Vacation Rewards Set Sales Afire

Nothing sparks a sales goal like the lure of exotic travel. A good vacation can be memorable, relaxing and refreshing, especially for reps who work mostly from offices or whose business travel takes them to familiar territories. In addition, travel rewards have become extremely flexible, with airlines and hotels offering ‘anywhere, anytime’ certificates for quick trips.

Travel is flexible from a management point of view, as well. You can use a vacation simply as a reward for a stunning year or career, or just a brilliant month of 12-hour days promoting a new product. But you can also combine sales vacations with such essential business goals as getting reps together for training and acquaintance, or having reps meet their most important customers in a relaxed setting.

One big trend in recent travel is the rediscovery of our southern neighbors in the Sunbelt of the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America. It’s a big, varied world down there, with some of the most exotic scenery in the world, the clearest seas and even summer skiing in the Chilean Andes. And guess what – Latin America has a history as rich as old Europe in many ways, and even older in the haunts of Mayans and Incas.

Major airlines have caught on to the attractions of Latin America, with US Airways deepening its network in the Caribbean, and both Delta and Continental joining American in connecting South America with the U.S. heartland. So you can get there easily. But where do you want to go?

Anywhere You Want To

Group trips to Marriott’s fine resorts and hotels are usually awarded for annual performance, such as beating sales goals or winning top honors in sales contests. “Group trips cost an average of $2,000 to $2,500 per participant, so you usually give them out to help achieve long-term objectives,” explains David Riddell, Marriott VP for certificate sales and marketing.

Riddell runs a different Marriott incentive program that is aimed at boosting short-term sales activity. These are Marriott’s highly flexible stay certificates. Winner are given what are essentially checks, good for so many days at any Marriott resort, to be spent anytime and anywhere they want.

The certificates carry no dollar denomination, but can be purchased by managers for as little as $200 or up to $1,000 for lengthier stays. Flexibility and moderate cost make the certificates ideal for a variety of goals. “You can use these to help hit your goals in the next 60 to 90 days,” Riddell says. “For example, say you get the new 2004 model in, and you want your people to clear out the inventory of 2003 models in a hurry.” The certificates are easy for managers to give and easy to administer. For successful reps, they are also easy to spend, without planning or interrupting family schedules.

The Marriott certificates are thus like cash, but with a motivating twist. “If you win cash, can you really talk about it?” Riddell asks. “But if you take a trip to Puerto Rico or Miami for a weekend, everyone will ask about what you did and how it was.”

Marriott’s checks can be customized in a variety of ways. The standard certificates are good for room, breakfast and all taxes at any Marriott resort in the Americas, whenever a room is physically available. Another option accesses all 2,500 Marriott properties around the world. Supplementary certificates can be purchased for dinner, golf or other amusements.

“You go when you want and with whomever you want to take,” Riddell emphasizes. “You and I might want to go to the Caribbean, but someone else might want to go to Florida to see grandma without sleeping on her floor.” Marriott charges a blended rate for the certificates, based on its experience with where recipients tend to use them.

Riddell says the most popular destinations – chosen by winners, not by managers – have recently been in the Sunbelt, from the Caribbean and Florida up to the Carolinas and across the country to Arizona, California and Hawaii. Marriott has just opened a brand-new resort in Grand Lakes, near Orlando, close to some stunning theme parks and cruise opportunities. And, fortunately for winners, Orlando is now served by plenty of low-cost airlines, such as Southwest, AirTran and JetBlue.

An Island in the Stream

Grand Key Resort in Key West offers two kinds of incentive vacations, according to group sales manager Javier Garrido. One is a kind of contract incentive in which a firm arranges for a certain number of room stays over a year and sales leaders take their vacations as they choose, after winning weekly, monthly or quarterly sales contests. The other incentive is the standard group trip, with reps, managers and other executives joining each other at the hotel.

Whatever the method, winners come to Grand Resort “to have a good time,” Garrido notes. As the newest luxury hotel in Key West, the Resort offers plenty of amenities on-site and fun off-site, but it is not designed for extensive business meetings. With 216 rooms, the Resort is the third-largest hotel in Key West and sits on the “quiet side of the island,” according to Garrido. Two-bedroom suites may be offered to the very top producers or shared by up to eight winners.

