Organisation of incentive programmes

The actual process of implementing an incentive programme means that consider­able long-term planning is required to ensure chat corporate objectives are met in full. Some incentive programmes can last for up to a year, and it is not unusual for companies to be planning large-scale incentives two years in advance. The majority of incentive travel programmes, however, are planned up to 12 months in advance (O'Brien, 1997b).

The full incentive travel organisation package will involve the agency in under-caking an initial analysis of the client's business and the types of travel rewards most appropriate to their company. This phase is crucial. The key characteristics of the prize must be inspirational and aspirational, for if the agency fails to identify a destination that fully inspires the company's employees to make a considerable extra effort in order to win the chance to visit it, then the programme is unlikely to succeed.

Incentive travel agencies will therefore begin by establishing a shortlist of possi­ble destinations with the client. This will be based on employees' aspirations as well as other factors, such as budget and where the company's recent incentives were held. In order to achieve maximum effectiveness, a company's incentive reward sys­tem should be tailored to fit the needs and desires of its employees. To determine what employees both desire and need, a number of methods may be used. Shinew and Blackman (1995) identify these as:

• administering a structured data-collection instrument, such as a questionnaire containing both open- and closed-ended items;

• systematically observing employees' reactions to different rewards;

• asking the employees directly which rewards are most valued.

Variety is an important factor. US companies tend to rotate incentive destinations to maintain participant interest, e.g. London may only be considered a suitable destination for a major incentive once every four years (O'Brien, 1997a).

Organising the incentive programme will also involve at an early stage conduct­ing research into whom, within the company, should be targeted for motivation by the prospect of winning the travel award. Often, the result of the research will be that it appears appropriate to offer more than one incentive product to a company's employees. Shinew and Backman (1995; p.292) explain why:

Offering a single set of rewards to an entire workforce potentially reaches only a portion of the target group. Therefore, the motivational component of incentive programmes may be maximised by offering reward options targeted toward specific segments of the workforce. For example, oprion one may be a trip to Disneyworld that involves both spouses and children...whereas a second option for childless employees might be a trip to Paris.

Multiple-tier awards is an alternative strategy. This approach encourages limitless performance levels and, therefore, hears hroad motivational appeal. For example, level one may award the incentive trip to the qualifier whereas level two includes rht qualifier and his or her family. Another possible application would be where level oik is a domestic trip while level two is an international trip. The multiple-tier approach motivates the employee who has already qualified for the trip to continue striving for the next objective.

The same authors point out that the identification of specific variables that may influence an employee's level of attraction toward particular rewards has only limited attention in the literature on incentive travel. One of these variables is almost certainly the attitude of the employee's spouse or partner towards the incen­tive programme and the prizes available to winners.

The vast majority of employees interviewed by Shinew and Backman (1995) indi­cated that the support of their spouse/partner was a major consideration to them in their decision as to whether to participate in their employers' incentive programmes. These findings suggest that management might wish to consider the influence of spouses when planning an incentive programme. For example, when attempting to determine the attractiveness of potential incentive travel destinations, the company may benefit from surveying both the employees and their spouses. Further, sending travel brochures home with employees may serve to increase the incentive programme's motivational effect. Moreover, there may be greater family tolerance for the long hours needed to achieve the incentive reward if there is enthusiasm for the trip being offered.

A further advantage of including award-winners' spouses and partners is emphas­ised by one incentive travel organiser based in Monaco (Collis, 2000; p.115):

The partner helps to push the executive to achieve his or her targets if they know they're going to Monte Carlo as well. If the other half is along, it makes for a much more sane and balanced approach. It's the difference between dancing the night away and drinking the night away, which is what happens when you have all men together. We had a nightmare experience with an incentive for the business unit of a company that didn't bring partners. It was an office party for three days. Not a good idea!

In designing the actual award; therefore, the agency must also advise the client company on whether the travel is to be undertaken by the winning employees only or whether it should include others, notably their partners and other members of their families. In his survey of the European incentive market, O'Brien (1997b; p.B-20) noted that only one-quarter of all trips were limited to employees only. 'In most cases, the winner's spouse or partner is permitted to travel with him/her, and in 20% of cases, companies also invite other family members as well. Family members are invariably paid for by the company.¹

Once the actual incentive programme prize has been agreed upon, the agency will then carry out a promotional campaign within the company to advertise the competition and the prize. The rules of the competition will be announced to those members of staff selected to participate. Throughout the duration of the incentive programme, the agency will monitor employees' performance and peri­odically send them reminders of the desirability of the prize in order to continue to spur them on to greater achievements. These reminders are known as 'teasers', and may take the form of brochures or photographs of the destination being sent to employees at work or to their homes. Even more creative teasers have been used. An agency once sent small bottles of sand to participants to remind them that the prize they were competing for was a trip to an exclusive oasis resort in the Sahara. The final task to be undertaken before the actual trip is to choose and nominate the winners. Announcing the winners is often done at an in-company event, such as a reception or lunch, in order to make maximum impact.

