's a big world out there, and what we're finding, especially with the Millennials, is they want to explore," says Tina Weede, CITP, CIS, CRP, president and CEO of Peerless Performance.

New and off-the-beaten-track destinations are proving to be big draws, particularly for groups that trend younger or have a lot of experienced travelers who have already seen major destinations such as Paris and London. Iceland and parts of Croatia have crept onto itineraries, but offbeat also  can mean choosing Portugal, or going to Tuscany instead of Rome or Florence.

 
HOTEL CONSIDERATIONS
Once you know what you can spend on hotel room nights, taking a familiarization (or "fam") trip, if your organization allows you to, is critical. The point isn't just to see if the rooms are luxurious enough or the food good enough -- you want to take advantage of the time on-site to build a relationship with the hotel's convention services manager, who will be your primary point of contact.

That said, professional incentive planners can help you get the most bang for your buck. "The value of a meeting pro is that we work with multiple groups all year long versus a single corporation or planner who handles one group a year. As a result, our purchasing power tends to be stronger," says Bennington.

Hotels gain most of their profits from groups through food-and-beverage spend, so F&B minimums are an important (and potentially difficult) part of contract negotiations. Still, there are ways to work with the catering director and chef to stay within your budget, ranging from using buffets instead of plated meals to preparing meal plans that share ingredients with a larger group on-site before or after your event, allowing many items to be bought in bulk.

Planners not only know these tricks, they are familiar with potential pitfalls like the "plus-plus" found next to the cost of meals on the price list. "Plus-plus is the service and the tax," says Scott Siewert, president of Fab at Incentives. "When you buy a $100 dinner for your group, the first plus is service. We'll call that 25 percent, so that's $125. Then you're going to pay the local tax." This is often higher than just the sales tax, as many destinations have extra levies that can bring the total to 12 percent or even more. Add $10 for a 10 percent tax bite, and that $100 meal now costs $135.

 
PLANNING FOR TRAVEL
Leisure travelers on the road are grabbing hotel rooms, and those rates are high; these transient travelers also are taking up airline seats and making fares rise -- and flights fill up quickly. "You need to reserve your airlines as far in advance as possible, particularly if you are considering a destination with limited access," says Siewert.

One positive is that the major U.S. carriers have begun to refocus on the group travel market in the last couple of years, allowing incentive planners to get the seat-block assignments they need.

"Delta has done a great job of being group friendly, of being at the head of the curve," says Siewert. "Now American and United are catching up on that."

 
WHAT TO DO ALL DAY
Traditionally, incentive programs were chock full of activities to fill the day, but when the economic downturn caused budgets to tighten, free time -- particularly at resorts -- became more popular.

"It used to be every program was overplanned," says Siewert, noting that it's a bit wasteful to pay for a fancy resort and not give winners time to enjoy its amenities. Incentives now schedule two- or three-hour activities, he adds, "And those who don't want to participate can go enjoy the pool."

Plan to explore the destination's unique areas. "In Costa Rica, you can't miss going ziplining. For Cabos San Lucas, it'd be a tragedy not to offer a catamaran to get you out on the water to see Land's End and the El Arco rock formation," says Siewart.

You'll probably have to include a meeting during the incentive program. "I'd say 50 percent of my clients have what I'll call a 'meeting lite,'" Siewart notes. "It's just a two-hour update on what's going on in the company, and it's presented in a fun manner. Some of them will bring in a motivational speaker."

Two big traditional events are still de rigueur: the arrival cocktails party, held outdoors if possible, and the final night gala recognition dinner, which increasingly is held on the second-to-last night in case people have to leave early. These main events are put on the schedule before everything else, and they have the budget for intricate décor, entertainment, A/V and lighting.

Don't forget to keep in mind the objectives of the executives on the trip and that they'll need opportunities to mingle.