Corporate Travel Destinations

If you are in search of a family-friendly destination for customer appreciation, employee appreciation or incentive travel, you may want to consider sunny Newport Beach in Southern California. This seaside town has attractions that appeal to all ages and great weather throughout the year, making it an ideal location for a family vacation. While sunbathing, swimming or surfing at the beach are some of the most popular – and most obvious – attractions, other outdoor activities include boating, jet skiing, rollerblading and bicycling, and the equipment for each can be easily rented right on or near the beach.

Once families have had enough of lounging on the sand and building sand castles, they can head to the popular Toy Boat Toy Boat Toy Boat toy store on East Coast Highway, where they will find games, activities and toys for kids of all ages. If parents prefer a little adult time to play golf or shop, teens can be dropped off at the Balboa Fun Zone, or the entire family can spend the day there enjoying a variety of activities, games, restaurants and beaches.

There are also plenty of family-friendly dining options for quick snacks or full meals, as well as coffee shops, snack bars and cafés within easy walking distance of hotels and the beach.

All companies struggle with the challenge of finding the ideal client appreciation gifts for the customers and clients who have helped them reach their sales goals or grow their business throughout the year. Smaller companies often opt for branded merchandise, gift certificates or other small gifts; however, this is really not an option for companies that cater to high-end clientele or provide upscale services. While branded merchandise or gift certificates may be included in your client appreciation package, they need to be coupled with a memorable appreciation gift that will appeal to clients with high disposable incomes.

This falls into the category of trying to find the perfect gift for the person who has everything, since your high-end clients are likely able to easily acquire items of interest to them. This being the case, providing your clients with an experience, rather than a tangible gift, is most often the best option. With this in mind, it is easy to see why upscale, luxury cruises are an ideal option for thanking your high-end clients. The key to making client appreciation cruises truly appealing to clients who can take a cruise whenever they like – and probably have – is to ensure that they will have a memorable experience that shows that your company truly put thought into providing a remarkable gift to show your appreciation.

You can do this by selecting one of the top cruise lines, opting for cruises that are at least 5-7 days in length and including luxury extras, such as spa treatments, excursions, personalized travel products and pillow gifts.

You can easily compare top cruise lines and their offerings by visiting Seasite.com and using the convenient group cruise planning tools available.

Ship Charter Specialists Will Handle Sales in U.S. & Latin America; Two Premium Cruise Ships Will Visit Three Ports on World Cup Circuit

MIAMI, FL (March 16, 2010) One Ocean Club has appointed Landry & Kling, Inc. as their exclusive representative in the U.S. and Latin America to market and sell floating hotel packages for the prestigious World Cup 2010 in South Africa. Landry & Kling was chosen because the firm originated the dockside housing phenomenon and has decades of experience utilizing cruise ships as floating hotels. 

As the official sales agent for the U.S. and Latin American regions, Landry & Kling will offer a variety of secure and luxurious housing packages on board two premium Holland America Line ocean liners, MS Westerdam and MS Noordam. The two vessels will provide a total of 1,900 sleeping rooms. During the month-long event beginning June 10, 2010, the ships will be dockside at Cape Town, Elizabeth, and Durban for key matches. The 3,800 on-board guests will have the opportunity to attend games in World Cup stadiums in all three locations with transport available to other matches.

Packages will rival similar four- and five-star hotels with added benefits such as top level security, included entertainment on board, and all meals in a choice of restaurants. Shipboard guests have the advantage of only one check-in and transport from venue to venue, as well as the option to experience South Africa with concierge-assisted land excursions.

“The value for attendees staying on board is unmatched, given a cruise ship’s all-inclusive offerings, comfortable surroundings and highest levels of security and service, as well as transport between venue cities and stadiums”, states Joyce Landry, CEO of Landry & Kling. “While individual bookings have been selling rapidly, we are delighted to partner with One Ocean Club to secure blocks of cabins that would be attractive for soccer clubs, sports marketing companies and corporate groups.”

