UK MICE VENUES BY TOM NEWCOMBE
at the Olympic Delivery Authority, and does now in her current role as non-executive director at the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD). She says there must be a business objective when planning incentives. “Given financial pressures, and increasing scrutiny from shareholders and the general public on use of companies’ money, there is a strong business focus to many of these events,” she says
Chris Groundhill is UK and Ireland national account manager for Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s meetings and events (M&E) division. He says: “The last few years have seen the amount of delegates per trip reduce considerably and, instead, a smaller group will go on a trip in a more thought-out way. It shows companies still want to incentivise staff but in a more controlled manner.” He believes the type of incentives have changed “considerably” in the past five years. “Businesses are more aware of what’s out there and can give us a detailed brief, so it can be bespoke for their sector.”
STRONG MOTIVATORS SITE says one of the greatest challenges for buyers is how companies assess the
“Companies still want to incentivise staff but in a more controlled manner”
effectiveness of their incentive travel programmes. The study showed that al- though a large majority believe incentive travel programmes are strong motivators of performance, less than one-third always track ROI.
When it comes to measuring ROI, BCD
Travel M&E director Anthony Coyle- Dowling believes simplicity is key. “At BCD our approach starts with the key objec- tives of the incentive and what the client hopes to achieve from the investment. It’s impossible to truly measure the success of a programme unless there is a clear understanding of the desired outcome.” However, he adds that “one true fact” about all incentive programmes is if they are worthy of implementation, they deserve measurement to ensure that programme goals have been accomplished.
MOD’s Cartwright says some incentives
are hard to measure in “absolute terms” and recommends regular reviews of the programme. “I’d encourage all organisations to have a good look at their benefits and incentives packages from time to time, to see whether they are actually delivering value for money,” she says.
HIGHER EXPECTATIONS In its study, SITE says the incentive travel services market is likely to become even more competitive, with customers’ expecta- tions going “well beyond acquisition of a travel package”. Woburn Safari Park’s commercial manager Ashleigh James, who has recently introduced experiences and animal en- counters to its corporate offering, believes, with standards becoming even higher, sellers cannot afford to remain complacent about creating value. “A lot of people are moving away
from the traditional methods across all MICE [meetings, incentives, confer- ences and exhibitions] and looking at more experience-based activities, where they’re getting people up and about and engaged, rather than being talked at for hours,” she says.
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