Corporate Travel Destinations

While internet booking options may offer some advantages, such as saving money, there are several disadvantages to this type of travel planning. The first and greatest disadvantage to internet travel booking is the lack of personal or direct knowledge in regard to the services being booked. Businesses are not provided the opportunity to speak with an experienced travel agent or meeting planner to assist them with their service booking when using internet booking options. Additionally, businesses are often faced with a limited itinerary that are further restricted by certain conditions. This is especially true if the business is looking for discounted travel options. Furthermore, there are no free perks with internet booking.

For those that still prefer to book corporate travel using online options, it will be important to use an experienced and dependable online travel planning service. Those wishing to book corporate travel will benefit from the expertise of skilled and trustworthy online travel planners. While there are many sites that businesses may use to plan their own travel itinerary, using an online travel service will ensure that businesses get the best prices available and that all travel needs are taken into consideration. Online travel planners can help make booking corporate travel less stressful and more affordable.

Travel is one of the best incentives a company can offer employees, partners, potential clients, existing clients, and even suppliers. Travel usually needs to be business-related, but that is actually surprisingly easy to accomplish. If you have not considered travel incentives yet, think about the following:

• Employee Motivation – If employees are starting to look at Monster.com or otherwise job hunt instead of work, then there is a problem. Sometimes it is not practical to solve such problems with increased salaries, but if a seminar might benefit the company then it could prove to be the basis for a great intra-office competition where the top employee or employees get to enjoy a paid vacation on the company dime.
• Customer Loyalty – Everyone in the business community has figured out that there is much more to business than the bottom line. There are perks to consider as well, and those companies that offer perks to suppliers and customers alike find that their shipments arrive with less difficulty and that customers overlook small differences in bids in favor of a name that they know and trust.
• Potential Clients Convert Better – Potential clients often need to be ‘buttered up’ in order to get them to convert. Why not give a sales pitch during 18 holes on a great golf course? Who could resist an invitation like that?

A meeting planner is very aware of the different tastes and preferences that individuals have. There is always the chance that the group incentive destination will not be approved by all participants. For this reason, it is important that event planning be taken seriously and the same attention to detail given to each group event. The travel destination of choice should be carefully considered by the meeting planner and should take into account, when feasible, the preferences of attendees. If a travel destination was not well-received by the majority of attendees, then it may be wise to choose another locale or venue.

A few of the popular and well-liked incentive travel destinations are Orlando, Florida; Las Vegas, Nevada; and San Francisco, California. These locations are popular because of the excellent entertainment, attractions, and local fare available. Because the cities are popular tourist destinations, the vendors in these cities tend to cater to the needs of their guests. Feeling welcome and at-home is an important aspect of travel, and cities that thrive on tourism are typically great host cities. Even the most finicky of group incentive travel participants may enjoy trips to cities that are friendly, easily accessible, and provide a wealth of entertainment, leisure, and dining options.

European river cruising is generally considered a summer affair, largely due to the inclement weather that is common across much of Europe during the winter months. When most travelers are considering a cruise, they are most often looking for sunny, warm weather that allows them to explore ports and lounge in the sun when on board. While this is not an option in much of Europe during the dreary months of winter, Spain is still enjoying sun and welcoming weather, even while some countries are covered in snow or experiencing freezing winter rainstorms.

This makes Spain group river cruises an ideal option for corporate travel planners who like the idea of European river cruising, but need to plan winter travel. It is particularly appealing for those who are planning a corporate cruise for participants that live in areas that have cold winters. The participants will enjoy having the opportunity to escape the cold and spend time in warmer weather, while the travel planner will enjoy the ease and convenience of planning a corporate cruise on one of Spain’s rivers.

River cruising is most appropriate for smaller groups, since river barges are considerably smaller than oceangoing vessels. Group river cruises are particularly appropriate for executive retreats, incentive travel programs and small corporate meetings.

MIAMI, FL (May 17, 2010) – A driving force in the cruise meetings and incentives business, and widely known as an innovative entrepreneur,  Joyce Landry, CEO of Landry & Kling and co-founder of Seasite.com, was named to the Forum Governing Group of the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).