To promote the floating hotel World Cup packages, Landry & Kling has launched www.WorldCupCruise.com. The web site offers information on packages, cruise ship accommodations, match schedules, venues and booking details. Package pricing starts from $645 per person, based on double occupancy. For group planning assistance, contact Landry & Kling at 800-448-9002 or +1-305-661-1880. 

About Landry & Kling
Landry & Kling Inc., specialists in cruise event services, are credited with being the first distribution channel between the cruise industry and corporate America. Visionaries who led the way in seagoing corporate meetings and incentives, founders Joyce Landry and Josephine Kling ignited the corporate market for cruises by spearheading the meetings-at-sea concept back in 1982.  With their exclusive focus on cruise events and meetings-at-sea, they have played a crucial role in advancing the cruise ship as a viable meeting venue and creating a whole new focus for the industry. Landry & Kling leads the field in cruise ship charters for global events and “floating hotels” (e.g. for the Jacksonville Super Bowl and Summit of the Americas in Trinidad) in addition to incentive cruises and all kinds of meetings at sea. Now, 28 years since their startup, they have responded to changing times in the meetings industry by creating Seasite.com, the first online cruise portal designed for meeting/event planners and group travel buyers. Partners Landry & Kling were inducted into the Cruise Lines International Hall of Fame in 2009. To learn more about Landry & Kling, visit http://www.landrykling.com.

Are you planning your next team meeting and are in search of a new, exciting venue? If so, why not consider Puerto Rico? There are several reasons to look at this island destination that has been dubbed La Isla del Encanto (the enchanted island), including beautiful scenery, great hotel venues and a plethora of local attractions.

With San Juan being a hub for many airlines, Puerto Rico is often the first stop for travel to the Caribbean. Also, as a U.S. commonwealth, the U.S. dollar is Puerto Rico’s currency and U.S. citizens do not require passports. These added benefits allow travelers to experience a land that is unlike any other area in the U.S. without the hassles of foreign travel.

Whether it is a meeting to further engage your clients, a teambuilding trip to rejuvenate your employees or an executive retreat, the Hotel Condado, El San Juan Hotel, Marriott, Hilton or Ritz-Carlton are all excellent venue options that are located in San Juan and offer corporate discounts, small and large meeting rooms, and all of the amenities you expect from topnotch meeting venues.

After your participants have met their goals and objectives, take an overnight trip to Culebra Island, which is accessible by ferry or a 15-minute plane ride. Here you can take jeep rides through the dunes, visit the Culebra National Wildlife Preserve and the Bioluminescent Bay, or sunbathe on any of the eight exquisite beaches, including Flamenco Beach, which is ranked #2 on a list of the top 10 most exotic beaches in the world.

For oceans of information, visit www.landrykling.com or www.seasite.com or call 800-448-9002.

As a single stop on a corporate cruise or a standalone destination for your next corporate meeting, conference or event, San Francisco has a wide variety of offerings and is sure to delight your participants. Most famous for the Golden Gate Bridge, the island of Alcatraz and cable cars, some of San Francisco’s other popular attractions include Fisherman’s Wharf, Chinatown, Pier 39, Golden Gate Park, the Cable Car Museum, Ghirardelli Square, Mission Delores and the Historic Ships Pier. Visitors will also enjoy world-class cuisine and shopping, as well as a wide variety of productions housed in historic theaters.

Each of San Francisco’s neighborhoods has distinctive characteristics, such as Lombard Street that zigzags down a steep hill in the Russian Hill neighborhood, the lively nightlife and rainbow flags in The Castro, and steep staircases leading to amazing views in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood. Affordable tours are available and can be arranged with group discounts as part of your event itinerary, and an excellent public transportation system makes getting around this diverse city a breeze.

There are three major airports and a cruise terminal servicing the San Francisco area, offering expanded options for transportation, and corporate event and travel planners can choose from historic hotels or major chains when selecting a venue and accommodations for attendees.

