Meeting planners know this. Smaller meetings are not always the easiest to plan and their attendees sometimes don’t get to see much except for the walls of their ![]()
meeting and hotel rooms. With budget cuts becoming the norm in today’s operating environment, the experiential part of the program usually gets the boot.
RFPs aside, it’s important to remind ourselves that we’re in the business of people, and what we do or recommend to our clients as meeting planners, directly affects the outcome of the event. They impact the conversations and relationships that attendees take back with them, regardless of where they’re from. So what happens when your client decides that there just isn’t enough budget to go around and the off-site activities get canned? Always, always check with the CVBs. Not all destinations have incentive programs that you can benefit from, but it’s always a great idea to make them partners right from the start and at RFP stage.
Take Singapore for example, a highly modernized city in the southern tip of continental Asia. While they may be tiny in size, they are certainly making up for it by going big on incentive programs that organizers can benefit from. Just last year, the city extended its INSPIRE (In Singapore Incentives and Rewards) program to Europe and North America. Conceptualized in partnership with Singapore Airlines and Changi Airport Group, the rewards program features cocktail experiences and thematic business tours alongside attractive group airfares to complement business trips.
Under the INSPIRE program, eligible corporate meeting and incentive travel groups can also choose from 12 complimentary activities that will further enrich their travel itineraries:
meeting and hotel rooms. With budget cuts becoming the norm in today’s operating environment, the experiential part of the program usually gets the boot.
RFPs aside, it’s important to remind ourselves that we’re in the business of people, and what we do or recommend to our clients as meeting planners, directly affects the outcome of the event. They impact the conversations and relationships that attendees take back with them, regardless of where they’re from. So what happens when your client decides that there just isn’t enough budget to go around and the off-site activities get canned? Always, always check with the CVBs. Not all destinations have incentive programs that you can benefit from, but it’s always a great idea to make them partners right from the start and at RFP stage.
Take Singapore for example, a highly modernized city in the southern tip of continental Asia. While they may be tiny in size, they are certainly making up for it by going big on incentive programs that organizers can benefit from. Just last year, the city extended its INSPIRE (In Singapore Incentives and Rewards) program to Europe and North America. Conceptualized in partnership with Singapore Airlines and Changi Airport Group, the rewards program features cocktail experiences and thematic business tours alongside attractive group airfares to complement business trips.
Under the INSPIRE program, eligible corporate meeting and incentive travel groups can also choose from 12 complimentary activities that will further enrich their travel itineraries:
- Six cocktail experiences hosted in historic venues or rooftop bars helmed by rising Singapore mixologists; and
- Six thematic business tours on the Singapore story, including itineraries centered around urban planning and infrastructure, and excursions that provide insights into our multi-racial and multi-cultural society.
