Incentive travel for companies, as a more or less habitual activity, is more than established in the corporate environment; there is no doubt about it. With the inevitable exception of the pandemic, corporate and incentive travel has only grown in recent years. According to data from the latest survey by The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) in June 2022, the industry's expectations are very promising.
When asked about the prospects for the recovery of incentive travel, 88% of the service providers surveyed were optimistic or very optimistic. At the same time, the airlines, hotels, DMCs and transport companies participating in the survey, 84% said that their bookings had increased in the last week alone. Incentive travel companies are riding a growing wave and consequently benefiting from the many advantages of the trend. However, planning a corporate incentive trip requires organisation and experience - these tips will help you plan it!
1. Find the Motivation
First of all, you need to know why and for what purpose you want to go on an incentive trip: every trip is different. For this reason, rather than asking yourself what kind of companies incentive trips are aimed at (since the answer is for any type of business willing to organise one), you need to know what you want to achieve with it. This way you can find a service provider that is up to the task and guarantee the success of the trip. There are, for example, types of incentive trips aimed at rewarding the most efficient work teams, while others aim to motivate employees.
2. Listen to Your Employees
The most valuable asset of any business is its employees. Be concerned about their well-being and plan the journey together with them. Once you know what the goal is, listen to those who will experience it. There are a variety of ways to gather ideas for the trip and listen to employees' wishes: from anonymous surveys to voting to brainstorming, which is highly valued in some corporate environments. Every person who will benefit from the trip should have a say.
3. Choose a Good Service Provider
Don't forget that business is about profit and profitability; any corporate incentive trip should have a budget allocated in line with the interests derived from the previous two points. Do not make exceptions that compromise finances, as the incentive trip itself is a novelty and an exception in the normal life of the company. In order to balance the interests of the trip with the budget, it is important to evaluate the different possibilities that exist in terms of available packages: sporting, cultural, gastronomic or even luxury trips. Costa del Sol offers options for all budgets; choose your service provider and don't worry!
4. Balance Planning and Freedom
Although it is common for company trips to be organised to the last detail, find a balance between planning and freedom, especially when the duration of the trip is longer than 5 days. This will allow employees to explore the destination at will, get together according to their preferences and buy a few souvenirs for the family. Give your employees free time!
5. Ask for Feedback
Finally, it is of utmost importance to check in with the employees who went on the trip in the short and medium term to find out their opinions and whether the objectives have been met. If a trip was intended to motivate a particular group of employees, assess in the medium term whether the performance, integration and energies of each employee have improved since the end of the activity. Similarly, if the trip was a reward for the most productive employees, it may be useful to show photos or videos of the trip to the rest of the team to motivate them to increase their performance for the next trip.
Preparing a good incentive trip for companies, as you can see, is not as simple as it seems at first glance. However, with will and knowledge it can be done with fantastic results, listen to your employees; carefully analyse the situation of the company before organising it and enjoy the trip and all its benefits! How about choosing the Costa del Sol as a potential destination for your next incentive trip? Come and discover the province of Malaga!
