Incentive Travel Bounces Back

​The public backlash reached a boiling point in October 2008 when executives at insurance giant AIG spent more than $400,000 for a trip to the luxurious St. Regis in Monarch Beach, Calif., a week after the firm received an $85 billion bailout from taxpayers.

"The reality is, [travel incentives are] back because these programs work, especially in decentralized organizations," says Melissa Van Dyke, president of the Incentive Research Foundation.

At Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas, group sales are about 20% higher than a year ago, and incentive meetings comprise about 65% of all group sales at the resort. Sales will increase again in 2012, says Mark Benson, the resort's vice president of group sales. "Incentive travel is showing the fastest rate of growth in all group business," Benson says, adding that the resort sold about 200,000 group room nights this year vs. 146,000 a year ago.

The Incentive Research Foundation has found that spending now averages about $2,500 a person, and 67% of trips include some type of meeting or business aspect.

The backlash has eased, and industries have started to take the clamps off incentive travel. "If we had to put a score on it, it's probably 85% to 90% back," says David Peckinpaugh, president of Maritz Travel, a meeting management company.

http://www.incentivesolutions.com/2016/01/07/resea...

Enhance Your Online Rewards Program.

We offer a full suite of pre-programmed modules you can combine with the “basic package” to customize your online rewards program to meet your incentive plans. You can add and delete any of our modules at any time to adapt to your ever changing market conditions. Modules can be turned on or off at the click of a mouse!

Click any of the modules below to learn more.

	Performance Tracking. Keep track of sales, audit those sales based on thresholds you set, and run multiple promotions simultaneously.
	Mobile App. Give your participants easy, on-the-go access to your reward program with a program-branded mobile app.
	Learn and Earn. Host quizzes and surveys, and upload full online training curriculums and classes.
	Org. Structure & Advanced Reporting. Organize your data flow and allow structured access and responsibilities to various tiers of your rewards program.

	Leader Board. Showcase the top participants from any promotion within your online rewards program.
	Integrated Service. Allow your participants to log into your reward program directly from your company’s internal intranet site or corporate website.
	Quick Points. Give managers the ability to issue fixed-value reward program certificates on the spot.
	Open Enrollment. Allow uninvited participants to sign up for your program.
	Total Recognition Suite. Provide a social wall for HR recognition functions, including peer–to-peer and manager point banks.

Website
http://www.incentivesolutions.com/online-rewards/

How Incentive Travel Motivates Millennials to Reach Your Goals

​If it’s true that the generation mix has significantly varied expectations, preferences and tastes, it could certainly have an impact on a company’s sales performance reward tactics, including incentive travel plans. Do Baby Boomer salespeople prefer incentive trips to Florida where they can lay on the beach and read Tom Clancy? Do Millennial salespeople just want to go somewhere exotic and Instagram every meal? We’ll attempt to answer these questions and more with a series of articles on incentive group travel and the generation mix. Our goal is to help event planners and sales leaders understand and leverage the ways incentive travel rewards uniquely motivate team members from each generation to achieve business and sales goals.

Let’s start with the youngest and fastest growing group in the generation mix: Millennials. Cynics define Millennials by their absorption in social media and selfies, but there’s a lot more to them than that. They’re the least prejudiced and most culturally aware generation today. They suffered through joining the workforce at a difficult time, during the economic downturn of the late 2000s. And their social media “obsession” can be reinterpreted as a love of communication, curiosity and a sense of connectedness with about the world around them.

What does this mean for sales incentive travel rewards and corporate event planning? It means that incentive group travel programs are extremely motivating to Millennials for the following reasons:

Sharing the Experience

It’s true that Millennials love social media and smartphones. Less valid is the belief that Millennials aren’t enjoying or paying attention to their life experiences due to their constant connectedness. According to a survey of Millennials and experiences:

78% would rather spend money on an experience than a thing

77% say their best memories come from experiences

72% want to increase their spending on experiences

69% say experiences make them feel more connected to the world

If you’re interested in hearing more about how Incentive Solutions can help motivate Millennials in your workforce, call us at 866-567-7432 or use our contact form.

Incentive Solutions

Loyaltyworks

Direct Contact: 678-514-0248

Sales Hotline: (800)-844-5000

incentive travel and event management experience.

​Leverage our extensive network of travel agent, cruise line and hotel partners.

Elite group travel is considered the ultimate motivator and can drive powerful performances among sales teams and sales channel partners, delivering significant returns on program investment. It’s the perfect business incentive!
Our knowledgeable team of travel and program administration experts will work with you directly to deliver all of the cultural, financial and logistical services and support necessary to create a memorable corporate travel incentive—including meticulous program design, planning and budgeting. Our people are the among the best in the industry and know how to manage all the important contractual details for hotel, group airfare and transportation, then offer proven methods for effective event management, itinerary planning, promotional communications, on-site operations and logistics management, as well as post-trip program effectiveness measurement. 

Our specialized approach to travel planning is leaps and bounds ahead of traditional incentive travel planner methods. We give you the flexibility to choose all of the time and cost savings services you need without incurring extra expense. What a luxury! We are an experienced team with deep understanding of the incentive travel business.

To receive more information on our reward program options, schedule a tour of the entire collection of rewards, or see a demo of the online rewards technology platform, please call 1.866.567.7432 or send us a message. ​

Benefit from our incentive travel and event management experience.

​Leverage our extensive network of travel agent, cruise line and hotel partners.

Elite group travel is considered the ultimate motivator and can drive powerful performances among sales teams and sales channel partners, delivering significant returns on program investment. It’s the perfect business incentive!

Our knowledgeable team of travel and program administration experts will work with you directly to deliver all of the cultural, financial and logistical services and support necessary to create a memorable corporate travel incentive—including meticulous program design, planning and budgeting. Our people are the among the best in the industry and know how to manage all the important contractual details for hotel, group airfare and transportation, then offer proven methods for effective event management, itinerary planning, promotional communications, on-site operations and logistics management, as well as post-trip program effectiveness measurement.

Our specialized approach to travel planning is leaps and bounds ahead of traditional incentive travel planner methods. We give you the flexibility to choose all of the time and cost savings services you need without incurring extra expense. What a luxury! We are an experienced team with deep understanding of the incentive travel business.

To receive more information on our reward program options, schedule a tour of the entire collection of rewards, or see a demo of the online rewards technology platform, please call 1.866.567.7432 or send us a message.

http://www.incentivesolutions.com/group-travel-rewards/