Executive Group Travel Blog

Establishing the "vision" for your incentive trip


Incentive trips are meant to reward employees and boost positive team energy. Now more than ever, it's crucial to keep employee morale as high as possible. Our world has changed drastically this year and if you've been lucky enough to keep your sales team on, you'll probably be planning incentives for them in the near future for having weathered the worst of it. Eventually, you will start re-establishing the reward structure that works for your company, even if it may look a little different than before. 

We hope this information will be helpful in planning your company's next trip. 

Baha Mar: A long journey to success and we are not there yet.

Rosewood, SLS, Grand Hyatt Review

The Baha Mar hotel facility has come a long way since its opening back in 2017. It’s a great product for MICE travel, given its convenience to the US. There’s plenty to do in terms of golf, spa, and snorkel. And the price is a good value for your dollar when comparing it to other Caribbean islands. Food and beverage prices are still a challenge at the hotels, but with MICE travel that’s expected.

SLS Baha Mar

10 of the best hotels for incentive travel in Caribbean & México in 2020

Here are our top hotels for incentive travel in 2020.

Malliouhana Anguilla (63 rooms; opened 1984, renovated 2019 and became an Auberge property). This property recently reopened after a large renovation and Auberge taking over management of the hotel. From the moment you enter the lobby, there's definitely a wow factor from the view down to the decor, and it doesn't stop there. The beach, service, food, spa, and pools are all extremely impressive. This is the perfect opportunity for an incentive program buyout for groups with 50-60 rooms. The addition of the beachfront casual dining restaurant, Leon’s, is perfect for a casual lunchtime option or entertainment each evening.

Our 5 favorite incentive partners every meeting planner must know

When someone asks me what I wish I knew before I started Executive Group Travel, you might be surprised by the answer. Yes, the importance of hiring a great accountant and the fact that Gusto is the best investment for a growing startup are both up there on the list of things I wish I knew.

But given our lack of strong industry knowledge at the outset, we wish we had found these five industry partners back in year one.  Every meeting planner must get to know them, use their expertise, and let them continue to make your company look like rockstars.

Cabo Incentive Scene - New Players to the Game Nobu & Hard Rock Los Cabos

In the past 6 months, a few new exciting hotels have opened their doors in Los Cabos, Mexico. The most anticipated opening was actually two hotel brands owned by the same owner, located only a few steps away from each other. Both properties are located on the Pacific side of Los Cabos in the Diamanté area, which is approximately one hour from SJD airport.

The Value of Good Hotel Partners

When looking for the perfect hotel for your next event, it’s essential to have strong partnerships with individual hotels, third party sales teams, and regional corporate reps.

How to effectively use tourist boards (CVB's) to secure your next President's Club destination.

When planning your next incentive trip, corporate retreat, or industry conference we highly recommend from the start reaching out to the local tourist board, visitors center, tourism department, and/or convention bureau (CVB).

Ritz Loungers

Hotel Contracts & Attrition, what does it mean?

Attrition, what does it mean and how to contract it.

First, what does attrition mean in terms of hotel contracting? For this article we will focus purely on Rooms Attrition and not Food and Beverage Attrition. Usually F&B attrition will be in line with the rooms attrition. You can find an example at the bottom of this post.

The easiest way to understand attrition is that hotels have the right to charge a penalty if the actual event uses less rooms than originally booked in the hotel contract. The hotel contract will include an attrition clause which tells you the number of rooms you can release without penalty. Two things to pay attention to: the % or actual number of rooms you can release and the deadline or specific dates that those releases need to happen by.

With attrition, it is imperative to make sure the contract includes a clause stating that if the hotel is sold out then attrition is null and void and no penalties are to be paid. Also you may want to ask for the daily pickup report from the hotel to confirm how many rooms were in inventory that could be sold (they should not include rooms that are under construction or unable to be used), and how many were occupied.

2087 Infinity Pool

Outside The Box President's Club Gifting - Custom Leather Bags

The on site gifting experience for incentive trips is getting harder and harder. Unfortunately, the industry is behind in providing new creative ideas that are easy to deliver on site.  Industry leader Maui Jim has perfected on site gifting and are a personal favorite but unfortunately you need additional options for repeat clients.

Each year we rack our brains for something different, creative, and personalized. For requirements, we want to provide attendees options to choose from and also want the ability to brand that gift.

When should I start planning for our next President's Club?

This is a constant question we get! In fact, we blogged about this topic before but since methods are constantly changing we wanted to explore the topic again.


If you want to get ahead of the planning we recommend starting at least 18 months before your event for a mid-size incentive trip (75+ rooms per night room block) and 2 years lead-time for over 150+ room per night. Though 18 months sounds like a huge chunk of time, there are several reasons why we recommend this :