Making the most of the fun on Key West depends on a little help, of course. “To show them a good time, we have the best concierge on the island,” Garrido says proudly. Options include sunset cruises, all the most popular water sports, and some unique sightseeing and bar-hopping choices. And, of course, there is the food. “Per capita, we have the largest number of restaurants in Florida.”

Key West’s museums include one with the contents of a Spanish gold galleon salvaged in the 1970s, as well as the island’s Shipwreck Museum and, of course, the Ernest Hemingway Museum. For winners who want to summon up more vivid memories of Hemingway’s lifestyle, there are the Key’s famous bars, Sloppy Joe’s and Captain Tony’s. These delights are so appealing that the Grand Resort has a special service for their fans. “If you leave your wallet down at Sloppy Joe’s at closing, we will send a cab to pick it up for you,” Garrido reassures us.

The Resort is only a mile from Key West airport, which is served by US Airways, American and Delta, which has just inaugurated twice-daily service from its hub in Atlanta to the island.

Sail Away

Carnival Cruise Lines continues to do a tremendous amount of incentive business, according to Cherie Weinstein, vice president for group sales. “Our cruises are used as rewards for as few as two people to as many as 2,900 people at one shot,” Weinstein notes. “It runs the gamut.”

Carnival offers both group trips for selected jaunts, customized for each company, and individual certificates that are good for three- to eight-day cruises anytime and on any voyage the recipient chooses. The certificates cover ocean-view cabins, meals, entertainment, taxes and shipboard gratuities. “We also allow upgrades on the certificates,” Weinstein notes. “If you want secure the best stateroom suite, you can upgrade with your own money.” Managers may also throw in ‘fun-ship dollars,’ extra certificates that are good for any purchases during the trip.

Carnival certificates are good for any voyage that is not already sold out, so winners need to plan ahead a bit. But Carnival’s breadth generally means that winners can find a voyage they like and that is accessible. Carnival’s luxury liners leave ports across the United States, including New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Norfolk and Charleston on the East Coast, Jacksonville, Port Canaveral, Tampa and Miami in Florida, New Orleans and Galveston on the Gulf Coast, as well as Los Angeles, San Diego and Vancouver on the West Coast. If you can drive or fly to the seashore, you can walk up the ramp to a Carnival liner.

Group incentives are also very popular, and Carnival can easily accommodate 500 to 1,500 sales winners. Weinstein emphasizes the convenience of planning a group trip on a ship, rather than at a resort. “There is already so much to do on a cruise ship, you can budget it easily,” she says. “But if you book a hotel, you may have to plan excursions to fill up the time.”

Group incentive clients often add a few twists, such as pillow gifts, cocktail parties or wine for dinner. But a Carnival voyage has already been planned to keep everybody happy and busy, so these extras are not really necessary. Most group incentives last three, five or seven days, but shorter trip are possible. “We have a couple of two-day trips that work well if you want to close up shop for two days and take everyone,” Weinstein says.

Carnival does have on-board facilities for meetings, if these are desired. But Weinstein says most cruise time is allocated for pleasure. “Managers usually say, ‘Relax, have a good time, this is for you.’”

Relaxation and pleasure are built into every Carnival ship. There are spas, workout facilities, massage rooms and slimming treatments available to all guests. Showrooms offer Las Vegas-style productions each evening, while lounges and dance floors rock into the night. On-board casinos rival Vegas in gaming opportunities.

What’s left? Oh, golf, of course. Carnival also offers excursions to some of the most beautiful golf courses in the world at its various ports of call, so bring the bag. A Carnival pro will help you tune up your swing on-board, before the ship docks.

All these options have made cruises the top-rated kind of vacations in surveys of travelers. And there is good news for cost-conscious sales managers looking for affordable rewards. “There is a lot of capacity out there now,” Weinstein says. “We are selling cruise packages today at 1980 or even late-70s prices.”