What is incentive group travel and how to plan a trip for your employees
Have you heard about incentive group travel within a business?
If you're wondering what this is and whether this is the ideal strategy for your business and team, you’ve come to the right place.
Below, we’re going to look at why you should consider incentive group travel and how to plan the perfect trip for the employees involved.
What is incentive group travel?
Incentive group travel is a corporate travel program that is designed to reward and motivate your employees. As the name suggests, these trips are often used as an incentive to achieve specific business goals.
For example, hitting sales targets, completing big projects, cutting spending or receiving impressive feedback from customers or clients.
These group travel trips are a way to recognise your employees for their hard work. They are also perfect for boosting morale, strengthening the team, encouraging teamwork and increasing overall job satisfaction.
Tips for planning a group travel experience for your employees
Group travel planning isn't always easy and there is a lot to consider, so if you’re thinking about planning a group travel experience, keep these tips in mind.
Set clear objectives and criteria
Before you can decide who gets to enjoy corporate group travel of this nature, you need to determine the primary goals of the trip. For example, are you rewarding top performers or is it a team-building exercise? It might even be a bit of both.
You also need to set the specific criteria or targets that must to be achieved in order to qualify for the trip.
Determine your budget
One of the biggest factors you need to decide on is the budget of your trip, as this will impact the destination, activities and the size of the group attending.
In doing so, you need to consider the costs of travel, including group flights, as well as accommodation, meals, activities and any additional perks you may be offering during the trip.
It’s also a good idea to plan for contingencies to ensure there is some flexibility in the budget just in case.
Choose the right destination
You need to choose a destination that is going to align with the interests and preferences of the group, as well as any objectives for the trip. This means thinking about factors like the distance they travel, climate, activities available and cultural experiences.
Think about this carefully to ensure the destination is suitable for the objectives of the trip. For example, do you want somewhere relaxing where your employees can totally unwind or do you want to create an action-packed itinerary full of team-building activities?
Think carefully about the itinerary (and leave room for free time)
Even if you're planning a relaxing getaway, it’s likely that you’ll want to have some structured activities alongside free time, even if it’s just a team dinner.
So think carefully about how you can create a balanced itinerary that includes a mix of structured activities and free time. This might incorporate team-building exercises, professional development sessions and leisure activities depending on the nature of the trip.
Ensure the itinerary caters to the diverse interests of the group and is not overly packed. After all, you don’t want them coming back from their trip feeling burned out and like they need a holiday!
Choose a group travel agent or flight specialist
Sure you could try to organise every aspect of corporate group travel yourself, but that can be a lot of work. From researching accommodation to attempting to book group flights, it can quickly become a very challenging and time-consuming task.
By working with a group travel agent or flight consolidator, you can ensure your trip runs smoothly and that you have someone to help you make arrangements.
This also means you’ll have a dedicated point of contact should any issues arise before, during or after your trip.
Have a dedicated trip coordinator who can communicate effectively
It’s a good idea to have just one dedicated trip coordinator within the office. They can manage the on-site logistics, work with flight specialists or group travel agents and communicate all the relevant information to the employees attending the trip.
This usually means providing all information about travel, accommodation and activities, as well as gathering relevant employee details in order to book group flights, rooms, meal planning, etc.
They will also ensure the smooth execution of any planned activities and handle any changes or emergencies promptly. This helps to ensure the most positive and engaging atmosphere throughout the trip and means everyone is on the same page about what is happening and when.
Follow up after the trip
The final tip is to gather feedback from your employees after the trip to find out if they enjoyed themselves and what they like or dislike about incentive group travel. This way, you can improve all future corporate group travel.
You can also share highlights and achievements from the trip within the company to reinforce the value of these trips and why they make such a great incentive. That way, you can use the feedback to plan future getaways and enhance employee engagement strategies.
Do you want to introduce incentive group travel?
If incentive group travel sounds like something your team and company culture would benefit from, why not introduce this employee engagement strategy this year?
Get in touch to find out how BTG Travel Management can help you book group flights and plan the perfect employee getaway for your team.