Reaping the Rewards of Incentive Travel

I work with corporate clients, primarily in the technology and financial services industries, helping them design and manage incentive travel programs. Incentive travel is a large segment of the $100 billion North American incentive industry used to motivate employees to excel in their job performance. Most often incentive travel is used to incentivize top performing sales teams to improve sales performance. Over the course of my 21 years in the incentive industry my clients have included industry leaders such as Google, Cisco, Intel, T-Mobile, F5, Wells Fargo, Microsoft, and Bank of America.

Glamping is an especially good fit coming out of Covid-19 lockdown because it aligns so well with demand for new experiences that enable positive regeneration of mind and spirit after the unprecedented challenges we’ve faced over the past year. The ability of the glamping experience to create authentic bonding opportunities, such as campfire storytelling, is hugely important given the isolation sales teams and other groups have experienced. Beyond Covid-19 factors, glamping aligns well with desire to reconnect with nature, corporate social responsibility goals & values such as environmental sustainability, and supporting rural communities. Glamping also creates opportunities for “white space,” to give sales teams an opportunity for open networking. Not only with each other, but with spouses and other invited guests. This helps break down barriers between team members, build a community and celebrate the behind-the-scenes players supporting their efforts at home.

The main difference is the desire of sponsoring companies to leverage incentive travel to improve targeted business outcomes before, during and after the glamping event. For context, properly designed and executed incentive travel programs can increase sales productivity by 18% and produce an ROI of 112%, along with reducing turnover. Winners of incentive travel experiences are generally highly competitive and focused on achievement. Consequently the focus of the incentive glamping experience must be to support the “work hard and play hard” ethos of the guests, not just to provide a great vacation experience.

Whether the goal is to increase sales performance, improve customer service, or enhance market adoption of a new product; the incentive trip should ideally be themed, promoted, and executed with the business outcome in mind. The bottom line is the glamping event must demonstrate a positive return on investment for the company funding the incentive.

Table stakes for a glamping site operator to be attractive as an incentive travel venue is a high quality and high impact experience. Top performing sales teams are very well compensated and accustomed to high end service and amenities. The quality of the accommodations, food and beverage, transport, entertainment, and optional activities should all be top shelf.

Most of these top performers have experienced the 5 star resort on the beach incentive trip, so an opportunity to create a unique new set of experiences is top of priority stack. Bucket list opportunities to see and do things that will be remembered for a lifetime are ideal. Related to that, most clients are looking for ways to create social media magnification of the event so as to drive FOMO aspirational value for future top performers.

Availability of high quality internet access is often going to be required if the event mixes business with pleasure (e.g. web-delivered messages from corporate leadership, sneak peek at new products and services, etc.). That said, many of these incentive trips will encourage winners to “unplug and unwind” in order to promote the bonding experience. If the venue and surrounding area support alternative activities to help ween glampers from their devices, that’s going to reduce the noticeability of lack of internet access.

Incentive winners expect to be wined and dined at a very high level. The ability to feature hyper localized, sustainably sourced, and unique food and beverage is a huge plus. F&B is a major part of the overarching experience, so basic sustenance just won’t cut it for vast majority of incentive travel groups.

Related to F&B, welcoming the first-timers by acknowledging them with a breakfast or cocktail reception to engage them and connect them with leadership and possible future mentors is a huge plus. You run the risk of alienating them if you don’t.

Size of groups can range from 20-30 glampers on the low end up to many hundreds on the high end. Practically speaking the sweet spot for a glamping incentive travel program will be 50 to 150 for many companies looking to reward top performers within regional sales teams. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused many corporations to rethink very large events for both safety reasons as well as the quelling guest anxiety about large crowd gatherings.

Average stay for most incentive travel programs is 4-5 days. This amount of time is adequate to provide substantial bonding time for the glampers and to incorporate a variety of activities and content that are both recreational and of a business nature. Extending beyond 5 days tends to get top performers and their employers anxious about the amount of time out-of-the-field.

Generally speaking, incentive travel trips will take place between Monday and Friday, sometimes with Sunday evening arrivals. Time of year will depend on a variety of factors such as the end of a company’s fiscal year (e.g., if sales totals for the year determine eligibility) and when the peak selling seasons for the product or service take place. Of course, from a glamping perspective, weather is going to be a huge factor for incentive trip appeal. Shoulder and low seasons in the warmer climate areas is going to be very workable form many companies, given it won’t create conflict with winner’s normal vacation plans.

Price range viability, per person per night, is going to vary considerably depending upon the client organization, the job profile of the eligible winners, and the total size of the event budget given other activities and amenities included. That said, most companies want to spend appropriately to make the experience meaningful, memorable and aspirations. $200 per person per night would likely be an attractive entry point for many clients and can increase to $500-600 per night for highly exclusive and discerning clients.

There is a huge opportunity for glamping operators to support demand for individual and small group incentive travel. Many companies recognize that individual incentive travel is an excellent way to reward top performers outside the sales organization and even sales people who prefer staycations with family and friends. Also, since so many large incentive travel trips were cancelled because of Covid-19, companies are looking for meaningful and unique ways to still reward top performers outside of group travel incentives.

Glamping operators should consider all the potential ways they can network with both the incentive industry and individual company’s event planners to get on their radar. Participation with Incentive Marketing Association, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) and other industry organizations should be a priority. I’m more than happy to provide personal guidance and suggestions.

Greg Sheldon has over 20 years of diverse experience in sales incentives, channel partner engagement and employee recognition programs. He’s helped Fortune 100 companies in multiple industries design and implement incentive travel and experiential events that align with client’s business strategy and key performance objectives. Greg currently serves as Business Development Manager for ITA Group. ITA Group is a global leader in the incentive industry which operates hundreds of programs every year ranging from top performer incentive travel programs to enterprise employee recognition programs and niche events such a new product launches and media events. Greg can be reached gsheldon@itagroup.com and via phone at 253.213.8868.