by Admin | Aug 1, 2021 | News
In 2020, the future of incentive travel was uncertain, as programs in dream destinations like Australia, Europe and exclusive islands in the far-flung corners of the world screeched to a halt as international borders closed, and travel all but completely shut down when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.
As vaccinations are now being distributed globally, the incentive travel industry is beginning to awaken. But how will these reward trips change as corporations revive their in-person incentive programs—that is, if they decide to move forward at all?
There is good news on that front, based on the results of recent research from the SITE Foundation’s whitepaper: Corporate InSITEs: The Changing Face of Incentive Travel. When the foundation asked its survey cohort to share how committed the leadership of their corporations were to incentive travel as a key part of their reward and recognition program, “94% of the 50 companies surveyed state that they are 100% supported by the leadership.”
This widespread belief that travel rewards still reap important benefits for corporations bodes well for the incentive industry’s bounceback.
“The research is telling us unequivocally that incentive travel is here to stay, and that the pandemic has done nothing other than sharpen everyone’s desire to travel—the much stressed ‘pent-up demand,’” said Padraic Gilligan, chief marketing officer of SITE and managing partner at SoolNua.
In fact, Cathy Jones, CEO and owner at Shamrock Innovations, reported that her groups are trending bigger than some of their pre-pandemic trips, with more plus-ones joining and excitement around travel.
“I had a group in 2019 that was for 110 people, they traveled in 2020 and it was 50, and 2021 in Nashville it was 170 [people],” she said. “For every one of my groups, there’s this pent-up demand.”
But while incentive travel is coming back, it might look and feel different than the pre-pandemic days. Here are five trends to watch as incentive travel revs up for its return.
1. Domestic Travel Will Continue to Thrive; Trans-Atlantic to Follow
Just as domestic locations have undoubtedly helped meetings and events get back to business, they will play a role in helping incentive programs deliver experiences closer to home, too.
“Pre-pandemic, horizons were decisively broad, and we were enjoying a sustained period of expansion with North America looking further and further afield, even becoming adventurous and traveling to places like Vietnam, Peru, Japan and Croatia,” Gilligan said. “The pandemic has put a temporary stop to extra-regional travel and, for the next two years, destinations, by and large, will be domestic or, at most, regional, decidedly familiar, tried and tested.”
Gareth HeymanGareth Heyman
Gareth Heyman, principal of MoreEvents—a global third-party planning company—has noticed this same trend with his clients, noting that regularly, about half of his company’s business is outside the borders of the U.S., though most clients are U.S.-based.
“[Before,] the further the destination and the more exotic it sounded, they wanted to go further and explore places like New Zealand and Australia,” Heyman noted. “Now, it’s absolutely, completely the opposite. We are looking for destinations domestically—like Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.”
Jones is seeing this shift to domestic locations as well—but leisure travel demand in first-tier cities has her turning to up-and-coming second-tier destinations.
“It’s hard to get into the first-tier destinations like Nashvilles and Charlestons,” Jones said. “That’s why I’m looking into Louisville and Savannah, which is a jamming place right now. I’m also pushing St. Pete and St. Augustine.”
As far as offshore destinations, Jones is also looking to locations like Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. The key to making high-end incentives sing in these locations closer to home, she said, is crafting exclusive and experiential trips. “I’m actually working with a partner right now, and we are starting Palm Star Travel-A Turnkey Air Service Provider to the Bahamas and caravans to The Out Islands so we can make the Bahamas feel like Hawai`i. No one knows about The Out Islands and they are fabulous.”
“The moment you get on the airplane, we are going to give complimentary Bahama Mamas,” she continued. “You have to add to the experience to make it stand out.”
In addition to destinations like the U.S. Virgin Islands, Hawai`i and Puerto Rico, that achieve an international feel without a passport, Gilligan said that for companies that are moving forward with travel, the research points to a shift away from big cities to more open spaces; “for countryside over city, rural over urban,” he noted. “Smaller resorts where you can do a buyout are also in vogue as are destinations with an outdoors, natural setting—think Alberta, Utah, Colorado.”
Organizing programs in Europe may not be as far off as initially thought, however, thanks to a growing vaccination effort across the Atlantic.
