Financial Prudence, Motivational Inspiration

Steering your motivational
assets to achieve their goal

You just have to ask businesses like Peugeot, whose top dealers are off to Singapore; KPMG, who are planning event opportunities in Hong Kong; and parcel delivery company Yodel, who are implementing a travel based employee reward scheme – why travel works as an incentive.

Cash as an incentive is retrospective, already spent, just scratching the surface of a MasterCard bill.

Travel (if correctly planned, promoted and applied) looks forward. It’s something to aim for, work harder for. The achievement is a real buzz. The event itself enables social team and corporate bonding, mentoring, fun, enjoyment. True reward for truly incremental effort. It’s something to remember, to share with colleagues on return and to work to achieve again next time.

But - you can’t just pull a destination, venue and itinerary off the shelf and expect what worked for one organisation to be equally motivational for another.

Take time to understand the audience and intentions. Who are the staff, distributors, franchisees and what makes them tick. What do their employers want to achieve and what ‘value’ do they put on the package? Is it just a top achiever reward or a competition based driver to push additional net business across the board.

Ironically it’s the lower budget incentive schemes that need more effort, innovation and creativity than the big budget Singapore and Hong Kong top achiever events. If you can’t deliver the wow factor from HK’s plethora of super luxury hotels, Michelin starred restaurants and glamorous night life then there’s something very wrong. 


Low budget inspiration for a well-travelled client was delivered last year with two nights in Annecy for 30 top achievers and their partners - yes Annecy.

When you've done all the capital cities and travel hot spots, it's time to step off the usual well-trod paths of venue sourcing.

Annecy is the picture postcard Savoyarde town on the northern banks of Lake Annecy. This hidden gem is circled by the snow capped mountains of the Rhône-Alpes and is reached after an hour’s picturesque coach ride from Geneva.

The Thiou River drops via the dramatic gorge, flowing through the town into the lake whose waters are the cleanest in Europe and reach a comfortable 24°C in the summer months.

Canals add to the waterways dissecting the geranium-clad restaurants, cafes, bars and boutiques to add a Venetian flavour to the cultural heritage of this French theatre.

The lake is a playground, busy with boats both sail and power. The water buses, boat taxis and rental power boats take visitors to picturesque villages and hideaway restaurants that are dotted around its 30KM circumference.

Hobbie Cats zip over the surface dodging water-skiers’ arcs of crisp clear water, yet the noise is somehow lost, absorbed in the hillsides and dramatic mountain peaks that encircle the fun packed scene.

There is so much to do, see, taste and savour that the itinerary is a challenge of exclusion rather than inclusion. Much will depend on the chosen hotel.

The obvious lakeside palatial venue is the Imperial Palace (left), a short distance from Annecy’s bustling centre. It understands and provides for conference and corporate visitors, has its own casino, three restaurants, spa and lake access.

Less obvious is a thirty minute boat ride to the tiny village of Talloires (below right) where l’Abbaye de Talloires’ 17^th Century features reflect elegantly in the calm waters of the lake. Guests are here to enjoy its serenity and calm, to sip cocktails on the services pontoon after a delightful swim in the lake.

Locally, restaurants offer less gastronomic but equally tempting Savoy cuisine.

One of the group lunches must include it to taste the fabulous fresh fish, such as whitebait and trout; cheese, including Tome des Bauges and Reblochon, and the classic Savoy dishes: tartiflette, raclette and fondue.

Success is dependent upon: how closely the event is tailored to the profile of the audience; how well it is packaged and promoted to them to drive sales and effort; and how it delivers value for money in terms of budget, its management and the 'wow factor' that even a provincial French town  by a lake can deliver - with a little creativity and innovation from its planners.

02476 609 104

ASPIRE   ACHIEVE   REWARD

Wonderful Wonderful - the varsatility of corporately accessible COPENHAGEN

Hamlet’s life would have been less of a tragedy if Shakespeare had only been able to look to the future and see life in 21^st century Copenhagen, as it is today.

Ooosing cosmopolitan cool with its theatrical back-drop of copper towers and spires, Copenhagen is a city of easy living, filled with cafés, restaurants, museums, fountains, statues and squares, all humoured by playful street musicians and colourful performers.

No princely rage amid a life of treachery, incest, revenge and corrupt morals could befit the bard’s pen today. Author and subject would be intoxicated with joy, tasting the latest cocktail at Ruby’s, dining at the Michelin Starred Herman Restaurant or experiencing taste-busting New Nordic cuisine at Noma.

