Incentive travel is a tried-and-true tactic for nearly half of all businesses in the United States. Corporate incentive trips help businesses boost sales, productivity, retention, loyalty, and morale by awarding top performers a luxury getaway. Incentive travel programs motivate employees to increase performance and improve the company’s sales and ultimate success. Whatever your goal, incentive travel can be the catalyst that moves you beyond the finish line.
Benefits
Group incentive travel programs are an excellent way to keep top performers achieving top performance. The benefits of incentive travel start with the destination reveal and live on long after bags are unpacked. To ensure the success of your program, it is essential to partner with the right incentive travel agency.
Extraordinary Experiences
Brightspot is dedicated to providing your top employees with extraordinary experiences more memorable than what leisure travelers can achieve independently. Our group incentive travel programs offer extraordinary opportunities to explore unique places, attend exclusive group evening events, engage in special activities, and stay in luxury hotels and resorts.
High Touch Service
Our globetrotting experts provide your incentive trip with creative ideas and excellent execution, ensuring your incentive trip is a success. Let us handle all the details while you and your guests enjoy a remarkable VIP trip.
Buying Power Savings
Careful management of your finances will ensure that your incentive trip delivers maximum value for every penny spent. With Brightspot, you can satisfy your accounting staff and give your top performers a truly excellent experience.
Creative Design
Our experienced managers and graphic designers will handle each project with care and creativity. We offer bucket-list itineraries and beautiful collateral. We promise to enhance your program and wow your participants while making you look like a rockstar.
Seasoned Expertise
This is not our first rodeo. Our experts are CMPs (Certified Meeting Professionals) who bring years of travel to the table. We are knowledgeable in the art of cost-saving. We know the best tips and tricks, and we’re happy to share our secrets with you.
Aim for Excellence
Our commitment to excellence is one of our core values. We strive to exceed expectations and provide a 5-star experience for our clients.
No matter the preparation, we know changes can occur unexpectedly. Your Brightspot team is always ready to help. We will make sure everything is right.
Incentive Travel Services
Incentive travel companies help businesses boost sales, productivity, loyalty, and morale by crafting a motivational getaway trip. The goal is to improve an individual’s performance and a company’s sales and success. This is achieved by providing the following services. See our Incentive Travel Company Guide for more information on how an incentive travel company can help businesses like yours.
Audience Engagement
Design & Creative Services
Trip Promotion & Website
Communications
Registration Services
Collateral & Fulfillment
Event Management
Travel & Meeting Planning
Activities & Excursions
Food & Beverage Planning
Event Theming & Décor
Award & Gifting Solutions
24/7 On-site Management
Safety & Risk Management
Consulting & Logistics
Destination & Resort Advice
Hotel Sourcing
Contracting & Negotiations
Venue & Restaurant Selection
Air Booking & Tracking
Logistics Coordination
End-to-End Ground Transportation
Customer Service
Customer & Attendee Support
Post-Program Evaluations
Comprehensive Cost Reconciliation
$ 22.5 billion
spent on incentive trips from US companies per year
Top 20 Incentive Travel Destinations
Best USA Travel Destinations
Palm Beach
Clearwater
Austin
Santa Fe
Deep South
Sea Island
Park City
Sedona
Orange Coast
The Big Island
Santa Barbara
Napa
Glamping
Pick a Boutique
See Best USA Commentary
Top All Inclusive Resorts
Le Blanc Spa Resort
Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit
Hilton Rose Hall
Dreams Las Mareas
Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos
Find Out Why
Incentive Travel Costs (& Savings)
Budgets vary widely based on CEO preference, destinations, trip inclusions, number of nights, and overall quality. It can be challenging to nail down a good budget for an incentive trip, so we’ve developed helpful resources to get you started.
Average Cost of an Incentive Travel Program
Learn about other companies’ costs, budget factors, agency help, and more, all answered here.
Learn More
Cost to Hire an Incentive Travel Company
Hiring a team of experts doesn’t have to break the bank. From hotel sourcing to on-site operations, risk management and more, the benefits are worth the investment.
Learn More
Budget Calculator
Budget estimates help you realize what factors must be considered before making your cost projections and just how far your dollar will go. Try our calculator to determine what you can expect to spend on an incentive travel program.
Planning Resources
How to Start an Incentive Trip
Whether your company is about to start an incentive travel program or revamping your current one, download the complete incentive travel how-to guide as your roadmap to creating an unforgettable program.
• Motivate your audience
• Choose aspirational destinations
• Avoid common incentive travel mistakes
• Create memorable experiences
Tips to Improve an Incentive Trip
Improving upon your incentive trip year after year is a daunting task. Coming up with fresh ideas and finding new experiences that excite your audience is a monumental project of its own. Our experts break down the top tips to breathe new life into your program.