“Trans-Atlantic travel between the U.S. and Europe will recover before Trans-Pacific or trans-continental as Europe and North America share the same vaccination pool of Pfizer, Astra Zenaca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson,” Gilligan said.
2. Resorts: It’s All About a Controlled Environment
When it comes to resort selection nowadays, the deciding factor may be less about the brand loyalty and more about how easily the planner can control the environment for their incentive group.
“All purchasing will be determined by duty of care and corporations will always want to mitigate risk,” Gilligan explained. “Large resorts and big-box hotels will be eschewed in favor of boutique resorts and independent properties where a buyout or a take-over is possible.
“The trend is driven purely and simply by notions of safety and control: Control the environment via a buyout and you lessen risk,” he said.
Furthermore, SITE Foundation research found that contracts and risk management, along with destination selection, are the two most important considerations for the future success of incentive travel programs.
Safety has never been more important. But one thing that hasn’t changed when it comes to picking a resort? Listening to your client and understanding their budget and needs.
“Some like villas, some like all-inclusive…it’s very client-specific and budget-specific—it’s always been,” Heyman stressed.
3. Work from Home Trend Gives Travel a Boost
While pandemic restrictions are easing, many corporations are finding their employees reluctant to return to the office. The work-from-home solution during the pandemic is turning into a permanent trend for some—but this could play to the incentive industry’s advantage.
“I think the increase in working from home will increase companies’ needs to stage motivational events that unify remote workforces,” Gilligan said.
Furthering this point, a recent report from The Wall Street Journal found some tech and startup companies have replaced their real estate budget with company bonding trips.
“Some startup CEOs say they are crafting frequent and elaborate all-employee trips that are strictly for fun. It’s a spin on the old ‘off-site,’ when offices gathered somewhere outside the corporate campus to hear about company goals and make plans to improve sales performance, capped off by some wining and dining,” the article states.
“Business-software company People.ai Inc. shed its headquarters in San Francisco, closed most of its satellite offices and scrapped plans for another office in London to go permanently remote during the pandemic,” the article stated, finding that its CEO is taking 85% of the 2019 real-estate lease budget and investing it in employee perks, “including one trip for the full staff of more than 200 and four trips that employees will take in smaller teams.”
Additionally, after the SITE Foundation reported an 80% drop in live incentives in the fall of 2020, it now reports that 82% of its cohort surveyed is actively planning in-person travel incentives for 2022 and beyond—and even more notably, only 2% of respondents report a permanent departure from incentive travel.
“What we’re seeing here is the equivalent of an unexpected knock-out blow that floors the fighter only for him to rise on the 8th count, regain stability and resume, a little chastened and with lessons learned,” the foundation asserted in the Corporate InSITEs whitepaper.
4. Corporate Social Responsibility Activities on the Rise
In a year where empathy was needed in great supply, incentive industry professionals are seeing a significant number of groups genuinely wanting to give back to destinations to which they travel.
“There’s a lot more CSR talk—more community engagement and making an impact while they are there,” Heyman said. “That is one thing I see that is very different. It was mentioned in the past, but it wasn’t always fulfilled. But now almost every conversation I have is wanting to leave the community with a positive footprint.”
“In my history for things like that, sometimes a lot of that stuff [CSR] gets blown off, frankly,” he continued. “These people now are really wanting to do something.”
Gilligan agreed, saying that he’s seeing a significant change in program designs, with less stress on corporate returns and more focus on the joy of travel and giving back.
“For example, teambuilding and group dining were included in the top four inclusions for incentive travel experiences along with cultural experiences and ‘bucket list’ experiences,” he said of research findings on pre-pandemic programs. “More recent research ranks ‘bucket list’ experiences in [the] top position (previously fourth) and replaces teambuilding and group dining with CSR and wellness activities.”
5. Hybrid Is Here to Stay
Throughout the course of the past year, many meeting and event professionals have asserted that the hybrid meetings trend isn’t going away—and this may be true for incentive programs, too.
Heyman’s team made the transition to the digital world quickly as the pandemic took its hold, helping clients in a myriad of ways, from helping them select digital platforms for their events to organizing virtual cooking experiences with famous chefs from around the world.
“We have been extremely busy the last 18 months, and I say it not to be boastful, I say it to give hope to others that there are business opportunities out there,” Heyman said.