WBENC’s national standard of certification is a meticulous process including an in-depth review of the business, its records and an office inspection. The certification process is designed to confirm the business is at least 51% owned, operated and controlled by a woman or women. Visit www.WBENC.org for more information.

There are many reasons for corporations to plan events close to their base of operations, but those reasons might be overshadowed by the benefits of selecting far away destinations. Here are the top four reasons to plan a corporate meeting far from the office.

1. New scenery and events shake things up, and there is nothing that will help get the creative juices flowing better than change. Staring at the same walls every day has employees trapped in the same rut, and an exciting change is likely to yield exciting results. A trip to the local park might not be as exciting as business cruise to a sun-drenched tropical getaway.
2. A cruise event might also be a great idea, as it combines both work and play. Team building exercises tend to work best when participants know each other well. Is there anything better than well-planned corporate travel/events to encourage teamwork?
3. Inclusive travel options mean that a cruise meeting or weekend retreat can be had at a fixed price. No more haggling, no more uncertainties, just a known quantity. This will keep the event planning sessions short and the accountants happier as well.
4. Employees, partners, and supplies may all appreciate incentive travel options. Rewarding performance and loyalty are excellent ways to build rapport.

Have you ever questioned why or if employee incentive travel is more advantageous than a cash bonus? Is there more to incentive travel than just compensating employee(s) for a job well done?

Discerning the things that motivate your employees is a crucial feature of conducting business. It is crucial to learn just what motivates each person as an individual. If the incentive were a trip, where would your employees like to visit? Would they like to be pampered with a spa vacation, go on a cruise to exotic destinations, or is he more fascinated by out-of-doors activities such as water sports or golf? Modifying the incentives you offer is more likely to push employees to do their finest to get the trip.

Incentive travel is an aspect in keeping valued employees members. It is more cost effective to retain skilled individuals working for you rather than to train new people on a regular basis. Thanking employees for a job well done is something else that should not be overlooked. Those two words can stimulate workers on toward a common goal, particularly in difficult times.

Team efforts that earn a wonderful trip for the team involved promote the weaker members to work toward the capability level of the stronger team members. Contests can stimulate but they can also make staff to work against each other. Cooperative efforts many times get more valuable results and turn out employees who are more loyal too.

An all inclusive cruise meeting is one great way to motivate and thank employees. Putting together a corporate event such as a conference or a business meeting at sea makes a lot of sense, especially when it comes to getting the greatest value from the investments. Cruising can literally slash the cost of land based venues by 25-40%, allowing planners to persevere with today's shrinking budgets. Why not make your next corporate incentive event a meeting-at-sea?

Seasite.com, the first online group cruise planning resource, allows event planners to capitalize on the value of all inclusive cruise meeting and incentives. Cruising can slash the expense of land based venues by 25-40%, allowing planners to persevere with today's shrinking budgets. Why not make your next corporate incentive a meeting at sea? Take a look at Seasite.com today!

Carbon emission offsetting is a controversial topic. There are three basic schools of thought: those who wholeheartedly support it, those who believe it lets folks off easy and puts off finding other viable solutions, and those who think it is simply a money-making scheme. While not everyone believes carbon offsetting is the answer, it is certainly growing in popularity and is one way corporations can take an environmental stand and offset carbon emissions that are inevitable when travel and events take place.

If you are interested in learning more about carbon offsets for corporate travel and event planning, there are several websites dedicated to educating the public and offering offsets. Websites like carbonfund.org have carbon calculators for travel, business events and conferences, weddings and other activities, making it simple to help your clients estimate the amount of carbon their event or transportation will create. This allows them to determine the amount of offsetting they would like to undertake – if any – to mitigate the carbon emissions associated with their business meeting or corporate travel.

The bottom line is that offering carbon offsets for corporate travel and events is a simple way to expand the services you offer to corporate clients. Those who are interested in offsets will appreciate the convenience, while those who are not interested can simply not take part in that particular service. To find carbon offset sellers, visit Ecobusinesslinks.com, which has a list of non-profit organizations and for-profit companies offering carbon offsets.

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

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.