Bespoke travel - individualising incentives
Tailor-made incentive travel isn't just for high budget programs. As a philosophy, it applies at any price level: it's all about making every individual in the group special. A well researched bespoke itinerary guarantees to touch and engage each individual or couple, with an experience to value.
It's absolutely about knowing your audience. A good incentive travel manager will grill you thoroughly about the profile of your group. The first questions will be about shared interests, including detail on lifestyle and the travel experiences your group members might seek out for themselves.
Having established what is expected by your group - the practical and creative work begins on designing what will be exceptional to them. The next challenge is to connect with each person on a personal level, within a setting that's right for the group.
High achieving franchisees
This group of 20 have a love of luxury travel, along with an interest in sport and Australian military history. Imagine the sheer delight of these people being hosted by Australian cricket celebrities for lunch in the Members at Lords, followed by the emotional and personal impact of not only being shown the battle grounds of Frommel by a WW2 military expert, but being presented with their own family's military heritage as part of the occasion.
Round-the-clock retail operators
As dedicated operators in the retail sector, these people share a reluctance to leave work and families for any meaningless work trip. Time out needs to be about relaxing and a complete change of pace, and they are all men, so no surprise they share a love of fishing and of sport. How to completely thrill them? Give them a big game fishing trip at the 'top end', hosted by two incredibly personable sports celebrities who shared their aspirational hobby, along with their personal tips for hooking the big one. The hosts were such a good fit with the group they chose to stay on for days beyond their commissioned time just to enjoy it!
Gen X high flyers
These thirty couples can afford to travel at a very high standard, but are time poor. They deliver incredible hours, which include socialising a lot for work, so true time out with their life partners is a rare pleasure. Imagine such a group being whisked away to arguably one of the most romantic destinations in the world, Paris. Not only was this group taken along the Seine by private yacht, but then swept off to a Chateau in the Loire Valley booked out exclusively for them. Great care was taken to create a 'bubble' for each couple to have time to themselves at each destination point - with individual hot air balloons in the Loire Valley, and a 2CV (French mini) tour of the laneways of Paris. As individuals they had many options too; art tours, exclusive shopping tours and a chance to SegWey the streets of Paris (using powered stand-up scooters).
Spotlight on the individual
At any budget, remember it's often the small things that count. Like making sure all communication is genuinely personal, including welcome letters in the hotel rooms (no 'fill in the name' notes please!). Ahead of the trip, it costs nothing to circulate non-business profiles written by participants to introduce themselves. With couples, ask them where they met, what their favourite trip was, who's at home (pets/kids) and what their hobbies are - then share that information. Partners feel immediately a part of the mix, people look forward to meeting each other and you have paved the way for easy socialising. You've also begun by celebrating each individual.
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