“We did absolutely transition and re-educate our staff on digital and virtual after we got through all of last year’s cancellations and postponements,” he added, explaining that his team worked to become digital platform experts. “It’s much in the way we would recommend a destination or resort for our clients, but instead we recommend a platform, [by evaluating] budget and digital capabilities.”
By investing in education and strategy and diversifying their client services, his team wrapped 2020 strong, and is on track to potentially have its best year ever in 2021.
“All of our clients believe there will be a digital component forever—what level or degree that is, we don’t know yet,” he added. “The fundamental conversation is, if and why would people get on an airplane again?”
SITE Foundation research found this sentiment shared by its cohort. While virtual programs can’t completely replace the value of in-person incentive programs, it found that hybrid rewards programs combining in-person and digital elements will stick around, with that category of incentive program seeing the biggest increase (32%) among respondents.
“We don’t look at that as a doom and gloom—we are excited about it,” Heyman said. “Think about the changes that we are seeing—the robustness that is our digital future. This is forever, and that’s what I say to some planners that say, ‘When things come back.’ Things don’t go back, they go forward.”
“You have to be part of this digital component to some degree to see how it fits into tomorrow’s balance of in-person and digital,” he concluded.
Overall, Gilligan thinks the importance of incentive travel—especially after the pandemic—cannot be understated.
“I think incentive travel will become an even more prestigious element in a company’s reward and recognition program as it will be undertaken more thoughtfully, with less complacency,” he said. “We have taken our ability to travel freely for granted and the pandemic has taught us that we cannot do that.
“Along with that there’ll be more recognition of the soft power benefits of incentive travel—the way it fosters corporate culture, for example, or how it allows engagement across company hierarchies.”
And while the outlook is strong, the sudden increase in demand could put some strain on industry professionals. Jones added that in this case, it’s important to pause and have compassion for fellow peers working at hotels, those planning the incentives and the clients. “We are all just doing the best we can. We went from great year, to losing everything, to going six million miles an hour,” she said. “I just ask everyone to have communication and compassion.”
by Admin | Aug 1, 2021 | News
With its newly opened 200-foot-deep dive pool, Dubai can claim yet another architectural record-breaker. (Courtesy Deep Dive Dubai)
By Matt Hickman • July 14, 2021 • Design, Development, International, News
Dubai, the superlative-hogging desert city seemingly dreamt up by the editors of Guinness World Records, has done it again. Joining the highest infinity pool, longest indoor zip line, largest shopping mall, most massive indoor theme park, both the tallest hotel and tallest man-made structure of any kind, et al., Dubai is now home to the world’s deepest swimming pool with a depth of 197 feet.
Swimming pool, however, is a bit of a misnomer as this particular pool, filled with 14 million liters of water or the equivalent of six Olympic-sized pools, wasn’t constructed for leisurely lap sessions or splashing around. Dubbed Deep Dive Dubai, it’s the world’s deepest pool for diving, a title previously held by the 148-foot-deep Deepspot located just outside of Warsaw. While divers at Deepspot can explore man-made caves and a simulated shipwreck, Deep Dive Dubai features the ruins of a “vast underwater city filled with adventure and wonder,” per the facility’s official website.
In addition to adventure and wonder, the sunken city is also filled with cameras—56 of them in total—that aren’t just there for the safety of divers but for landlubbing friends and family so that they can view dive excursions via large screens spread throughout the facility.
(Deep Dive Dubai)
As further detailed by Time Out Dubai, the underwater ruins, which are brought alive with state-of-the-art sound and light systems, include an ersatz abandoned apartment building, waterlogged cars, a subaquatic library, and even an arcade with a working foosball table. According to Deep Dive Dubai, the graffiti-covered forsaken city is so massive that it can only be fully explored over the course of several dives. There are also a pair of air-filled “dry rooms” at roughly 20 and 69 feet that can be accessed during the descent. There is no living marine life.
Deep Dive Dubai’s above-the-surface features include a dive gear shop, gift shop, lower-level viewing areas, event and meeting spaces, and an advanced 12-person hyperbaric chamber. A restaurant will also open later this year at the pearl-evoking (an homage to the emirate’s ancient pearl-diving history) facility located in the Nad al Sheba district, which is best known for its titular racecourse.
