Business Planners Can Now Search Cruise Choices and Submit One Request to Five Cruise Lines Simultaneously

Any company that is reviewing its incentives and bonuses needs to keep an eye on the bottom line while simultaneously trying to find the best value possible for their spending dollar. It is simply a question of economics, but that does not necessarily mean that an affordable trip to Nebraska is going to seem attractive. A cruise on the other hand is almost always a great travel option worth considering and can be surprisingly affordable. Here’s why cruise travel should be on the incentive plan of any company with travel incentive options:

• Incentive cruises are all inclusive, meaning that they are incredibly easy to budget.
• All inclusive means no need to give spending money and collect receipts or give out a prepaid company credit card.
• Cruises are almost universally considered to be enjoyable which probably explains why they have been around for so long.
• Cruises can change the recipient(s) perceptions of the company dramatically, and not in the same way that a ‘fun’ vacation to Nebraska might do the same. A partner might become more amenable to agreements, an employee more loyal, a supplier more reliable, and so on.
• Regardless of the outcome of a cruise, the recipient is likely to sing the praises of the company to any and all that will hear. Nothing beats good word of mouth, nothing.

If you want to book a meeting at sea, instead of at a hotel, here are some differences between the two venues that you should be aware of.

Arrival time: It is common for meeting and event planners to arrive at a hotel a day or two before a big event, but with a cruise ship you can arrive an hour or two before the meeting participants.

Reserving rooms: Unless you charter a ship for your group cruise, you will need to coordinate with the cruise line in advance to secure the meeting space you need on the day and time you need it. Otherwise, another group may already be using the space.

Saving money: The cruise ship includes things like AV equipment and themed décor, so you do not have to budget for these items separately like you do for a hotel. You can either keep the extra cash or use it to offer incentives or fun activities, such as additional onboard amenities or shore excursions.

Promoting differences: A cruise ship offers different options than a hotel, so you can advertise these when promoting the trip. For example, you can mention that participants choose from a vast menu for all three meals, or that there is a wide range of activities available, or that participants will be able to visit several different destinations without extra packing or travel hassle.

Oftentimes, businesses overlook the small things when trying to determine what type of incentives will work best with their employees. For meetings that do not require travel to some exotic destination or if a budget simply will now allow travel at the present time, there are other ways to reward employees and express appreciation. One of the most overlooked ways in which to show employees how much their work is appreciated and to provide motivation for continued dedication is food. Businesses that select food as one of their incentives need to ensure they plan the incentive meals properly.

Providing food as an incentive or reward can keep a business' costs low if planned properly. While catering is ideal if a business' budget permits, the business can purchase and serve the food themselves. Businesses may want to plan to serve either breakfast or lunch to employees before or after a meeting. Breakfast foods such as juice, coffee, muffins, doughnuts, and bagels are staples. A business could have a lunch delivered, such as hot sandwiches or pizza, and give employees the opportunity to relax while having lunch. Incentives do not always have to be grand gestures or expensive trips. Sometimes the small things can say thanks in a significant way.

Many employees dread meetings because these types of events are often quite boring. Employees are often not encouraged to participate, and there is no real opportunity for teambuilding and growth. While meetings cannot be all fun and games, business should include team building activities in their meeting agenda. These activities will help keep employees motivated, alert, and inspired. However, the teambuilding activities chosen should not make employees feel patronized. These activities should be designed to help employees learn and aid in their overall development. Employees that acts as a team can be more productive and more profitable.

One way to motivate employees to fully participate in and cooperate with teambuilding incentives is to have them design the teambuilding activities. Employees usually design activities that will help develop their own potential as well as the potential of their co-workers. They will choose activities in which they are interested or that relate to their hobbies or other special interests. By allowing employees to have some input into teambuilding incentives, businesses can expect to have majority participation in these types of events. When employees are allowed to work together to design teambuilding incentives they will inherently come together as a team. This is the ultimate goal of teambuilding incentives.

The sad truth is that most workers do not actually throw themselves into their work these days, and many only hold on to their job because it is inconvenient or difficult to replace them. This is the situation in many businesses simply because they lack a meeting planner that knows how to turn meetings into the bright spot of any day. Here’s how:

Make meetings more interactive – Most people hate being ignored. Try to insure that everyone is listened to at a meeting by including time for each department to comment on various proposals or ideas.

Set aside time for brainstorming – If ideas are needed, then let those ideas be generated in an open environment free of critique and negativity. Nobody likes having their ideas shot down, and nobody knows when a sub-par idea will inspire someone else to come up with a good idea.

