Corporate Travel Destinations

If your organization is looking to organize its first group cruise, then you might need to find the perfect group cruise planner for your needs. If you do not know what to look for in a group cruise planner, then here are some ideas to help you find the right person for the job:

It might seem like a great cruise planner will be in demand, but that does not mean that they should be impatient or too busy to answer your questions. Event and cruise planning is a very competitive customer service industry, not a ‘customers serve us’ industry.

The perfect group cruise planner will have all of the basic information on hand regarding pricing, but special questions should require a follow up communication. This is normal, and do not be surprised if some of your requests require a little digging unless those requests seem like they should be run-of-the-mill. Knowing about room costs is run-of-the-mill, but questions about specific stocks of wine or champagne are less common and less likely to be remembered by even the best group cruise planners.

A great group cruise planner should be a listener. Group cruise planners know what is available, but they should also be willing to listen to new or specific ideas. After all, a group cruise is a significant investment in time and resources, and therefore it should be as close to perfect as possible.

Seasite.com is a one-stop group cruise planning portal from which you can source a cruise with all the cruise brands.  It is easy and efficient to source a cruise meeting with a single electronic RFP.

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.

So you have planned a meeting on foreign soil. It’s not even that foreign, it’s Canada for Pete’s sake. What can go wrong?

If you have ever said those words in those circumstances, you already know how wrong that was. No matter where people are traveling outside the U.S. borders, there are rules and regulations. It’s difficult–if not impossible–to know them all, and they change frequently

In the May, 2009 issue of “Smart Meetings,” John Anderson illustrates that  point very well with an example from Canadian entry regulations in his article “Bienvenidos Bienvenue and Welcome.” Not only does one now need a passport to travel into the country by any means, Canadian officials can deny a traveler entry for having a criminal record. And who could blame them? However, it becomes important in that case to understand what a criminal record is. Continue reading »

Every now and then we get a chance to do something special in life. If you are a corporate meeting planner, you may get the opportunity in the form of booking a meeting in a foreign country. If your client is leaning towards Europe, your job is not complete until you have researched Portugal.

Lisbon, Portugal

One of the biggest concerns to travelers is a friendly atmosphere. Portugal is positioning itself to be important in that regard by offering great properties, resorts, service, and even private guides when appropriate. Running a close second is concern about food. Portugal and neighboring Spain are world-renowned for cuisine and a wide range of foods.

On top of all that, Portugal is home to world-class scenery, complete with old-world architectural flair. You can tour the cities as much as you like and never run out of things to see. You can also get out into the countryside, where you will see the lush wineries of Portugal. Everything from port to white wine is made there, and day trips with tastings are always popular activities for travelers.

As with other foreign destinations, make sure your travelers are aware of entry and exit requirements, have the proper identification and passports, and are informed about currency exchange and other details. Then turn them loose to enjoy the riches Portugal has to offer.

On any given day, you can see evidence of just one more way that the H1N1 or so called Swine Flu has changed travel. Any agent who doesn’t wonder where it will stop is not very informed. While the answer to this question remains open and changes often, one thing is for certain: no one wants to go to a foreign country for corporate travel and be quarantined.

It is more than understandable that countries use quarantines to stop the spread, especially in places like China, where many of the people live in close quarters. However, H1N1 pops up in various places anyway. The May 11, 2009 issue of “Travel Weekly” printed an amusing sidebar about all the strange things people have done in response to the scare, especially the World Health Organization (WHO). They not only changed their definition of “pandemic” to me less definite (?), but even more peculiar one of their representatives suggested that there should be a contest to see if someone can come up with a “more user-friendly name” for the disease.

If you are expecting an answer here to the question of how your job as planner will change over the coming influenza months, you will be disappointed. However, it can be said with confidence that you will need to stay abreast of all H1N1 developments as well as keep yourself updated continuously on how foreign countries–as well as the U.S.–are handling incoming visitors. The last thing you want is to send a large group of people from a prominent company to a foreign country, only to have them cooped up until after their event is over.

Be informed and be successful.