Today’s Incentives Get Down to (More) Business

With the economy rebounding and corporations more willing to spend on motivation, the time may be right for travel agents to expand their reach into incentive business.

But while the climate for incentive travel is improving, today’s incentive programs are less lavish and more business-minded than they were before the Great Recession.

The following are eight trends identified by incentive experts.

1. More meetings content
The “pure” incentive that’s strong on recreation and light on business content has gone the way of VHS tapes, according to Jeff Broudy, executive vice president of United Incentives in Philadelphia and a recent past chairman of the Incentive Research Foundation.

“There is more integration of meeting content in the incentive program,” he said.

“Clients are spending money again, but they are only willing to spend on value – not nonsense. If you’re going to spend the money, you want to include the face time to share changes and objectives.”

Far from resenting the trend, incentive qualifiers are welcoming it, he added.

“They know that the incentive is an opportunity to maintain their competitive edge,” he said. “Millennials in particular view learning as a type of currency.”

2. More activity choice
A golf tournament for everyone is no longer the gold standard.

Agendas today need to provide diverse activity choices geared to the different preferences and fitness levels of up to four generations of qualifiers.

 “Groups tend to have a broad age range, so at registration we’ll offer options ranging from spa to soft adventure or zip lining,” said Nola Conway, president of Global Destinations Marketing in Los Angeles.

“Corporate decision makers know that to achieve their desired results, they have to serve individual needs and wants. One size does not fit all.”

Golf tournaments can still work, but they need to serve a variety of skill levels, said Adam Lawhorne, CEO of Chicago-based Meeting Incentive Experts.

“We recently did a golf tournament for 50 executives in Los Cabos, half of whom had never golfed before,” he said. “So we divided them into teams and had different qualifications for each hole. If you can spice it up a little, it still works.”

3. More ‘wow’ factor
A successful incentive should include experiences that qualifiers can’t have on their own, according Lawhorne.

“Younger qualifiers in particular want the ‘wow’ factor, something that really engages them,” he said. “It could be an exotic car rental or a name band flying onto the beach. They also appreciate something tied to the destination.”

4. More mobile apps
Increasingly, incentive programs are enhanced by customized mobile apps, a service that fosters attendee engagement and extends content to a wider audience, according to Broudy.

“The mobile app is a real game changer,” he said.

“It creates an environment where you can have profiles of the attendees, agenda information and social media buttons so they can broadcast to their friends about what they’re doing. They can post pictures and tweets about the event.”

5. More CSR elements
No mere fad, the CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities that took hold during post-Hurricane Katrina incentive programs are more important than ever, according to both Lawhorne and Conway.

“We are seeing budgets increasing for CSR among both our domestic and global clients,” said Conway, whose company recently organized an activity in Phuket, Thailand. Qualifiers visited and donated toys, food and other items to an orphanage housing children who had lost parents during the deadly 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

“CSR activities, especially those where qualifiers interact with the recipients, are often the highlight of the program,” she said. “It’s more meaningful than a straight donation.”

6. Fewer days away
Incentive programs that once lasted for a week or more are now more likely to be four or five days, a trend in sync with corporate budgets as well as attendee time constraints, according to Broudy.

“People don’t want to be away from their businesses for a long time,” he said. “And there are more two-income households, so it’s harder to coordinate a trip with work schedules. It’s a real demographic shift.”

7. More domestic destinations
With time at a premium, it’s little wonder that North America is the leading destination choice for incentives, according to a survey from the Incentive Research Foundation.

8. Fewer hosted activities and events
Incentive programs are increasingly likely to offer free time, a result of rising travel costs that put a squeeze on budgets, according to Tony Vericella, president of Island Partners Hawaii, a Honolulu-based destination management company and meeting planning firm.

 “If it’s a five-night program, there might be three evenings of sponsored events such as a reception, a dine-around or an awards program, with the other two evenings free,” he said. “The same thing is happening on the day side.”