The Prince would most definitely have found a more suiting bride simply by hanging out in the bars and café of the Meat Packing district or waterside at Nyhaven docks. The city is surrounded by water, threaded with canals and hugged by the sea - the maritime atmosphere is indelible and at night the centre is illuminated by the 100,000 glittering lights of Tivoli Gardens.

Residents of the ancient Kingdom of Denmark hung up their horned helmets and shored their longboats long ago and now invest their energies in cutting edge design. Copenhagen is one of Europe’s exciting centres of contemporary art, modern architecture and stylish living.

A word foremost in Danish minds is hyggelige meaning cosy. Hyggelige is reflected in the ambiance, furnishing and character of just about every hotel, bar and restaurant whose warmth and welcome is all part of the unique Danish sense of wellbeing and conviviality.

As an Incentive Travel destination, Copenhagen is possibly one of the most versatile short haul cities in Europe.

According to GQ Magazine, Copenhagen is one of the best places to laze away the day in one (or several) of its many al fresco restaurants and bars.

It’s easy to get to, easy to get to know and easy to get around. The range of hotels and variety of à la carte entertainment make it as fitting a venue for three hundred chaps on an unaccompanied bean feast as it is smaller ‘sophisticated’ crème de la crème staying with partners.

Two favourite hotels are l’Angleterre which stands proudly in its central location on the King’s New Square near the north end of Stroget pedestrian street where boutiques cafes and restaurants abound.

Regarded as Copenhagen's Grande Dame, this 250 year old mansion has housed everyone from Hans Christian Anderson to Michael Jackson. 

If you want no more than a dozen luxurious rooms, we can use the Nimb hotel whose features are as iconic to Copenhagen as Tivoli Gardens which each room overlooks.

Sit in front of your own open fire nursing a fine old cognac and look out over her sparkle, fun and endless frolics.

There is so much to do that groups can spend a fun-filled, successful time with a light informal itinerary, which delivers effectiveness from an ‘informal budget’.

But to formalise an action-packed dawn till dusk itin followed by group dining in a variety of restaurants with a fantasia of entertaining accompaniment is a question of choice, there being so very much to see and do.

For such a stylish city, why not arrive in style. From the airport it is five minutes to the small harbour village of Dragor where we board a beautiful square rigged wooden schooner.

En route the group is entertained by accordion players and served a Danish buffet lunch washed down with the first aquavit of many.

What an arrival. What a city.

In the words of Danny Kaye – wonderful wonderful:





Click below to see our Danny singing

Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen



To discuss Travel as an Incentive for your company
call ASPIRUS on 02476 609 104

your successful staff could soon enjoy their reward

in The Bard, The Prince and Danny Kaye's emotive Copenhagen

Other fine cities and countries can be their reward globally too.

ASPIRE     ACHIEVE     REWARD

INDIA - Putting Sensation into Incentive Travel

Whether coincidence or a natural by-product of the destructive attack on the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai two years ago, but at the same time as reopening their Mumbai icon, the Taj Group has just rolled out its exciting Vivanta brand.

The Vivanta brand has added further polish to 16 hotels that now join the three launch and development products, re-branding nineteen hotels and totalling 2,500 rooms. Ray Bickson, MD & CEO of Indian Hotels Company Ltd described the launch as “testament to the dynamism and innovation of the Taj” adding to its 107 years history of superlative service.

Giving it its full name, ‘Vivanta by Taj Hotels’ is described by Ajoy Misra (Senior VP Sales & Marketing) to be positioned at the “Upper-upscale segment”. He went on to say how the brand will “combine the charming hospitality that is the hallmark of the Taj and overlay it with a contemporary, energetic and vivacious twist”.

Great words and great reinvention of luxury profiling. And, despite Ajoy’s copywriting license, the Vivanta product seems to hold its own.

A fabulous example of ‘the twist’ and how contemporary service can sit amazingly within the culture of India’s ancient, ritualistic, colourful and enticing destinations, is what was The Taj Green Cove, Kovalam, Kerala. Now Vivanta by Taj Hotels, Kovalam, the added polish turns a wonderful five star Indian retreat into a truly aspirational incentive.

