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TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2007
Bon Voyage as a Bonus
Employers Are Reviving the Expenses-Paid Vacation
By MARTHA C. WHITE
T
he all-expenses-paid vacation
— the reward given by companies to sales representatives in
fast-paced, commission-driven fields
— is coming back after falling out of
favor a few years ago. But this time,
many employers have abandoned the
cookie-cutter vacation package and
are offering their best workers a menu
of options.
This is why Jeff Linton, a sales representative at WebEx, a videoconferencing company, was in the South
Beach area of Miami Beach, Fla., with
his wife last spring, enjoying mahimahi that he had caught himself earlier that day on a deep-sea fishing excursion. On this trip, which Mr. Linton
earned by reaching his annual sales
quota, 50 WebEx employees and their
guests had activity options like golf,
walking tours or a scavenger hunt.
A growing number of companies are
realizing that if they are going to
spend thousands of dollars a person
rewarding their top employees, it
might be a good idea to give them
choices so they can customize the experience to their preferences.
“Companies are realizing it’s not
just one size fits all” when it comes to
incentive trips, said Stephen O’Malley,
a vice president of Maritz Travel, a
leading provider of corporate travel
services and consulting. “You really
need to dive deep into what’s going to
be most appealing, and it comes down
to offering them choices.”
This trend is growing in conjunction
with a resurgence in incentive trips,
which boomed in the 1990s only to start
a downward slide after the technology
bust in 2000. And then came the 9/11
terrorist attacks.
“What happened with travel incentives post-9/11 is a lot of people were
scared of traveling,” said Ira Almeas,
president of Impact Incentives and
Meetings, a corporate meeting and incentive planning company. Now, he
and others say, the tide is turning.
According to the Society of Incen-
DEAN HARDEN
Dean Harder, an independent financial adviser, went on a Rhine River cruise, which
was not an option offered by his company, OneAmerica, until employees lobbied for it.
tive and Travel Executives, companies in the United States spent $28 billion on incentive travel for top employees and customers in 2005, the
first year after 9/11 in which a survey
was conducted. Maritz Travel is one
of the companies benefiting from this
largesse; the travel provider said its
incentive business had grown 28 percent over the last two years. Two
years ago, Maritz introduced a survey-based tool called Travel Insight
that helps companies poll their employees, then analyze the results to determine what kinds of trips and activities would be the most well-received.
In the case of OneAmerica, an insurance and financial planning
agency, the survey results have led
them to shuffle itineraries and even
build trips from scratch to motivate
the army of independent agents that
sell their insurance, annuities and retirement plans.
“We lightened up our hand on what
they do, and we’re giving them more
choices,” Brian Lauber, the chief
marketing officer at OneAmerica,
said. “The days where everybody
would show up to play golf or tennis
are over.”
Dean Harder, an independent financial adviser who has been selling
OneAmerica policies and going on its
incentive trips for nine years, noticed
a big difference now that the company
is getting feedback from participants.
“The first incentive trip was rather
mundane,” he said. The group went to
a hotel in Williamsburg, Va., and Mr.
Harder recalled playing golf at an offsite course and going on walking tours
of the restored village. “It was a nice
trip. It just didn’t have any pizazz. It
felt more like a school trip.” In contrast, in 2005 Mr. Harder went on a
Rhine River cruise — a trip that had
not been one of the options until
enough employees lobbied for it. “They
recognized that we want to have input,” Mr. Harder said.
OneAmerica is offering two trips for
2008, one geared toward families and
one that is child-free, tackling yet an-
other wrinkle: more incentive winners
want to bring the children. “I’m seeing
more families,” said Kim Hester, director of meetings and incentives at
Travel Dynamics Group, a corporate
travel planning firm. “People are so
busy when school is in session, it’s
hard for them to get away. So rather
than fight it, a lot of companies are
adding the families.”
Even when young children are not
part of the mix, trip organizers say
employees are bringing friends, siblings, parents and grown children instead of spouses. “When you have two
working people with kids, they can’t go
on each other’s incentive trips,” said
Lisa Cargill, president of CRC Meeting Management. “When you have a
two-income household, a week away is
a big investment.”
Regardless of the age of participants, though, many credit the growing presence of Generation X and Y in
the work force for the new interest in
customized travel.
“At the forefront of this movement
are today’s young adults,” said David
Morrison, president of Twentysomething Inc., a consulting firm. “During
their coming of age, international travel became available to the common
person. They’re empowered through
the Internet and they’re demanding.”
The result, he said, is a kind of generational trickle-down effect. “Employees
are much more sophisticated as travelers than in previous generations.”
“It’s all about the wow and pizazz and
coming up with not one but eight
things,” said Mrs. Hester.
Top performers are
being rewarded
with itineraries rich
in options.
“We’ve seen a significant change in
the types of things people are doing on
incentives,” said Kurt Paben, a vice
president at Carlson Marketing, a
corporate travel management and
consulting company. “Several years
ago, incentives were around tours
and golf and tennis. Now people are
much more active.” Snorkeling excursions have been become scuba
trips, bus tours have been replaced by
nature hikes and ski packages make
room for snowboarders.
It is not just younger participants
taking part in these activities. Baby
boomers are just as likely to hop on a
mountain bike. “For the older crowd,
they’ve been everywhere. They want
something different,” said Chris White,
chairman and chief executive of Global Events Partners, a collective of destination management companies.
All this demand for new and better
experiences is pushing both domestic
and international resorts and popular
destinations to expand and upgrade
their activity offerings. For instance,
Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas has
added a program for guests who want
to swim with dolphins, and the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess in Arizona
just opened a new Willow Stream spa.
Of course, it is not inexpensive for
companies to roll out multiple red carpets, either. Mr. White said running a
trip with a combination platter of activities can raise costs an average of
30 percent. But the companies that
pay for them do not mind, because it
keeps their people happy and productive. “Travel for Americans will always be one of the best forms of motivation,” said Mr. Almeas, of Impact
Incentives. “If you customize, people
will reach their goals.”
That is what OneAmerica’s Mr.
Lauber is counting on. “We wanted to
make sure we’re spending the right
amount of money and spending it effectively,” he said.
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