Top 5 Incentive Travel Trends for 2017 By Mike May
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3. TIPPING POINT FOR EVENT APPS
ika, Brexit, terrorism attacks, the economy, mega-mergers — every quarter brings a newsflash du jour. Are you like me, do you wish for a genie to highlight the big news and suggest your action steps? As President of a mid-tier events and incentive company, I strive to be that genie for our employees and clients, but digesting today’s 24/7 newsfeeds is a tough task. Industry trade journals like this one help. Conferences are valuable — if one can escape the office. And informal chats with industry colleagues offer insights on what is truly happening on Main Street. Here is a little secret. I have a favorite source for deciphering the latest macro trends — the Incentive Research Foundation. The IRF publishes insightful, actionable research on motivational meetings and incentive travel. For full disclosure, I am the Vice-Chairman of this nonprofit foundation, so I see all its research up close and in detail. Like a CNN Headline News reporter, I bring you quick summaries of five megatrends for 2017 — along with a little punditry.
The Momentum of Mobile Event Apps: Benchmark Study from the Event Marketing Institute reported 75 percent of meeting planners used an event app in 2015, and 86 percent used one for 2016. Out in the audience, 44 percent of attendees used an event app in 2015 and 56 percent in 2016. The meeting industry has reached the tipping point where an event app has shifted from nice-tohave to must-have. Technology costs are declining as the number of apps increases, and apps are getting easier to launch. With adoption increasing, ask your hotel partners if they already have mobile-ready content. They likely had the same request from another planner last week. Start with maps. Imagine an attendee zooming in from a Google satellite. Then, add hotel layouts of sleeping rooms, restaurants and pools. Use JPG format images of at least 1024 x 1024 pixels, not a PDF. Other valuable content could include onsite restaurants with menus and nearby attractions, especially those in walking distance.
1. AUTHENTIC, LOCALIZED EXPERIENCES
4. DISRUPTION EVERYWHERE
This first trend makes every list. Perhaps it is driven by Millennials. However, every new generation pushes cultural exploration, so maybe these whippersnappers get too much attention. Fifty-year-olds, like me, desire new experiences too. The recent IRF Trends Paper observed, “Experiences are the ‘new luxury.’ Participants want authenticity, singularity, and social value. Like consumers, employees judge the value of an award by the seamlessness and exceptionality of the experience.” Incentive planners are brainstorming new, one-of-a-kind themed events, moving beyond typical banquet menus, and adding local dishes with unrecognizable names. Pull the chef and his big hat out of the kitchen and into your reception, or take your groups back-of-house for receptions with cooking demonstrations led by the culinary team. For activities, bypass those that are common to many different destinations, like the zip line. Instead, find activities only available in the incentive trip locale — kayaking in La Jolla, swimming the cenote caves in Riviera Maya, mountain biking backwoods trails in the Rockies, waterfall rappelling in Costa Rica, or boating through the Panama Canal locks.
2. UNIQUE VENUES
Five years after graduating from B-school, the average professional attending an awards dinner realizes: “this ballroom looks like the four-star-hotel ballrooms I saw in Dallas, Denver and Des Moines. Boring indoor space with no windows.” Fortunately, hotel architects are updating meeting spaces with natural light, upscale construction materials and nonstandard room configurations. Creative planners are looking for unique spaces to gather inside existing venues. Inquire about interesting pockets of the resort. Ask your convention services manager, “What are your unique spaces?” Also find out if they have unusual chairs, benches, tables or décor. 66
Zika continues to cause cancellations in the Caribbean. Each act of terrorism on the nightly news taints that entire country as a hotbed. New regulations affect the financial industry. In my opinion, the business world tends to overreact because we mistakenly perceive an isolated event on CNN or Twitter as pervasive. Upcoming IRF research will report that almost 60 percent of planners have experienced some form of disruption. Trusted event and tourism partnerships are emerging as an important risk control tactic. Planners should elevate contingency plans and increase their expected planning time to allow for surprise disruptions.
5. HIGHER EVENT BUDGETS REQUIRED
Unfortunately for planners, it is a seller’s market. Occupancy and group rates are up. A troubling trend faces incentive travel planners. Their CFO’s mindset is stuck back in 2010, thinking that hotel rates are still low and availability is plentiful. He or she is not giving planners adequate budget or lead-time. Meeting planners need 10 percent to 20 percent more budget after back-to-back years of 5 percent increases in hotel room rates. Planners must be flexible. Consider alternate dates or patterns. Maybe shoulder season? Look at different hotels or destinations, maybe a second-tier alternative. It’s also important to watch attrition and cancellations clauses closely, as Corporate America continues its frequent reorganizations, schedule changes and lastminute cancellations. Mike May, CMP, IP, is President and owner of Spear One (www.spearone.com), an events and incentives agency in Dallas, TX. A frequent industry presenter, May recently published 12.5 Steps to a Perfect Incentive Program. Facilities & Destinations 2016-2017 Winter