Incentive travel has proven to be a very important and cost effective way to motivate entire groups of people, but many people have shied away from incentive cruises because of the perception that cruises are simply too expensive. If this sounds like you then go grab an accountant and crunch some numbers and you will probably find that it is almost impossible to beat a cruise once everything is considered properly. Here’s what you need to look at:
• Cruises are generally all-inclusive, a fact that means less time is spent planning. How many hours of company time can be saved by not planning everything? Add them up and add them to the scales of financial feasibility.
• A cruise gives people the chance to relax 24/7 from the time they arrive until the time they depart. Put a dollar value on the relaxation factor and add that to the equation.
• Since cruises are almost uniformly all inclusive, there is no risk of issuing a company credit card nor is there a problem to be had when the recipient(s) discover that they should have brought cash along with them and feel that the ‘gift’ is now costing them money.
• The value attached to an employee, partner, supplier, or other person that is singing your praises to their colleagues versus the cost of advertising to those people in the same manner. Nothing beats word of mouth advertising for a reason, and cruise incentives are extremely cost effective even if only measured in this one way.

Is it becoming more difficult to come up with new, exciting meeting venues, unique excursions and entertainment options or enticing destinations? If so, it might be time to take advantage of an untapped resource that just might have been right under your nose all along. As a meeting planner or corporate event planner, you have a built-in focus group just waiting to be tapped for suggestions.

If you work as a meeting planner for a particular company, your colleagues are the perfect group of people to provide suggestions regarding possible meeting venues, what type of entertainment they would like at the next corporate event and which destinations would be most appealing for incentive travel programs. If you are an independent planner, you can still take advantage of participant input by tapping the folks that attend the events you plan.

The folks who attend your meetings and events are exactly who you would want to speak to anyways, since this is the group of people to which you are providing a service and trying to impress. Most meeting and event attendees will be more than happy to participate in making future events more interesting or fun, and they will likely be delighted that they were asked their opinion on the matter.

Create a simple survey to disseminate around the office or at your next event, asking easy questions about venues, entertainment, excursions and destinations that they would find interesting. Giving predetermined options is a good way to avoid having everyone suggest Monaco when your budget would be more fitting for Miami, but even if you provide options from which they should choose, be sure to also leave some space dedicated to their suggestions. You might be surprised with how many great options they come up with that you may have never even considered.