This is a quick blog post on some differences between how travel agents, corporate and/or leisure agents make money.
After an 18 month sabbatical it’s amazing to be back in the events game.
Our first events happened to be back to back events in Austin, Texas with companies headquartered in Sacramento, CA and Boston, MA. The employees were ready to travel and the companies were ready to implement safety precautions to help protect everyone attending. These events were followed by two domestic and four international Club trips where all of the group events were focused on outdoor venues. We are finding cancellations are happening less, clients are traveling more, and attritions are high within the group block.
After eight successful corporate events over the last two months I wanted to share a few lessons learned.
It’s year 5 of your annual President’s Club and it’s been nothing but a positive experience. Sales numbers have significantly increased in the 4th quarter since instituting the program and the percentage of employees hitting 15% higher quotas has doubled. Each year while on the trip you realize how successful the trip is in bringing together your employees and building excitement for the year ahead.
While this year in particular has been far from normal, you know that the incentive trips have worked well for your company in the past and hope to continue (and grow) these programs in the near future.
You’ve decided it’s time to host your company's first incentive trip. Revenue is growing, headcount is increasing each month, your brand is getting stronger, and your product is getting better.
Each year, thousands of companies host annual incentive trips to reward their employees for meeting or exceeding expectations. Companies will either organize these trips internally or use a third party to help with the planning, but at the end of the day there are a few important factors that apply to either scenario.
First, what is Incentive Travel?
Incentive Travel is a vacation paid for by employers, awarded to qualifying employees or salespeople to reward them for success in reaching certain goals. These trips are an additional bonus used to motivate employees and help the company reach organizational targets.
How to create the perfect balance
Incentive trips are supposed to be a reward to your employees for a job well done. With that in mind, how do you balance required events with time for rest and relaxation? The question comes up repeatedly in discussions with our customers, and in general throughout the industry.
Destination Management Company
A Destination Management Company, or DMC, is a professional services company with extensive knowledge, expertise, and resources, specializing in design and implementation of events, activities, day trips, transportation, and program logistics. The services provided by a DMC usually include airport greetings, hospitality desks, special events, theme parties, decorations, AV, dinner events, site inspections, and anything you may need on site!
Source: Amstar
As more millennials move up in the workforce and baby boomers retire, this is a good time to refresh your employee engagement strategy. According to CNN, millennials expect to have four jobs by the time they're 32. This means that by the time it takes an employee to get fully ramped up (on average 18 months), he or she will already be getting ready to apply for their next job. Onboarding costs the company a lot of money and a lot of resources, so here are some tips on how to keep employees engaged in a genuine way:
Capturing the Key Moments
One important aspect of your incentive trip is capturing the special moments through photos and videos. This is not only for the guests, but also as a marketing tool for recruitment and future trips. In order to get the most out of your photography budget, we recommend a videographer who is able to not only capture the trip but also put together a compilation video. The video can then double as a highlight reel for the attendees as well as a piece to be used by the marketing team for recruiting.