Offer small rewards for participation – Even things as silly as branded pens or a USB memory key can substantially impact how participants feel about a meeting. Never overlook the opportunity to build morale and loyalty with branded products bought at bulk prices.

Remember that loyalty is something that can spread just as easily as a bad attitude. A good meeting planner can kill the latter with the former simply by planning meetings well.

Meetings themselves can be incentives, especially when they are held in exotic locations or on group cruise events, but that is not always practical for run of the mill meetings. There are other ways to make average meetings a bit more interesting than they have been in the past with proper incentives. These same ideas have proven to be very popular in meetings that are non-compulsory as well. Here are three ideas for anyone looking into ways to liven meetings up:

Favors or gifts – inexpensive gifts or favors are a great way to keep participants happy and on-task. These favors should probably be a combination of useful items that relate to the meeting or business in general along with one or two gifts that simply make participants happy. Vouchers for coffees at the local coffee shop are great examples as they are inexpensive and appreciated.

Branded products – Pens, notebooks, USB memory keys, shirts, caps, coffee mugs, and other items that are stamped with the corporate logo make for great ways to liven a meeting up and add morale to a room. Consider offering on or two very special branded products to those who perform the best or meet some special criteria.

Offer something tangible – One reason that many people do not like meetings is that many meetings go nowhere. Offer tangible results and check back in on those results and see how the mood can liven when those who are frustrated now feel engaged.

Meetings have the capacity to be soul-crushing events or very lively, team-building exercises if they are properly planned. Meetings that are about creative problem solving can be broken up into two stages with a break in the middle.

The first stage is one where all ideas are accepted and negativity is simply not allowed. This promotes better idea sharing and creates a more open atmosphere that allows others to build off of ideas that may or may not be practical. The second meeting is one where negativity and even constructive criticism still need to take a back seat to the priority of choosing the most reasonable plan. Emotional investment in ideas should be distributed due to the very nature of the first meeting, and thus nobody should be championing a cause to further their own ends.

Another idea would be to give people special seats on corners when they are ‘idea’ people. The seats are honorary positions that change whenever a new idea comes up that is useful. Some meeting planners have special incentives ready for whoever spends the most time in one of these chairs, such as a covered parking spot for a period of time.

By following the aforementioned ideas and/or being a little creative, it is possible to create strong incentives without having to actually spend any money. Furthermore, productivity gains from smart meeting planning can be phenomenal and almost impossible to put a price tag on.

Some businesses have only thought about incentive planning, but others have fully realized just how effective incentives can be. One common myth that holds some businesses back from presented incentives of any kinds is age old: those who do not receive the incentive will become less productive. While there may be some truth to that in very specific cases, smart planning can ensure that this never happens. Here’s how:

Big incentives for a few, small incentives for everyone – Not everyone can get to go on the company incentive cruise and rub shoulders with the top brass. That does not mean that other workers should go unrewarded; smaller gifts such as $5 to $20 gift cards given out on a frequent basis are inexpensive ways to increased productivity and boost morale.

A kind word – While some people might think that a kind word is an empty gesture, try giving the kind word out in the form of a positive moniker at a meeting and watch the results. If Kathy from accounts payable has not missed a single day of work all quarter, call her out to take a bow and let it be known that she seems impervious to the flu. If this is handled properly, nobody will be calling in sick when they are not truly sick for a while because they also would like to be publicly praised.

Incentive planning is important to building guaranteed attention and focus of any audience, and luckily there are a number of tools to help with this. Some of the tools are available in the most obvious of places, while others might be a little more subtle.

Venues – surprisingly, many venues have built-in incentives that they can offer, such as tours or gifts. This is more common in more exotic locations, and special destinations such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City. For more information, inquire with the hotel’s concierge service.

Local Concierge Services – In many cases, it is possible to find local services that offer meeting planning services at a discount. Smart meeting planners can and will consult with these for pricing whenever appropriate. Often it turns out that the local services have developed special relationships based on volume and history, and thus are able to offer better pricing.

Searching – If you do not look for it, then do not be surprised if you do not find it. The Internet is an amazingly powerful tool for looking for anything, and Google makes the entire process look simple. Simply navigate to Google’s home page (www.google.com) and type in what you are looking for. For example a search for ‘affordable tours in Tucson’ is a great way to locate an incentive.

Seasite.com – This amazing portal offers group cruise planning tools you can use to plan an incentive cruise.  With all cruise brands represented, you can source a group cruise easily with a single electronic RFP.