(Deep Dive Dubai)
“By design, Deep Dive Dubai offers something truly unique for everyone, and our team is committed to ensuring a memorable experience, with outstanding service, for everyone, every time,” said Deep Dive Dubai’s director, Jarrod Jablonski, in a statement. Born and based in Florida, Jablonski is a self-described “avid explorer, researcher, author, and instructor” and a figurehead in the diving community. He also holds several world records for underwater cave diving.
“For those seeking a unique experience, Deep Dive Dubai provides an exceptional, safe, and controlled environment to learn all about diving. For experienced members of the freedive and scuba dive communities, it’s a facility and experience like no other,” he added.
Deep Dive Dubai, which also doubles as the largest underwater film studio in the United Arab Emirates, is open to divers of all abilities including certified scuba divers and first-timers alike; a team of professional divers is on hand for scuba and freediving lessons and training.
As for the water itself, it’s circulated every six hours through a state-of-the-art purification system that involves siliceous volcanic rock, NASA-developed filter technology, and UV radiation. The pool’s temperature is kept at a comfortable 86° Fahrenheit.
The facility formally debuted last week in a ceremony attended by among others, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, and the Fresh Prince himself, Will Smith. For now, Deep Dive Dubai is open by invitation only but the larger public can start booking dives later this month.
by Admin | Aug 1, 2021 | News
The Voyager Station, which would accommodate 280 guests, aims to be the first commercial space hotel upon completion
By Nick Mafi
Those of us making grand postpandemic travel plans might want to consider the final frontier as a destination. That’s because Orbital Assembly Corporation, a new construction company run by former pilot John Blincow, is planning to open a luxury space hotel by 2027. Voyager Station, as it’s being called, would accommodate 280 guests and 112 crew members while aiming to be the first commercial space hotel, upon completion.
“We’re trying to make the public realize that this golden age of space travel is just around the corner. It’s coming. It’s coming fast,” Blincow told CNN in an interview. Golden age indeed, as space tourism has piqued the interest of such visionaries as Richard Branson and Elon Musk. And it’s the latter Blincow and his team hope to partner with in the near future. “We cannot call [Musk’s] SpaceX our partner, but in the future we look forward to working with them,” Blincow said at a recent live, asking the viewers to “hang tight.”
The hotel plans to accommodate 280 guests and 112 crew members.
The physics involved in sleeping within a space hotel is similar to spinning water in a bucket. Much in the same way one can spin a bucket in a circle, keeping the water inside of it, the space hotel would simulate gravity in a similar manner. This makes comfortable rooms and stylish bar experiences possible.
The team working on the Voyager Station plans to make the amenities and comforts similar to those found on traditional hotels on Earth.
But, for many visitors who venture so far, feeling the weightlessness of space is a big part of the appeal. As such, the team plans to plate traditional ‘space food’ such as freeze dried ice cream in the hotel’s restaurant. There are plans for recreational activities such as basketball games where participants can soar higher due to the weightlessness of the environment. Perhaps only in outer space will LeBron James have competition.
While certain parts of the hotel will include the weightlessness of space, other sections will feel more like Earth, so guests can enjoy their drinks and meals.
For now, the space hotel isn’t commenting on its room rate, but comparing it to other proposed public space missions, it will like come at a steep cost. For example, Virgin Galactic plans to launch ordinary passengers into space at $250,000 per person, per trip. The team at Voyager Station, however, has already assured the public that they plan to eventually make a stay at the hotel something similar to buying a cruise ticket.
by Admin | Feb 23, 2021 | News
Very few modes of digital engagement have captured an audience’s attention quite like video games. What makes them so captivating, and how can event planners leverage these lessons to stimulate online audiences?
Throughout the recent virtual event revolution, engagement has remained a major challenge for eventprofs — EventMB found that over half of planners (51.5 percent) consider it their biggest frustration when sourcing virtual event tech.
It’s not surprising. Events thrive on the value of face-to-face interactions, chance meetings, and lucrative connections. Virtual events put event stakeholders in the unfamiliar position of having to convey that value virtually. But while virtual may not be as familiar a format to business events, many precedents have already been set in other online spaces.
What lessons do we have to learn from them?
Video games have been incredibly successful at keeping online users engaged for decades. In fact, as people were craving connection during the pandemic, the video game industry experienced massive growth.