Corporate travel planners are well-versed in working with budgets and are pros at finding exceptional deals and negotiating their way into cost savings for their events. Now more than ever, saving money wherever possible is critically important, particularly as many small businesses and large corporations are facing shrinking budgets and closer public scrutiny. It can be a bit of a challenge to cut costs without cutting quality, but with a little time and effort it is completely doable.

One of the keys to successfully cutting costs without losing quality is properly determining which aspects of your event can weather some cutbacks without being significantly affected. Once you have determined which components can handle some cutbacks, the trick is to find ways to cut these costs that will not be noticeable to your attendees.

For example, you might opt for a lunch event, instead of a dinner event, or you might go with an off-brand digital camera, rather than a name brand camera for an incentive travel pillow gift. You can also opt for business class for flights, or bypass flying entirely and opt for train travel, or a bus charter if the event is close to home. Some planners have also found having servers pass appetizers, rather than having a buffet-style set up, provides significant savings, as folks tend to eat less when they are served in this manner.

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is one of the most popular travel destinations in the South. With world-class golf courses, beautiful beaches, resort hotels, fabulous shopping, exquisite dining options and a plethora of entertainment, visitors to Myrtle Beach are never at a loss for how to spend their time, which means that your event attendees will have plenty of options for evenings and free days while attending your corporate meeting or event.

As for meeting space, Myrtle Beach is home to several hotels that can accommodate small- to mid-size groups, as well as the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, which offers 250,000 square feet of customizable space to meet your needs. Part of this space includes a 100,800-square-foot exhibition hall that has no columns and can be divided into three separate spaces. All meeting spaces are equipped with high-speed, wireless Internet access, and the exhibition hall has water, cable and electricity available throughout. The Convention Center also has a banquet kitchen that is able to cater full-meal events with up to 5,000 in attendance, 1,400 parking spaces, and 402 guest rooms in the newly opened Sheraton Myrtle Beach Convention Center Hotel on the same property.

Located just three miles from the Myrtle Beach International Airport and walking distance to dining, shopping and entertainment, the Myrtle Beach Convention Center is as convenient for your participants as it is for you as a planner.

The green meeting movement is in full swing and many companies are scrambling to make their meetings and corporate events as eco-friendly as possible. This can boost their public image, shows their commitment to limiting their impact on the environment and can make attendees feel good about the efforts being put forth; however, it can also mean higher pricing. In fact, the fear of significantly higher prices is one of the main reasons that other companies are not taking more steps to green their corporate meetings, events and travel. There is s a perception that going green automatically means doubling your event expenses and, while this certainly does not have to be the case, there are good reasons why some folks think this.

The problem is green gouging. Just like any new trend, there are some folks who see this as a way to make more money and are hiking up prices on organic or local food, sustainably-sourced products and other necessities for green events. Meeting and event planners should expect a slightly higher price on some environmentally-friendly items, which is completely justifiable; however, some venues are taking advantage of this opportunity to freely overcharge folks who care about their event’s impact.

Oftentimes, this can result from the fact they do not have the vendors to meet the needs of folks who need organic or locally-grown food and other essentials. This can be avoided by opting for venues that are just as committed to eco-friendly meetings as you are, and that already have established relationships with green vendors.

When it comes to transportation, there are several ways you can cut costs without giving up too much quality. In fact, if you sell it right, your attendees will never even know the changes were made to save money. For example, many meeting and event options that are eco-friendly also offer significant cost savings, which makes these options even more appealing for corporate planners.

One example is choosing to hold your corporate meeting or event closer to home. This allows you to avoid paying for expensive airfares and allows you to use more cost-effective transportation options, such as train travel and bus charters. Because air travel has a huge environmental impact, it is easy to sell the avoidance of flying to meetings as an eco-friendly measure. This allows your employer or client to benefit from the positive public sentiment green meetings encourage, as well as the cost savings this option allows.

If you cannot avoid flying to your destination, you can still save money by offering only business class or coach seating, or by holding your event near the airport to save on ground transportation. While airport hotels were once considered a less-than-ideal option, many have undergone considerable renovations or have added enticing extras to make these locations far more appealing.