In years past, corporate planners were slow to embrace the all-inclusive resort as an incentive destination. That seems to be changing.
The corporate incentive business “is clearly a growing segment in the market,” says Gary Sain, executive vice president of Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell, a Florida-based marketing company that specializes in the travel industry. And talk to representatives of some of the industry’s major players and they’ll tell you they are now vigorously going after the incentive market.
Bill Dwyer, director of national accounts, groups and incentives, for Superclubs, and Ron Roy, vice president, business travel and distribution, Sol Meliá Hotels and Resorts, both say their companies have made conscious efforts to attract more incentive business. And, says Paula Hayes, vice president sales and transportation at Club Med’s North American Headquarters in Coral Gables, Fla., “We’ve made a concerted effort to get our product quality up to the demands of the corporate meeting planner.”
All-inclusive suppliers are providing “more high-end product,” Sain says, the kind of high-quality facilities that planners look for when it comes to planning incentive trips. “There are some very reputable names in the all-inclusive market and you know they are going to deliver. From a corporate standpoint, it really gives incentive winners all the important things they are looking for.”
For more on all-inclusives and the incentive market, see the May/June issue of Insurance Conference Planner.
