Corporate Travel Destinations

In a recent blog article posted by Cvent entitled, Caribbean Incentive Travel: Summer Travel Benefits, the top 10 reasons why the Caribbean is a great destination for summer incentive travel are outlined.  While all those are valid reasons, I thought it would be interesting to raise the idea a notch by providing the top 10 benefits to CRUISING the Caribbean for Summer Incentive Travel.

So, here goes:

1.     Lower Cruise Fares – Many cruise lines offer summer deals and specials.
2.    Ability to Visit Different Islands – Why stay put in one resort when you have the whole Caribbean to explore?
3.    No Need to Unpack Several Times – Do it once and you’re free to enjoy the rest of your trip as you island hop.
4.    Activities to Suit All Ages – Whether its the adrenaline rush of the exciting Zip Line ride, surfing the day away on a Surf Simulator or brushing up on your golf skills, there’s something for level of desired activity for any age (also included in the fare!!).  Kid’s Clubs allow for some parental downtime and a variety of spa services are also available on board (spa services are separate).
5.    Meeting Facilities and Event Venues are FREE to Reserve – While resort hotels may discount them during the summer months, on a cruise ship they’re always FREE!
6.    Variety of Dining Options – With multiple restaurants to choose from included in the fare (and some additional exclusive options available for a nominal charge), you’ll never be bored at meal time.
7.    Beat the Summer Heat- What better way to get away from the city heat than to sit back and enjoy the tropical breezes and breath-taking beauty of the Caribbean.
8.    Air Travel More Affordable and Convenient to US Ports – Many airlines have frequent and reasonable flights to cities such as Miami and Fort Lauderdale where cruise ships board, rather than paying a premium to fly directly to an island and having limited flight options.
9.    Expansive Selection of Entertainment Choices – Enjoy a Broadway-class show, dance the night away in one of the many lounges and clubs or partake in deck-side festivities, there’s always something exciting to do on board and once again, included in the fare!!!!

And the last and probably most AMAZING…

10.    Fabulous Sunsets from the Middle of the Ocean-  Truly a sight to behold as you stand on deck and marvel at nature’s wonder while the skies are painted in hues of pinks and oranges.  It’s a view that simply can’t compare to land-locked sunsets.

It was a widely held belief that people who cruised were either honeymooners or an older, less-mobile crowd.  Either way, you were subjected to small cabins, cheesy entertainment and banquet hall-type cuisine.  However, in the last 15 years all that has dramatically changed. 

Cruise lines have revolutionized how people cruise in the 21^st century by offering exciting sporting and recreational activities, Broadway-caliber entertainment and gourmet fine dining.  In doing so, they have succeeded in attracting a younger, more active crowd which has reinvigorated the industry.

The corporate meeting and special events market has also reaped some of these rewards with state-of-the art meeting rooms and technological amenities to rival and surpass any “traditional conference room”.   The advantages to booking a corporate meeting do not end there.  Many ships provide concierge meeting planning assistance making it a one stop shop for all your planning needs.  Plus, with pricing that includes all meals, entertainment, and ship-board activities, planning a budget for your special event is a breeze.

The Cruise Lines International Association reports that 15 million people went on a cruise last year compared to 500,000 in 1970.   Corporate meetings and special events at sea have also increased substantially and it’s easy to see why.  After all, where else can you zip-line nine decks above an ocean liner in-between meeting programs?   

Different cultures have developed different business habits and trends, a fact that still needs to be contended with in our modern corporate environment. While globalization has certainly reduced the overall number of differences between different cultures and their meeting styles by allowing a freer flow of ideas, it still falls to the meeting planners to understand the different concepts different cultures have about time and business etiquette.

For example, in the United States and England meetings start and stop at a pre-appointed time regardless of nearly anything else. In fact, some sketch comedy troupes have made fun of this reliance on time be showing whole middle management teams unable to leave a burning meeting room because it was not yet time or suffering some similar fate while bound to the tick-tock of a clock.

In some European cultures, particular Spain and Italy, meetings might begin at a predetermined time or perhaps a little later but they do not end until a resolution has been reached. This means that scheduling an afternoon meeting might be taken as a sign of low significance by some as there is always the likelihood that a morning meeting would run long. In some Asian cultures time is less important and meetings might begin whenever all parties are ready and may end for any reason or for little discernible reason at all.

Cruise events are all the rage, but not all companies are aware of signs that indicate that they might need to be considering a cruise event. Here are some signs that your company needs to consider cruise events:

• The competition is doing it – The fact is that all companies are viewed in relation to their peers. If one company starts to offer cruise events, they gain ground on the competition in a critical way. If your company is one of only a handful not offering cruise events, then the company may have a serious image problem in the making.
• The company has reached a plateau – Companies that have no competition, or no competition using cruise events, may still reach plateaus. These parabolas can be broken with cruise events that are well selected and executed.
• A recent PR problem still looms – Sometimes forgetting the past with a party or two is all it takes to set new wheels in motion, and there is no better way to start a PR blitz than with meetings and events held at sea.
• The company is breaking into a new market – Sometimes breaking down the walls requires a lot of momentum. Get that momentum started with a noteworthy cruise event.