However, the near-universal draw of video games proves that virtual engagement is possible. Here’s what planners should keep in mind when implementing gamification at their events.
The Theory Behind Gamification
Gamification for our purposes refers to implementing gaming elements and dynamics in professional contexts to achieve business results. There are several theories and frameworks that seek to identify the psychology behind what makes games so engaging and how it can be applied to other parts of life.
According to some theories, games are effective because they force people to challenge themselves in finding creative solutions to problems within a limited framework. This sense of progression gives participants a feeling of accomplishment and growth as players succeed and watch their skills improve over time.
Gamification also relies on a system of incentives that rewards participants for completing tasks and objectives. These rewards can be tangible prizes or point allotments that contribute to a larger reward system, and a best practice for longer-term gameplay is to give participants lots of opportunities to win throughout the game.
There’s also a social element to this: As people progress, they enjoy influence and status among their peers. In some cases, progression is achieved on a group level, and the challenge of solving these puzzles together creates a feeling of camaraderie, community, and teamwork.
In video games, the combination of a sense of progression and improvement, the incentives, and healthy competition makes participants feel invested in the activity and motivated to play for extended periods of time.
So how can we harness that for a professional event environment?
6 Gamification Ideas for Better Engagement
Point allotments, leaderboards, and rewards are clear must-haves for any virtual gamification experience. However, consider the following suggestions to take your event gamification to the next level.
1. Prompt Attendees to Participate in the Game
Virtual event platforms that offer gamification will often include a dedicated tab where attendees can view tasks to complete as well as the game leaderboard. However, it’s important for the game to feel integrated into the event as much as possible in order to keep people engaged even when they’re on different pages. For example, some platforms include a banner at the top of each page that reminds attendees of the actions they can take to earn points. If you can make these banners contextually relevant to the sessions people are watching or activities people are engaging in, all the better.
2. Make Actions as Specific as Possible
Assigning point values to different actions within the event is at the core of gamification, but to make your game stand out, focus on how it can maximize value for both attendees and exhibitors. Giving points for visiting an exhibitor booth is useful, but consider what specific actions you want attendees to take while there. For example, maybe it’s watching the intro video, or downloading a certain resource.
3. Ensure That Attendees Are Paying Attention
Use gamification to give attendees added motivation to actively participate in the event and make sure they’re paying attention. If participants simply win points for attending a session, they can easily rack up points without necessarily digesting the content. Instead, incorporate questions that they will need to answer about the session or specify that they will need to join the session for a certain amount of time in order to get the credit. Multiple choice live polls are a great way to track and allocate points for correct answers without the burden of reviewing individual responses.
4. Limit Point Accumulation
For games to be fun, they need to be somewhat challenging. Allowing participants to run up their point values by repeatedly completing certain actions will make the game too easy, and will also frustrate others who are lagging far behind. Look for tools that enable you to limit point allocation to the first time an action is completed to prevent situations like this.
5. Used Tiered Reward Systems to Motivate Players
Prizes are obviously key to making gamification work, but the way you choose to distribute them may affect the level of engagement you see at the event. Simply rewarding the attendees with the most points may discourage others from participating if they feel like they have no chance of winning, which will in turn decrease their engagement. In order to avoid this, consider a system where attendees can redeem their points for different levels of prizes, or award prizes or recognition to everyone who makes it past certain point thresholds.
6. Use Business-Friendly Incentives
It may be difficult to offer personal prizes that a professional audience would be motivated by. For example, an iPad may fall short as an incentive at a medical conference where luxuries are not as hard for participants to come by. Rather, consider asking sponsors or exhibitors to put up free or heavily discounted goods or services, or consider offering free admission to the next year’s event. How good would an employee look winning a free year’s worth of an expensive software solution for his organization? Business-friendly group prizes could be particularly motivating for team-based activities.
IN CONCLUSION
Gamification is not a new concept, but it’s become increasingly relevant to events due to the need to engage attendees virtually. If done correctly, it can be an incredibly effective method to keep attendees actively participating
A strong gamification tool will allow for more than simply assigning point values and including a leaderboard — look for platforms that incorporate more nuanced rules and seamlessly integrate the game into the wider event.
by Admin | Feb 23, 2021 | News
Two years after the announcement of the striking Arctic Bath, a floating hotel and spa on the Lule River in Swedish Lapland, the property has finally opened its doors to guests. The project was inspired by Sweden’s Treehouse hotel, another architecturally significant Lapland property built by the same developers, who wanted to take the concept of blending the Swedish landscape with dramatic architecture from the air to the water.