Kerala is at the southernmost point of India washed by the Arabian Sea. A million miles from the politics of Mumbai, the Vivanta Kovalam comprises 59 cottages climbing ten private acres of palm covered hillside. Their rustic character is topped by elephant grass thatch, which adds to the get-me-into-there jungle ambiance. Private balconies, plunge pools, central infinity pool overlook the swaying palms to the sea beyond. To one side the ocean, to the other the gentle calm of the region's famous backwaters.

Part of the ‘twist’ that turned the Green Cove into the Vivanta is the service level and re-fitted appointment of the cottage accommodation. The Jiva Spa takes serene relaxation and rewarding therapy to new levels. A ‘must sample’ experience is the Keralan signature Ayurveda treatment. The dining concept has changed too, their chef creating exquisite cuisine that is as delightful as the location is unique.

The ASPIRUS twist is that even thinking about India as an Incentive Travel event destination puts a sense of adventure into travel. This is not a five star Dubai sun bed and cocktails by the Royal Mirage pool. This is a travel experience to challenge the senses in every respect:  

Arrive in style, accompanied by

Caparisoned Elephants with traditional Temple attire

Accompanied by 21 Temple drummers

Garlanding with fresh flowers and welcome drinks

Discover the Backwaters of Kerala.

Cruise the small canals passing paddy fields,

villages and small water townships.

Enjoy the scenic beauty, flora, forna, elephants at work.

Experience the unspoiled rural life of Kerala.

  

Sunrise walk along the beach

Join fishermen pulling in catch for the day.

Tuk- Tuk ride to the fisherman's village

Experience day to day village life

Visit to Hindu Ashram

Watch a traditional Kalaripaiatu performance (the origin of Japanese martial arts)

Relax, dine and be pampered in superlative Vivanta style.

To add adventure to Incentive Travel, the detailed planning and management must raise its bar to the highest level. Success depends upon pre-planning and exemplary ground handling, which is another example of ASPIRUS’ efforts to find the right Destination Partner (DP), in this case Equinox. We call them DPs rather than DMCs as the concept of ‘partnership’ realistically extends our own ethos from client liaison right through to successful ground delivery.

The confidence created by planning and partnership supports inspired, exciting itineraries giving guests the chance to safely immerse themselves in regional ethnicity.

In short it turns the Travel Incentive ‘wow’ into the truly memorable and motivational “OMG WOW !”

Business Class flights with Emirates via Dubai ease the ten hour flight to Thiruvananthapuram, which is just 30 minutes from Vivanta by Taj Hotels, Kovalam. This route is priced at about £1,500 making the five star sensations of Kerala an affordable luxury.

ASPIRE    ACHIEVE    and enjoy the sensation

BUDGET BUSTING – can we afford to drop Incentive Travel

YES – well, actually NO.

It needn't be long-haul champagne
to have a great craic

But we can re-engineer it to suit economically revised budgets and still drive the additional passion to succeed.

Unchecked, incentive costs can often run away with themselves.

Around the Boardroom table there’s usually:

• one who flies the Incentive Travel flag, appreciating how much ‘the guys’ thrive knowing the late nights will be rewarded as he and his wife will soon be off to Tenerife with the rest of his winning south west region team.
•  The FD pours over spreadsheets tutting at the five star locations and business class travel, all for three nights away with no proof of sales increase accounted to the cost.
• The MD sports the arbitrator’s hat carrying Travel as the d riving force to motivate key players but directing that the costs must be cut.

 

Tunisia's Arabian Nights
are just a short 3 hours away




How do we get more from less. Yes, we need to deliver more in terms of event effectiveness because we need the teams that travel and franchises we reward to come home feeling as buzzed as they would have been if the event cost 30% more.

I spoke with ‘sales leader’ recently who had “…tried Incentive Travel and it didn’t work…”. Let’s look at the three key elements here and see if “didn’t” can be turned into “will”:

INCENTIVE

We have covered some of the criteria that make the event an Incentive as opposed to an irrelevant date in the diary.

 In short it has to be clearly structured. If there are rules, keep them simple and make qualification a raised bar but deliverable opportunity – something that is worth working towards. And don’t take universal interest for granted – work your internal CRM to communicate / sell the benefits.

Put the effort into selling the Incentive, they'll put the effort into buying it.



Fewer numbers open smaller, wonderful hotels
with a different outlook - on Barcelona perhaps.

Don’t forget that we’re Budget Busting so need a cap. If 50 usually travel, the biggest saving comes from taking fewer heads, 44. The carrot has to be as juicy but the rules preclude a total win win. We need the incremental sales from the non-qualifiers as well as from those who will travel. And they need to be attributable to keep the FD happy.