Parallel to these activities, agencies will design and plan the details of the actual trip. The following section examines the crucial question of what the successful incentive trip should be.

Design of incentive trips

To the outsider, they may look like extravagant up-market holidays, but behind the fun and joviality of most incentive trips lies a lengthy period of detailed planning and designing of the travel award in order to ensure that rhe company's objectives are met to the full.

The principal difference between incentive travel and persona] travel is that, in the former case, a company (i.e. a form of external control) is planning, organising, and promoting the anticipation and fulfilment of the reward experience (Ricci and Holland, 1992). Furthermore, a basic tenet is that incentive trips must consist of experiences that individuals cannot achieve on their own: there is no such thing as an off-the-peg incentive trip, and the skill of the incentive agency lies in ensuring that they design a travel experience which, every time, surprises, delights and impresses the - often very demanding and well-travelled - incentive programme winners.

The characteristic features of incentive trips include the following:

• Uniqueness: no single event should be like any other. Itineraries should not be predictable, but rather, full of surprises and special events. Innovative ideas are the life-blood of this sector, and organisers have to continuously produce creative and original elements to delight participants. The unexpected arrival of the com­pany's managing director by hot-air balloon tor the final evening's gala dinner, for example, would lie a memorable way to conclude an incentive trip.

• Use of fantasy or exotic experiences: incentive trips often include the opportunity for participants to try out novel sporting activities, such as clay-pigeon shooting, falconry or hang-gliding. A skilled incentive travel organiser will be able to include in the programme some activities that the participants will not have already tried but may have always wanted to.

• Exclusivity: at the end of the trip, the participants should have the impression that they have had privileged access to exclusive places and people. If a tourist attraction, such as Madame Tussauds, is visited, then it must be unlike the visits made by the general public; for example, a champagne breakfast held there before opening time, or a behind-the-scenes look at how the wax models are made. Use is often made of celebrities to achieve this effect. For example, guided tours of the destination are all the more memorable if the guide is a well-known actor or sportsperson who happens to live there.

• Activities: few incentive trips leave participants to lie on the beach for days on end. Activities and sports are included as a way of making the trip more memorable and dynamic. Given that award winners are, almost by definition, often competitive by nature, much use is made of competitions and team games, such as beach Olympics, mini-hovercraft races and talent competitions.

Clearly, organising the transport, accommodation, and the entertainment and activities that constitute an incentive trip involves the agency in a vast amount of detailed negotiation and logistical arrangements. Their allies in this task are the same DMCs who assist conference organisers with the details of the ground programme, as described in Chapter 3, These agencies use their local knowledge and contacts to turn the incentive travel agency's ideas into reality.

In the same way as PCOs do, incentive agencies tend to work in partnership with their appointed DMCs, who may be thought of as the creative packager of the travel experience as well as being the logistics manager ensuring that all visitor arrangements run smoothly. In the UK and Ireland, DMCs tend to be small companies that specialise in particular inbound country markets. The world of the DMC is a secretive one, as their business contacts are effectively their core asset (O'Brien, 1997b).

Suppliers

Following on from the preceding investigations into the demand for incentive travel and the role of those intermediaries who design and plan incentive programmes, this section explores the supply of incentive travel services.

One distinguishing feature of incentive travel is that unlike, for example, the con­ference or exhibition sectors, there are no specific infrastructural facilities required for destinations active in the incentive market. Nevertheless, in common with the other forms of business travel already covered in this book, incentive travel makes use of the services and facilities of every sector of the tourism industry, including accommodation, transport, tourist attractions, and recreational resources. How-ever, perhaps for more than any other form of business tourism, it is vital for incentive travel suppliers to fulfill the very high expectations of their clients, with faultless standards of service and attention to detail. Clearly, given their use of luxurious, top-of-the-range facilities, incentive travel clients represent a market that offers high rewards to suppliers. But this is on the strict condition that those suppliers consistently produce an impeccable standard of service at every stage. Some examples of the extra effort needed by suppliers to compete favorably in this market are given below.

