Tough economic times and shrinking budgets do not mean that your company must eliminate incentive travel packages. On the contrary, there are many cost-effective packages that will meet your needs and reward your employees for their hard work, without breaking the bank.

For example, companies based in Los Angeles, or other Southern California cities can opt for incentive travel that is a little closer to home and far more cost-effective than extravagant, exotic trips. Two- to four-day incentive cruises that stop in San Diego and popular Mexican ports provide a number of low-cost options for incentive travel. Other options include weekend trips to Solvang or Santa Barbara, or train trips up the coast.

Companies that are based in Seattle, Tacoma or the Greater Puget Sound area also have a wide variety of low-cost incentive travel options. Amtrak offers special train travel packages to the popular town of Leavenworth at certain times of the year and has regularly scheduled service to Vancouver, Canada. Seattle also has a major cruise port with cruise lines offering two- to four-day cruises to Victoria Island and Vancouver, or to stops along the coast to San Francisco, California.

These, of course, are just a few options that are available for these two major business centers, but regardless of where your company is located, there are cost-effective incentive travel packages available that will assist you in showing your appreciation to employees and encourage high productivity, while helping you stay within your allotted travel budget.

Without a doubt the word “green” has taken on new meaning over the last 20 years, and everyone is concerned about it. There is even a lot of talk about environmentally friendly green meetings, and at some point you as a meeting planner are going to come face to face with some very specific client concerns about this issue. Here are some things to think about when planning a green business meeting or event.

Green Hotels

Hotels are becoming more energy conscious, and many new hotel buildings are LEEDS certified. From solar panels and recycled/recyclable materials to geothermal and wind power, hotels are looking for ways to become more energy–and cost–efficient. In fact, many of them will help meeting planners find ways to make your meeting or event more environmentally responsible.  Some hotels even have cost-effective organic food offerings, as well as a no-phone book policy.

Green Incentive Destinations

If you and/or your clients are concerned about the environmental impact of incentive travel, think about keeping your events closer to home. Of course, your participants may like to do special non-event activities, but every area has something special about it to appeal to almost everyone. If you can’t find an appropriate venue locally, think about finding travel options that are environmentally friendly and use mass transit when possible.

Of course, there are other things you can do that would warrant a blog all by themselves. Going paperless is one idea, and there are many ways to approach this idea. Recycling on a major scale for large events is a critical part of green meetings. Avoid products that use plastic, shun disposables, and take advantage of local products. You can probably find many other smaller ways yourself that will add up and give your meeting the green stamp of approval.

Source:  TheMeetingPlannersGuide.com