INCENTIVETRAVEL

Cost Control

Professional event planners share ideas for saving bucks on the basics

By Jennifer Juergens

GET MORE BANG FOR THE BUCK. DO MORE WITH LESS. YOU’VE HEARD IT A THOUSAND TIMES AND YOU’LL UNDOUBTEDLY HEAR IT A THOUSAND TIMES MORE, BECAUSE SOMETIMES IT SEEMS THE MORE THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETS TO DEVELOP NEW STRATEGIES, THE MORE THEY FALL BACK ON THE SAME PROVEN METHODS.

Business trips and incentive travel have been on the upswing for a year or more. But companies that rediscovered how to cut travel costs during the lean years leading up to this rebound will continue to be prudent with their expenditures.

Event planners and suppliers are combining efforts to create off-site meetings and incentive trips that achieve their goals while keeping costs contained.

“In light of the corporate scandals like Enron, companies are looking closer at financial integrity,” says Gloria Nelson, president of Nelson Event Design in Winneconne, Wis. “Today, companies are more aware of return on investment and return on event. They’re spending far more judiciously and addressing goals and objectives. MPI (Meeting Planners International) has been rolling out ROI training in every chapter.”

Where can you cut costs without cutting the effectiveness of your off-site programs? Here are some budget-saving tips from professional meeting planners and hospitality suppliers.

Seventh Day Advocates

“Sundays are the slowest night, so we can really roll out the red carpet,” says Jeff Harvey, director of operations for the Shoreham and Mansfield hotels in New York City. The hotel pours each guest a flute of champagne or sparkling water on arrival. Sundays also are a great night to get a deal on catering and rooms.

Another way to splurge on attendees is keeping the meeting local, suggests Harvey. “New York is the perfect destination for those in Connecticut, New Jersey or other outlying states where they don’t have to fly in. You save on airfare and can put more activities into the program. Add a Broadway show and a $100 meal and you’re still saving money.”

Europe’s Unsung Cities

Second-tier cities in the United States work well for meetings, but not as incentive destinations. Not so with European second-tier cities, which retain the cache of, well, Europe! And it’s no longer a hassle getting to these cities, as major airlines and some local startups are rushing to serve countries like Poland, Hungary, Slovenia and Estonia.

Many lesser-known European cities have popular cultural and culinary offerings. Bilbao, Spain, for example, has the Guggenheim. Glasgow, Scotland has become a city for the young and hip with new restaurants cropping up weekly, and Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, is the country’s commercial and cultural hub.

Shari Wallack, president of Buy the Sea, a cruise consultant in Plantation, Fla., says Europe has become a popular cruise destination. “You pay for the cruise in U.S. dollars and everything is included: accommodations, food and entertainment. You can pay $250 a day per person for a European cruise. That wouldn’t cover a nice hotel room in Europe,” she says.

Chow Time

Meals constitute a big percentage of an off-site event’s expense. With a little planning, meals can be elegant and affordable. Candace Mingo, president of Exclamation Points!, a destination, meeting and event management company in Jacksonville, Fla., recommends choosing meals off the banquet menu. Give the catering manager your budget and ask them to put together “Chef ’s Choice” menus. “They should be able to capitalize on a meal or item that another group already has in the works, so the labor and buying power of ingredients can keep costs down.”

Another option is family style dining, which Mingo says gets people talking and is a nice combination of buffet and plated meals. “Less food is wasted and fewer staff is needed, which lowers costs.”

Break time

Negotiate for an entire package of breaktime refreshments instead of one day at a time. Iced tea, lemonade, punch and ice water with assorted citrus slices are more cost-effective than sodas and bottled water. “It’s too tempting for guests to grab extra bottles or cans for their room or for their next breakout meeting,” Mingo says. Charge on consumption can kill your budget when offering canned beverages, candy bars, ice cream bars, etc. Put out fruit and cheese trays instead.

Spa Menus

Spas are hot for meetings and incentives, but some of the offerings can be pricey. Creating a menu of treatments that your participants can choose from helps ensure consistency in per- erson spend, says Lori Holland, director of public relations at Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. Also, many resorts offer planners value-added amenities and services with minimum booking guarantees, such as complimentary chair massages at registration or during meeting breaks. Be sure to ask about other services the spa can provide to enhance your program such as in- room and in-locker gifts for participants.

Doublespeak

Find out who else is meeting at your site (or immediately before or after you) and contact them to determine if sharing the cost of a keynote speaker or entertainment makes sense.

“We save clients thousands of dollars by sharing these expenses,” says Denise McGinn, CAE, president of Association Guidance, an East Lansing, Mich., supplier of administrative and conference services to nonprofit organizations.

Know When to Go ‘All In’ Be prudent, but don’t be cheap, says Gloria Nelson. “Doing more with less is something that we’re all challenged to do, but there are times when a client or company will make egregious errors simply to save money, diminishing the attendee experience. There ways to spend strategically. You can turn a dinner function into an elegant grazing function, for example. You just have to use a little creativity and imagination.”

See also: Tee Time Tips

 

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