Meetings need to be impressive, especially when they are open to the public and/or consumers. Even meetings with partners, suppliers, and industry peers are important enough to plan ahead for. The problem is that quality always comes at a price, and it is difficult to find the right balance between quality and price. Follow these simple pieces of advice to strike the best deal:

• Balance – Start by understanding that there is a balance between quality and price, and be willing to make a definitive line in the sand to ensure that you do not spend too much or cut costs too low.
• Negotiate – Nearly every service can be negotiated with, so be willing to see how flexible caterers, chair rentals, and even facility management companies are. Chances are good that they may be more flexible than you might initially think.
• Distribute the cost – Costs can be distributed to the participants in some cases via ticket pricing and/or over time with financing. If the company has a credit card with a long no-interest introductory rate, that might prove helpful when paying for services that do not have their own financing/payment options.
• Consider exchanges – Does your company have a valuable service to offer? If so, consider bartering to save even more money. Such an exchange could even result in referrals down the road that make working at or near cost a good idea.

Large events, meetings, and seminars have traditionally be scheduled at conference centers and/or hotels, but that is all changing now. Cruise ships are the new ‘it’ place to host events of almost any size, for many good reasons. Here are a trio of very good reasons to consider:

• Go places, do things – One of the top reasons to opt for cruises over more traditional meeting environments is the fact that cruise liners take your places while you work instead of taking you to places to get work done. Add to this the limited distance between work and play, and cruises are nothing if not efficient and convenient.
• Amazing facilities – Hotels come in different quality levels, usually measured in stars. Cruise ships are an all-star affair, and every passenger is made to feel like an all-star. Putting a dollar value on having meeting participants felt like that are having their every whim met is nearly impossible.
• Affordable – Meetings and events held on cruise liners are surprisingly affordable. Why? Because one companies is providing everything. Instead of distributing the overhead of a catering company, a hotel, and a conference center over each participant, cruise liners have a single overhead to distribute. It is all about cost of customer acquisition, and that is what makes cruise meetings affordable.

Cruises are unique corporate destinations for a number of reasons, but one of the least considered reasons would be the fact that the trip really is the destination. Consider how much time busy businesspeople waste every year traveling all around the world in order to get to Conference A or Seminar B. Now take that time and multiply it by an executive salary, add in hotel and travel fees from multiple companies and the number quickly balloons in the billions or trillions of dollars.

Consider the difference that cruise meetings have ot offer to the bottom line:

• The amount of time that expensive business people spend on cruises tends to be more productive than time spent on aircraft and/or airports.
• Most cruises feature multiple ports of call, which makes flights shorter and less airline/airplane transfers likely.
• Businesspeople also get to recharge their mental and social batteries while on cruises, and that alone is difficult to put a price tag on. It certainly beats allowing high-powered individuals to take time off and spend time on the golf course.
• The fact that the method of travel is actually a destination in and of itself means that more work and more relaxation can be enjoyed.
• By getting more services from a single vendor, in this case the cruise line, it is possible to save lots of money.

Free enterprise and entrepreneurship are the cornerstones of American business and a core part of our collective psyche, of this there is no doubt. Sole proprietorships evolve into small businesses, grow into medium sized businesses, and can even become massive global corporations in much the same was as Wal-Mart has evolved, but part of that growth requires knowing about the role that corporate travel plays in growth. Here are a few points for anyone that runs their own business to consider when it comes to corporate travel:

Networking is essential, and it is not limited to the state, region, or even country any more. Today it is more important than ever to be networking all over the world as soon as possible. Who knows when a single trip will open a door that starts the ball rolling on something big?

Numerous business credit cards offer generous travel incentives and mileage perks, so take advantage of them while learning how to manage cash flow. This is the very essence of killing two birds with one stone.

Being aware of business conditions in other countries and adjacent industries is often the first step in avoiding future problems or being able to exploit future opportunities before the competition. The early bird gets the worm, and those that are late go hungry.

One of the best benefits of having cruise events is that, well, they are cruise events! This means that everyone gets to have a great time and escape their daily grind, unless they happen to work on a cruise ship. Since the chances of that rare occurrence seem remote at best, the simple fact of the matter is that anyone attending cruise events is likely to be inspired. In fact, even those that are not invited along for the cruise event are likely to be inspired. Consider the following:

Partners and suppliers that meet key goals and are offered a limited number of cabins on cruise events are likely to value the business relationship in terms that are measured in more than just dollars and cents. This can be very valuable as globalization continues to cause long-term market readjustments that can allow for fierce competition from new adversaries overnight.

Employees can be inspired by the opportunity to travel on the company dime, especially when it involves cruise events and rubbing elbows with the top brass. The stories they tell when they get back are likely to prove inspirational in their own right.

Executives and top talent are likely to consider cruise events to be perks, even if a little work or a few meetings are involved.