• Detailed – yet simply packaged.
• Universal – yet with qualified selectivity.
• Random – yet progressively manageable.

TRAVEL



Racing isn't an all-round winner -
so try the Baden Baden August meet.



One man’s joy is another’s worst nightmare. So how do you pick a destination / venue to drive all?

There are key components that combine to make the event a success or a great success. 

The destination can always be tailored to suit the group profile. This tailoring is part of the selection process, but more importantly dictates the nature of the event once there. The itinerary – what you do: where and how you dine; how much or little should be organised; how much team herding or how little.

To build the itinerary to deliver something for everybody, we need to know who the ‘everybody’ is.

Getting there dictates the amount of effort your successful delegates (guests, please) must make to physically participate. For a national or internationally distributed sales force, the more local we can make the point of departure, the more universal the effort to succeed. Efficient transfers, minimal airport check in times. Fluent hotel check ins and more importantly check outs.

Budget Busting at the Travel end of the Incentive is the thinking planners’ joy:

Ljubljana, Slovenia is a picture postcard
incentive on a budget

• There are exciting destinations slightly off the beaten track though equally accessible.
• Flight operators’ price structures often make them less costly to reach.
• There are fantastic four star hotels providing every comfort of the five star at the other end of the lake, and
• because they are not on the ‘conference’ trail they are off the price hike radar.
• There are restaurants whose chef is proud to push the culinary boundaries beyond the take-it-for-granted chain hotel venue.
• There are creative itineraries that keep everybody busy, happy, interested, focused.
• And there are destinations that itinerise themselves - all reducing transfer, guide and itinerary costs.

WORK

Simple really.
The more that goes into planning, packaging and promoting the Travel Incentive, the more they’ll put into qualifying to get there.

 

 

MALTESE KNIGHTS - has the salesforce incentive in a daze

Here’s an exercise I’d like to share.

Take a blank sheet of paper and a pencil. Now draw the coastline outlining the Mediterranean Sea, from the Straights of Gibraltar, up the coast of Spain around France, Italy’s boot, then wiggle a little for the Adriatic, Greece and Turkey. Pass a half moon to the right for Syria, Lebanon, Israel to the top of Egypt. Now west over Libya and Algeria (not forgetting Tunisia) and back to the narrow gap between Ceuta and Algeciras. Okay, now, draw an x where you think Malta is. Not so easy.

We can usually do Cyprus and Crete (even in the right order). The potpourri of other Grecian islands are usually only named and claimed by those who frequent them most. Corfu - hmm? Sicily’s a given as the ball (rugby) at the Italian toe. Sardinia and Corsica often bring a furrowed brow. The Balearics beat gently off the Costas and the Canaries bake in breezy sunshine off the north west of Morocco.

Most of these Mediterranean jewels offer wonderful Incentive Travel and Conference destinations, with exciting venues, supportive resources and glorious weather. Accessibility is surprisingly not to be taken for granted and limit Mediterranean business opportunities far more than one might think.

By the way – it’s south east of Tunis, 58 miles south of Sicily and 180 miles north of Tripoli.

But Malta, with its extraordinary history, its global fiscal importance, its wealth, beauty, charm and climate offers so so much. It offers much both as a Conference destination and particularly as an aspirationally competitive target, adding edge to short-hall Incentive Travel programmes.

Its 7,000 years of history are proven first by the mysterious megalithic temples dedicated to the goddess of fertility whose promise of enjoyment move on through the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans and Byzantines who have all left their archaeological mark.

More recently, a mere five hundred years ago, Charles V gave Malta to the Sovereign Military Order of St John of Jerusalem. For the next quarter millennium, The Knights took Malta through ‘the golden age’, creating a European stage that affected 17^th and 18^th Century culture, inviting and keeping the works of Caravaggio, Mattia Preti and Favray who they had embellish their churches, palaces and auberges.

The French had a bash at claiming Malta for themselves but their two year influence was sufficient only to introduced an ability to make a passably decent Crème Anglais!

At Malta’s request, Britain kicked them out and protected their sun-baked holiday island until its independence in 1964.

The history it fascinating but the proof the pudding is in the eating. So let’s introduce you to life as a successful sales team who have won three nights with partners in Valletta. Come taste the Crème Anglais.

Make the budgets allow three nights at the Hilton on the waterfront at Portomaso.

