Corporate Travel Destinations

Arizona is a popular destination for meetings, conferences, trade shows, and corporate events.  Talking Stick Resort, in Scottsdale, features a memorable and functional conference center, with a 25,000 sq. ft. grand ballroom that can be divided into eight separate rooms; 22 state-of-the-art meeting rooms, full-service catering, and lots of entertainment for your attendees.

Guest rooms offers upscale amenities, and the resort has a  rejuvenating spa, eight restaurants, 10 entertainment lounges, a 240,000 sq. ft. gaming floor, a cabana-lined pool and more than 100,000 sq. ft. fo indoor/outdoor meeting space.  In addition, attendees can enjoy 36 holes of championship golf at the adjacent world-renowned Tallking  Stick Golf Club, managed by Troon Golf.

Talking Stick Resort is ashort 15 minutes from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. 

talkingstickresort.com

If you plan your next business meeting or conference anywhere in Fiji, you can be fairly certain that it will be a very well-attended event. There is something about the South Pacific in general, and the islands of Fiji in particular, that holds a distinctive allure for travelers of any sort. This makes Fiji an ideal option for incentive travel, an international business meeting, an executive retreat or a convention. When you select Fiji as a corporate travel destination, your attendees will obviously enjoy resort living, pristine beaches and excellent local dishes, but also incorporating more traditional components into your corporate travel plans will make the trip much more meaningful for your participants.

Fiji has a rich history and culture, including traditional ceremonies, dances and arts, many of which are still practiced today either in welcoming guests or in everyday Fijian life. You can add a whole new dimension to your corporate event in Fiji by arranging to include some of these traditions. For example, you may want to consider opening your event with a meke, which is a traditional dance most often performed as part of celebrations, social events and religious ceremonies. Fijian women perform fan dances, while men use spear and clubs, and each movement tells the story of Fijian folklore.

Opening your event with a meke will make your event more memorable and will set the stage for a fantastic meeting or conference that pays respect to Fijian heritage.

Executive retreats are a mainstay in mid- and large-size companies, as well as many smaller businesses, and provide an environment that is dedicated to establishing new goals, revising policies and procedures that are no longer effective, determining how best to guide and grow the company, and choosing the best tack for moving forward into a strong, successful future. Whether or not your company is in need of a significant change in course, an executive retreat at sea is sure to provide the setting and motivation needed to deliver the results your firm needs.

Executive retreat cruises can be easily arranged for small or large groups and can allow for up to a 40% savings over planning your event at a land-based venue. Additionally, all-inclusive cruises are ideal for establishing and staying within your company’s budget with meals, accommodations, entertainment, drinks, onboard activities and meeting facilities included in one upfront price. At the same time, cruise ships offer many additional luxuries that your participants can choose to partake in, such as spa treatments, boutique shopping and land excursions, which increases the appeal this option will have to your attendees.

Executive retreats at sea have the dual benefits of providing well-equipped meeting facilities that will assist participants in staying motivated and meeting goals, while also allowing your participants to enjoy a memorable, relaxing vacation experience when not in meetings. This allows your executives to accomplish the necessary tasks and return to the office at the end of the retreat refreshed, revitalized and ready to implement the policies or changes agreed upon during the retreat.

Visit Seasite.com to find group cruise planning tools that will make planning your next executive retreat a breeze.

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.

Searching for a great meeting destination in Atlantic City?  The Tropicana Casino and Resort offers luxury ocean view guest rooms and suites, round the clock casino gaming, gourmet dining, live entertainment and shopping.  Of course Brighton and the famous Boardwalk are other attractions that will please your guests, as well.  A world class experience awaits your meeting attendees, when you plan an exceptional meeting, event, conference or convention at the Tropicana.

The Tropicana offers more than 122,000 sq. ft. of flexible meeting and event space, accommodating more than 675 meetings and conventions each year.  With an 18,000 sq. ft. ballroom and 20,000 sq. ft. Grand Exhibition Center, state-of-the-art video conferencing and audio visual equipment, and high speed internet access, the Tropicana can handle all of your meeting and event needs.

Ensuring that your meeting or event attendees, or incentive travel winners, have a satisfying, memorable experience during the corporate travel you have planned for them, involves much more than scheduling venues, renting equipment, booking a block of rooms and negotiating prices for airline tickets. Of course, you already know that your job entails much more than that, but many planners sometimes leave out a few details that can make all the difference when it comes to the experience your participants have.

This is particularly true if you are planning corporate travel for folks who may not travel frequently for business or in their personal lives, or who have not previously traveled to this destination. For example, turning them loose without any information about the area might be seen as okay by some, but planners who want to make sure every detail is taken care of and who want to be known for going above and beyond to meet their participants’ needs would never consider doing that. Gathering and distributing information about the destination does not have to take a lot of time and effort, and is sure to be seen as an appealing extra that your attendees will appreciate.

A simple list of attractions, eateries, transportation options and other types of useful information is sure to be greatly appreciated, and it will only take you a short time to find all of this information online.

Nearly all corporate travel destinations will have numerous museums that have permanent historical exhibits, host art exhibits or provide access to rotating cultural exhibits and events. Many cities even have a particular district that is home to several museums within walking distance of each other, such as Tacoma’s Museum District, San Diego’s Balboa Park, Cape Town’s Green Point District and Houston’s Museum District. With many options in close proximity, your attendees will have increased choices and the ability to select the exhibits that are of the most interest to them. This makes museums an easy, convenient option for adding to a list of local attractions given to attendees; however, you may also want to consider this low-cost entertainment option as part of your scheduled activities.

Museums usually offer rather affordable admission rates, making them a cost-effective option for corporate travel planners. But, savvy planners know that they can save even more by looking into group discounts or looking for free admission days that coincide with the dates of their corporate event. It is quite common for museums to offer at least one free admission day each month, with some entire districts offering free admission to all of the museums on a particular day. If this day happens to fall during your planned event, this is a great opportunity to offer an educational, enticing activity that will appeal to your attendees and help you stay within budget.