Meetings and Incentives, the Caledonia, Wis.–based meetings management company, has won its bid to partner with corporate travel management company giant Travelocity Business.
While Southlake, Texas–based Travelocity Business has group coordinators and group agents on staff who specialized in group air and meeting registration services and, by request, provide on-site services and meeting sourcing, Jaimie Johnson, director, product marketing, says the company decided early last year to begin looking for a partner who could bring spend management and other strategic meeting tools to the table. The existing group travel staff will work together with M&I to meet clients’ needs, she says, with the Travelocity Business group coordinator handling the initial inquiry, determining which meeting services will be required, and then engaging the meeting and incentives coordinator.
M&I, which made the 2009 CMI 25 list of the largest meeting and incentive companies in North America, sees the partnership as a “great opportunity to reach a broader audience, says Don LaPorte, executive vice president of business development. “We complement each other very well.”
M&I’s list of services includes strategic meetings management, domestic and international sourcing, planning and registration, on-site services and production, and event marketing. The company reports booking 415 corporate meetings and 22 incentive travel programs in 2008, representing 60,000 room nights. In 2009, the company launched a new international services division.