Hotels

Given incentive travellers' taste for the best in everything, they constitute a lucra­tive market for hotels active in this sector. Many hotels, by their very design, are well suited to responding to the need for ,1 fantasy or exotic element in incentive trips. For example, at the Hyatt Regency Waikoloa in Hawaii, guests are trans­ported to their rooms by boat via canals through tropically landscaped grounds.

Many large hotel chains have dedicated incentive departments whose role it is to persuade incentive travel organisers that their hotels have everything that is required to satisfy their clients. But even smaller, independent hotels can also attract this type of business - on the condition that they are prepared to make the extra effort required. In her advice to hoteliers interested in breaking into the incentive market, Briggs (1993; p.28) make the following points:

Don't make the mistake of thinking that all an incentive group needs is high room rates, a box of chocolates and a bottle of ordinary champagne in the rooms. It takes creativity and imagination to justify those rates...Firstly be sure you can deliver the goods and that your staff can be relied upon to offer a high level of service. You will need to develop a range of services and people you can contact to help you provide new experiences for incentive guests. It doesn't have to be a grand fireworks display in the grounds of your nearest stately home. It could equally be talented magicians per­forming at each table or a Body Shop massage/makeover for each guest. If you ... leave the actual packaging up to incentive agents and other professional organisers, you still need to develop a list of suggestions and contacts which show that your hotel is the ideal location for an incentive group, to demonstrate that you understand their needs.

However, this is not a market without disavantages for the hotel sector. One particular difficulty is underlined by O'Brien (1997b; p.B-26):

A dilemma facing the F.uropean hotels industry concerns the future for incentive travel rates. With strong demand for hotel rooms from business travellers, hoteliers are trying to maximise revenue yield from key customer segments... However, hotel­iers have had to come to terms with the fact that the incentive rates quoted some 12-18 months ago now reflect a low yield compared with existing rates achieved from the independent business travel sector.

Solving this dilemma to the satisfaction of all parties involved may prove to be a considerable challenge for the industry, as long as lead times still stretch to one or even two years.

Transport

There can be no incentive travel without some form of transport being used, and, as in the case of hotels, this market provides transport operators with an opportun­ity to sell their most expensive products and make healthy profits. But, again as for hotels, transport operators' chances of success in the incentive sector depend entirely on them making an extra effort to meet - and exceed - the expectations of their passengers.

In this sector, the transport element is often not seen simply as a means to an end -getting to the destination - but as part of the incentive experience itself, characterised by pleasure, exclusivity and uniqueness. For this reason, many operators make the effort to use the journey as an opportunity to make their incentive passengers feel special. For example, a company using the Eurostar as transport for its incentive trip has a wide range of unique benefits to choose from to make its award winners feel privileged. These include in-carriage branding with the company logo, on-board entertainment, personalised on-board welcome messages, as well as gifts as a souvenir of their Eurostar trip.

It is the airline sector that is used most frequently to convey incentive winners to their destinations. One indicator of the importance of incentive groups to airlines is the fact that, by 2000, dedicated conference and incentive departments had been established in 60% of the airlines responding to a Conference and Incentive Travel magazine survey (Roberts, 2000). However, on the down side, it was found that in the majority of cases these departments were staffed by only one person, which meant that some agencies were experiencing delays in getting vital quotes for the airlines' group rates from these departments.

The conclusion of the survey was that the key feature required of the airlines, by incentive travel organisers, was flexibility. One example of the need for this arises in the question of passenger lists. Clearly, passengers' names are not available until the winners of the incentive programme have been selected, and, as with group travel of any kind, there can always be last-minute changes to the list of those trav­elling. This can be a major problem for incentive travel organisers if they are deal­ing with an airline that requires final passenger lists weeks or even months before the actual flight - as many do. However, on the positive side, the respondents to the survey showed that they were responding to the need for flexibility: 32% of them allowed name changes less than three days before travel - an increase from the previous year's 12% of airlines offering such a service.

Another specific need for flexibility arises from the need of incentive trip organ­isers to be able to book seats well in advance. A total of 85% of airlines were found to allow reservations one year in advance of travel, double the percentage of the previous year's survey. Finally, incentive travel organisers are known to appreciate dedicated group check-in facilities for their award winners, and 90% of airlines claimed to offer this facility (Roberts, 2000).