More blatant bribery

Just yesterday I posted about how hotel offers like the one outlined in this article can get an ethical planner's dander up. Then today I get a press release from a hotel chain that's offering $10,000 or the use of a Jaguar for a year to planners who drop a lot of dough at select hotels. From the press release:

Each hotel will award the meeting planner who spends the most on rooms and catering with the use of a brand-new Jaguar X-type for one year or $10,000 – meeting planner’s choice. The meetings cannot already be booked at any of these properties and must occur June 1 – Sept. 30, 2005, at one of these five [X-chain] hotels. In order to be eligible, meeting planners must book and consume a minimum of $50,000 in meetings revenue, which includes group rooms and function food and beverage. A total of five Jaguars or cash prizes will be awarded after Sept. 30, 2005; one for the top meeting planner at each hotel.

Really, how could anyone justify taking this perk? I guess you could take the cash on your organization's behalf and put it toward future meetings, but the Jag? That's just blatant bribery, IMHO. But I'll repeat what I said yesterday--they wouldn't do it if it didn't work.