Several of the floating cabins, which are located in northern Sweden. Photo: Daniel Holmgren
Designed by architects Bertil Harström and Johan Kauppi, the hotel features a bird’s nest–like main building that houses a spa with an outdoor cold bath—set to a chilly 39 degrees Fahrenheit all year round—hot baths, saunas, and treatment rooms, as well as a restaurant focusing on local sustainable produce.
The spa’s cold bath. Photo: Anders Blomqvist
There are also 12 standalone cabins, six on the water and six on land. Each structure is built from local materials and has been designed to minimize its impact on the environment.
Inside of the spa’s sauna. Photo: Daniel Holmgren
“The architecture is influenced by the timber floating era. For a long time, Lule River and its tributaries served as transportation routes for timber, an old tradition in the north,” says Gwen Tavares, marketing manager at Off the Map Travel, a tour operator that organizes trips to the remote hotel. “The construction of our circular main building, which floats on Lule River, imitates logs getting jammed in rapids—something that wasn’t too uncommon while transporting timber.”
A look inside one of the floating cabin rooms. Photo: Daniel Holmgren
For the decor of the cabins, designer Annkathrin Lundqvist channeled Scandinavian minimalism with simple forms, a muted palette of soft pastels, and a focus on natural materials like light woods and earthy stones.
The land cabins beautifully blend into the natural surroundings. Photo: Anders Blomqvist
The six floating cabins have slanted silhouettes, with walls rising from the river’s surface at a sharp angle. They have just 258 square feet of indoor space that house a double bed, a stove for heat, and a full bath, but they have 619-square-foot decks from which to sunbathe during the summer or to stargaze (or catch the northern lights) during the winter.
Inside one of the six land-based cabins. Photo: Daniel Holmgren
The six land-based cabins, elevated slightly above the ground on poles, are much larger, at 667 square feet spread across two floors, plus an 86-square-foot deck. They take full advantage of floor-to-ceiling windows, offering spectacular forest and river views.
The hotel under the northern lights. Photo: Johan Jansson
“This hotel is a reminder of the importance of forests for the entire country’s development,” says Tavares, which is evident not only through the property’s setting, but also its architecture and interior design. It’s a perfect retreat for those seeking solitude in nature—paired with a side of fine dining and luxe wellness treatments.
by Admin | Oct 26, 2020 | News
Seabourn luxury cruise line have revealed their design for custom-made submarines. The launch date is due 2021 and the subs will be carried by two expedition ships, Seabourn Venture whose maiden voyage is due in June 2021 and her sister ship – the latter is yet to be named and will debut 2022.
Both will carry two battery-powered U-Boat Worx Cruise Sub 7 submarines and be able to carry seven passengers – six guests plus a pilot. The vessels will be able to submerge up to 300 metres below the water surface.
Robin West, vice president of expedition operations for Seabourn, said:
“The undersea world is often considered as the last great frontier on Earth, with more than 80% of the underwater realm remaining unmapped, unobserved, and unexplored.
“With these subs, we’re going to take our guests to places that few have ever seen first-hand, leaving them with a perspective on the world around us that is jaw-dropping and will create stories to last a lifetime.”
Voyagers will be seated on embroidered leather upholstery in an air conditioned environment and have use of Bluetooth stereo system and the champagne chiller.
The x-factor though will be the incredible views through the two clear acrylic spheres on either side of the sub that host three passengers each. The seats themselves will be rotating so nothing is missed.
The plan is to operate the subs several times a day and the excursion into the sea will be offered at an extra charge. Once in the sub, there will be other optional extras such as videos shot inside and outside the submarines.
The pilot will act as the guide who will look to explore sunken wrecks, reefs and view marine wildlife in their natural habitat.
Between July 2021 and April 2022, Seabourn Venture is due to visit more than 150 destinations including The Amazon, Arctic and Antarctica, Caribbean as well as Central and South America.
Seabourn currently operates a fleet of five modern ultra-luxury ships.