(Little known fact: Rodney Bashford wrote much of the launch copy to sell Portomaso leisure and business property to the UK market before the first cement mixer even turned up.)

Portomaso puts the A in Aspire, being a playground to the rich and famous who own and visit, sail and dine locally. Guests will sail and dine locally too. The marina’s modern extreme contrasts beautifully with the fortified medieval facades of Valletta. Valletta is just fifteen minutes by road or a charming morning cruise by private motor yacht.

Because of its wealthy heritage and playground ambiance, Malta is rich in the number of vintage saloon and sports cars that are available for guests to enjoy. Quite a spectacle is to set up a Le Mans row of cars outside the hotel. Guests then drive (or are driven depending on the car!) in convoy across the island to arrive in time for dinner at a medieval castle. Gather outside the castle gates to be served drinks as the sun sets. Then follow the torchlight pageant through the gates to dinner in the baronial hall.

There are endless sea and land based adventures to be created,

• artifacts to see,
• beaches and coastline to explore,
• restaurants and bars to enjoy,
• nightclubs to dance,
• shops for therapeutic retreat from the sun

- and so much more on Malta.

Perhaps most importantly – it still offers excellent value for money.

Flights:  Three operators fly the 3 Hr 10 Min route direct to Valletta, Malta from London offering a variety of arrival and departure times, with Air Malta providing the best round trip option at the moment.

Our local agents will help us tailor Malta to any corporate need -

Conference, Product Launch, Incentive Travel, Boardroom retreat.

Please call 02476 609 104 for more information.

COSTA RICA - uniquely rewarding achievement

There are few places in the world where so much variety can be enjoyed within such a small  relative distance of the hotel or resort. Perhaps surprising too is the range of hotel type, each with individual outlooks.  There’s a truly motivational incentive itinerary to suit most Incentive Travel budgets and almost any guest profile.

Where – COSTA RICA

Geographically the Pacific Coast is an adventure in itself. Ecologically, Costa Rica offers one of the most fascinating bio diverse habitats in the world. The topography combines rainforest treetops, volcanoes meandering rivers and warm sultry beaches.

Guests can be as noisy as the Howler Monkeys, as colourful as the Toucans and Macaws and as laid back as the Sloth.

Costs Rica’s mid-Pacific menagerie can be savoured from the luxury of Four Seasons on Papagayo Peninsula; or more practically the Guanacaste Marriott; then there is the lively Paradisus Playa Conchal - and so many more.

Our local Destination Partners help us to create an itinerary specific to each client brief that we develop, based on the nature of the guest profile and the experience we need them to leave with to feed the motivation machine in the business back home.

We can do sedate cultural discovery, where:

• the vibrancy of the flora and fauna are sufficient to raise the pulse.

• The heart can beat a little faster on a short canopy tour and gentle safari,

• and floating on the Corobici River.

• For pulse-racing adventure-seekers there is more besides:

• turn the canopy tour into a high wire trapeze excursion through the treetops,

• a sky walk in the Tenorio Volcano Conservation Area.

• And boil the waters for a more exciting white water ride.

The Pacific Ocean has much to offer above and below the water. As well as some of the most amazing rainforests and colorful wildlife in the world, it also boasts some of the most breathtaking beaches. Soak up the sun or ride the waves. There are beaches on which to party, BBQ, explore and perhaps enjoy the decreasingly private lives of the Leatherback Turtles.

Ocean adventures include fishing above the water and snorkeling below it.

Perhaps less known about sporting opportunities in Costs Rica is the range and quality of the Golf in this equatorial paradise.

Evenings and nights are a playground of opportunities to indulge in spa treatments, throw dice at the casinos and dine in a culinary breadth of styles from the local to international and fusions between the two.

Getting there: Paradise is a fair way off in travel time so we recommend taking it the easy way. Fly BA out of LHR to Miami but don’t connect through. Stay over and do the ‘local leg’ at ease the next day with Continental to Liberia. The return offers a good connection with the 20.45 out of Miami and overnight back to LHR.

Remember, as we mentioned in our last piece, we can make budgets go further by flying out Premium Economy and return Business Class for the flat-bed comfort of the overnight route to London. Ask for more information and we will put you in touch with our flight partners.

Contact us also for ideas to make the Miami overnight a celebration of industrial success in its own right.

South Beach Miami



ASPIRE   ACHIEVE   REWARD