The 2018 incentive season has come to a close! The list of resorts below hosted our most successful President’s Club trips.
Unico 20º87º
Hyatt Ziva/Zilara, Montego Bay, Jamaica
The Ritz-Carlton, Aruba
Secrets Cap Cana
UNICO 20˚87˚ is a new player to the adults only all-inclusive scene having been open just over a year this spring. From the moment you enter the property you are taken back with the décor, welcome drink, and fresh scent.
The reception team keeps check-ins quick and comes to guests at the couch versus the traditional line-up at the desk. They appoint every guest a local host who brings you to your room and gets you comfortable with the property. The host will even provide you their cell phone number for the remainder of your stay. They will help you with anything from making dinner reservations, to spa appointments, and even coordinate getting your outdoor bath prepped. It's a nice added touch! If you return, they do their best to appoint you the same local host.
The following rating is a personal preference and is in relation to a grade as a MICE property. Meeting Space refers to indoor meeting space. Please note the below numbers are best estimates as hotels undergo renovations and their meeting space and sleeping room numbers can change.
Every time a tech company brings up Las Vegas for their annual sales kickoff event I cringe. As a millennial myself, I understand the excitement of the bright lights and hoopla of Las Vegas. It's great for bachelor/bachelorette parties, 21st birthday tilts, 40th birthday celebrations, March Madness reunions, poker events, and even an annual family vacation. It truly is one of the most remarkable .8 miles in the world in terms of man-made “wow factor.”
Officially known as Hawaii, the Big Island is the largest of the Hawaii islands with over 4,000 mi². Due to the size of the island there are two main airports that travelers use, Kona and Hilo. The airlift into the Big Island is strong from the West Coast and even International with daily direct flights from San Francisco, LAX, Portland, Seattle, and Tokyo. Many large companies such as Salesforce, SAP, and Oracle host annual events on the Big Island each year therefore the hotel product is continually improving to keep up with MICE travel industry demand.
Kauai is Hawaii's fourth largest island and is sometimes referred to as the "Garden Island," which is an accurate description. This island is known for outdoor adventures, laid back atmosphere, and Hollywood films. There are amazing companies that provide unique experiences to Kauai. A few outdoor adventure partners are Kipu Ranch Adventures offers 4x4 off-road adventures, Maverick Helicopter Tours, and Kauai Backcountry Adventures Mountain Tubing Tours. Airlift is continuing to improve into the small airport, Lihue Airport, on Kauai but is still the most challenging of the four islands to fly into.
With the increase in number of flights and the price drop on airline tickets, Hawaii continues to be a busy destination for incentive travel. For those with travelers' attending from Europe, the flight distance is still a challenge but for those with offices in Australia it could be a great middle meeting grounds. We will explore the hotel products on the islands of Maui, Big Island, and Kauai over the next month of blogs.
Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the best fit for MICE travel. Unfortunately due to limited meeting space the Caymans are a better fit for Incentive Travel over meetings or conferences unless those are under 250 guests. Grand Cayman has seen a recent surge of business in the last two years given the lack of Zika concerns and also having been missed by Hurricane Irma. The recent renovation of the Westin, current Margaritaville project and Kimpton new build has increased the number of resort hotel rooms available to help keep up with demand. One key factor in choosing the island of Grand Cayman is safety. It is said to be one of the safest islands in the Caribbean in terms of violence, theft, and also food/water quality.
Los Cabos and Cabo San Lucas has been recovering from the 2014 Hurricane for the last few seasons and hotels are finally reopened and travelers are returning! It is currently one of our top 10 Hotel Destinations for Incentive Travel in 2018 and the all-inclusive properties can be a great fit for most MICE travel. As we mentioned in our April blog growth is the story for Cabo currently so it will be very interesting to see what it will look like in 2020 once the hotel surge is completed. The Hard Rock Los Cabos will compete in the incentive space with approx 600 rooms and 26,000 square feet of meeting space expected. And don't forget for those looking for 5 star non-all inclusive options, the Ritz Reserve, the Four Seasons, Nobu, and Montage are all opening in Cabo sooner rather than later!
Overall St. Thomas and the USVI's overall have struggled in the MICE space. The reason behind this is the high number of timeshares compared to hotel rooms. In 2017 they ran some great incentives to drive tourism to USVI's but most of this focus was on leisure travel instead of incentive travel.
Conde Nast: The U.S. Virgin Islands Will Pay You to Visit in 2017
Here is a quick review of the main hotel players in the MICE market in St. Thomas.