Corporate Travel Destinations

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.

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 »