Streamlining Group Travel Challenges

An agriculture industry client needed to plan and coordinate a travel incentive program for 250 dealer couples. In our initial planning with the client, there were several big challenges that the client was facing: the group was very last-minute when booking travel, attendees were not “well-traveled,” the agenda was continuing to change right up until the day of the meeting, additional activities and contests were being announced last-minute, the registration process needed to be tracked for dealer qualification and some attendees would be bringing their children.

We first looked at recommending hotels that had lower occupancy rates in January, which allowed for last-minute additional and better attrition terms for the group. This also allowed for more flexibility with the meeting space. We worked with the chosen hotel to contract more generous rooming list deadlines. The hotel we selected was mid-category with a more casual ambiance and affordable food and beverage options. We also contracted more space to accommodate the additional events that were added last minute and on-site.

We built a custom website that allowed dealers to see their progress toward earning free trips. The website included the ability for full buy-in and room shares. To accommodate dealers who brought their children, we customized menus to include kid-friendly meals at a significantly reduced cost. We worked with the hotel and our activity provider to add a mix of family activity choices and get discount admission to the on-site water park.

The attendees were able to feel comfortable in casual attire and enjoy their leisure time affordably. Dealers appreciated that the hospitality desk was staffed for longer hours to answer questions and help with activity changes. In total, 250 dealer couples attended the event and left feeling appreciated and relieved that every detail was managed.