• Gain fresh ideas to reinvigorate your incentive trip
• Increase buy-in from your participants
• Plan in a limited amount of time
• Create unforgettable experiences
What Sets Us Apart
Our People’s Expertise
We are lifelong learners and bring over 20+ years of incentive travel experience to the table. Our incentive travel manager team has earned the highest certifications in our industry, including CMP, CITP, and CIS – guaranteeing deep expertise in all facets of incentive travel. Our team has seen almost every destination and resort, and we know the best “incentive-quality” experiences.
We Are Customer Fanatics
We like to say we are “people, people,” and we know what it is like to receive exceptional service. That is why we bend backward to ensure you and your programs shine.
We Don’t Stop at Incentive Trips
We can incorporate the best of incentive merchandise, incentive events, and incentive awards, and did you know we also do incentive meetings?
We Actually Listen to Your Needs
It is one thing to have the expertise and another to truly listen. We are all ears when it comes to achieving your vision, and we’ll provide our suggestions and ideas to make your vision the best it can be.
We Are Award-Winning & Plugged In
Our love of what we do runs deep. It shines through in our varied industry leadership with groups like The Incentive Research Foundation, SITE Texas, Meetings Professionals International; our numerous industry certifications; and being named as a top meeting & incentive travel company on the MeetingsNet CMI 25 list.
Get Inspired – Watch Our Video!
Bright Ideas for Incentive Travel Trips
FAQs
What is an Incentive Travel Company?
An incentive travel company helps businesses boost sales, productivity, loyalty, and morale by awarding top performers with a luxury trip getaway. Incentive travel programs motivate employees to increase performance and improve the company’s sales and ultimate success.
Incentive travel companies combine the services of a travel agency, event planner, marketing communications expert, and business strategy consultant. For the best corporate incentive trips, a professional meeting planner (or better, a CMP, Certified Meeting Professional) creates an “incentive-quality” group travel program designed with the earners’ tastes and demographics in mind. Bespoke incentive trips deliver a VIP experience that top performers will remember fondly for years to deepen their loyalty and elevate their performance.
What is the ROI for incentive travel?
According to the IRF (Incentive Research Foundation), the premier source for incentive industry research, incentive travel has an undeniable impact on return on investment for companies including:
- 46% of U.S. businesses use incentive travel
- U.S. Businesses spend $22.5 Billion annually on incentive travel
- Companies using non-cash rewards, including incentive travel, have 3X higher revenue increases
- 100% of Best-In-Class companies offer incentive travel to recognize sales success
- Incentive travel is not just for sales: 53% of companies use incentive travel to reward sales, 43% to reward employees, 33% for channel partners, and 27% to appreciate customer loyalty
- Properly designed incentive travel programs increase sales productivity by 18% and produce an ROI of 112%
- Incentive travel budgets are now up to an average of $6,000 per person
For additional tips, visit our post dedicated to ROI of Incentive Travel
Does Brightspot manage individual incentive travel?
While Brightspot can support individual incentive travel, we believe the impact is greater for group incentive travel than individual incentive trips. Bringing your top performers together will help increase camaraderie, allow qualifiers to network, give face time with executives, and increase the visibility of award winners amongst their peers.
Are there tax implications for incentive travel programs?
As a general rule, if the prize or award is merchandise or travel instead of cash, the item’s fair market value (FMV) must be included in income. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does not provide a clear value or formula; instead, it vaguely says FMV is based on all the facts and circumstances.
IRS Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income, states: Bonuses or awards you receive for outstanding work are included in your income and should be shown on your Form W-2. These include prizes such as vacation trips for meeting sales goals. If the prize or award you receive is goods or services, you must include the FMV of the goods or services in your income.
Brightspot believes a 30% discount for group incentive travel is reasonable and justifiable to remove additional costs that a leisure vacation would exclude, such as group function costs (for audiovisual, lighting, entertainment, and setup charges), the extra premium for catered event food over restaurant costs, private group excursions and activities, event website, site inspection visits, and the incentive travel company management fee.
Lower Your Taxes – Brightspot will help save money on taxes for company and winners with expertise on lower values
Visit our complete guide of Tax Rules for Incentive Programs to learn more.
What are program name ideas?
When starting an incentive trip, most companies seek a program name that endures for many years. Here is a list of popular incentive trip names:
- Achievers Club
- CEO Club
- Chairman’s Trip
- Circle of Excellence
- Customer Loyalty Trip
- Dealer Trip
- Diamond Club
- Elite Trip
- Group Incentive Travel
- Leadership Council
- Partner Recognition Trip
- Platinum Club
- President Club Trip
- Top Performer Trip
- Winners Circle
