Got Travel Lemons? Make Lemonade
September 29, 2008
Incentive travel planners share their worst disaster stories and tips on how to weather a catastrophe
By A.E. Smith
A week in paradise can take a turn for the worse unexpectedly. Incentive looks at several true-life mishaps and how resourceful planners turned them around.
How to Survive a Medical Emergency
Illness is one of the most common occurrences on trips, and whether the cause is indigestion or a heart attack, health issues can easily ruin an otherwise perfectly executed program. "At least half of my trips have someone who sees a doctor," says Phil Mullins, president of Windward International Corporation in Deerfield, Ill. "It's more likely than not, so you really need to be ready." Before guests arrive, planners should have the answers to questions like: Does the hotel have a doctor on staff? Where is the nearest pharmacy? What hospital has the quickest response time? If the destination is in an area with questionable medical resources, planners should decide which hospital patients could be airlifted to, in the event of an emergency.
During a five-day program Windward organized to Cancun, Mexico, last March for managers of a Chicago-based jewelry company, the husband of the vice president of marketing contracted pneumonia. The incentive team worked closely with the staff of the Aqua Cancun hotel to get the guest proper medical care—first at the local hospital, then by bringing a doctor and nurse to the guest's room—while ensuring that the rest of the group remained healthy and in good spirits. The couple stayed in Cancun four extra days, at the hotel staff rate, and were checked on personally by the general manager. When they were ready to return to Chicago, their rebooked flight had been upgraded to first class, and they were picked up at the airport by a limo.
How to Survive a Natural Disaster
Hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis disrupt trip itineraries every year, but Mother Nature has a variety of curve balls at her disposal. T-Mobile USA's senior manager of meetings and events, Joe Cloud, handles around 100 events each year for groups ranging in size from 30 people to 3,000. His preparation checklist includes multiple pre-trip site visits, extensive taste-testing and regular calls to the weatherman. On a trip to Miami in 2005, the main event on the second evening was to be an all-night beach party for 800 people. Events would include glow-in-the-dark volleyball, fire pits and a clambake, and to do all this the company had applied months in advance, pulled strings and paid $20,000 to get a rare beach permit. There was no risk of rain in the forecast, and hence, no backup location set. Two nights before the event, however, Cloud was informed that a bale of turtles had begun laying eggs on the beach—the permit price would now be $60,000, with no lights allowed after midnight. "I nearly passed out," recalls Cloud. His team brainstormed the next day, and worked out a deal to take over the pool deck of the Loews Miami Beach Hotel, but the scramble was invisible to attendees. "I don't want them to ever know that there had been an issue," says Cloud, who has dealt with wildlife from stingrays to pop stars. No matter what goes on behind the scenes, he says, "You want every single person to walk away saying it's the best event ever."
How to Survive a Change of Venue
"When you're given lemons, make lemonade," advises United Incentives' President Michael Hurwitz, a 25-year industry veteran and former president of the Society of Incentive & Travel Executives. This was a lesson he learned on a trip to Cannes, France, in 2000 during the height of the celebrity-studded film festival. Looking for an affordable and memorable Mediterranean experience for a group of dealers from Hunter Douglas, United had chartered a new ship from Star Clipper to take the top earners on a six-night cruise to ports along the French Riviera. "A few months prior to the sailing, we were informed that the ship would not be ready in time. So here we were with 400 people and no place to go," he recalls. He called on longtime friend Lenny Spangberg of LSO International, an event-management company with years of experience in France and Monaco, who managed to find rooms for everyone at the five-star Hotel Martinez. Meanwhile, Star Clipper was at work redeeming itself—the company convinced a competitor to rearrange the schedule on one of its ships, allowing the group to have a three-night cruise. Star Clipper also offered all the qualifiers individual seven-night Caribbean cruises at a time of their convenience. Remarkably, the changes came without significant cost increase to United. To show its appreciation for the client's patience, United rented out the picturesque medieval village of Mougins for an evening and threw a cocktail party in the main square. The guests returned from the trip starry-eyed, and never missed the original itinerary. "They are still working with us," says Hurwitz.
How to Survive a Wardrobe Malfunction
Sometimes incentive planners have the responsibility of saving guests from life-threatening embarrassment. On the last day of a trip to New Zealand that Creative Travel Planners (CTP), of Woodland Hills, Calif., had designed for a large association, one guest was caught underdressed. He had set out clothing before getting in the shower—an outfit that his wife dutifully packed up, and which was taken to the airport, along with all his other clothes, when the scheduled bag pull arrived at 6 a.m. After being informed of the shirtless situation, the CTP staff worked with the hotel to locate some spare employee togs in the correct size, launder them and deliver the new outfit to the guest in time for him to make his flight. Whether the problem is big or small, says CTP Vice President Gabriel Haigazian, "you drop everything for your client and save the day."
 Disaster Planning 101
Into each life, a little rain must fall. But on an incentive trip, planners usually hope that's the worst that will happen. While trips are designed to provide a picture-perfect experience, everyone in the travel business knows that things can go wrong, and do. From plane crashes and pandemics to disorderly conduct and marriage proposals, every individual has a story that sticks with him or her. "It's horrifying. You see your career floating behind your eyes," shudders Hurwitz, president of Philadelphia-based United Incentives, recalling one harrowing experience.
It's how planners deal with the unexpected that separates the best from the rest. So how do you handle disaster on the road?
Choose partners you can trust. The success of any incentive trip depends on cooperation among various service professionals, and it's when things go awry that the mettle of these relationships is tested. Unfortunately, that's exactly not the time you want to learn whether your partner is looking out for your clients or its own bottom line. After 9/11, when many trips were thrown into upheaval, Hurwitz remembers that some of his European partners were less understanding than others about Americans' sudden reluctance to travel abroad. The best partners, he says, "jump in and not only solve the problem, but make [the experience] better than it would have been."
Successful incentive professionals spend many years cultivating relationships with hotel general managers, carriers and destination management companies (DMCs) so that when the time comes, they'll have the ability to call in a face-saving favor. When choosing a partner in a new area "you don't necessarily go with the cheapest," says Haigazian. "Look at [the company's] past clients and how long they've been around. We make sure they're established and can open doors that wouldn't otherwise."
Be proactive. The best way to keep an unexpected setback from ballooning into a trip-ruining catastrophe is to anticipate it. That means regularly checking the news and weather in host countries as well as the flight status for all participants, before they head to the airport. If there's a malaria outbreak or a military coup at your destination, you want to know about it ahead of your client. "Really sit down and brainstorm about all the things that could go wrong," says T-Mobile USA's Cloud.
Stay cool, communicate. No matter what is thrown at you, don't let attendees see you flustered. "There's always an answer. You just have to be calm and find it," says Cloud. "Everybody is looking to you for the answers, and if you're panicked, it's going to ruin the event." At the same time, keep talking—clamming up when the client knows something is wrong will only increase their concern. "It's when there's a lack of information that people get frustrated," he warns.
Designate a point person., Many people may work on parts of a program, but assigning a point person from your staff who follows a trip from beginning to end ensures there will be someone on hand who knows the ins and outs of both the client and the destination. "By the time you go, you know everyone concerned," says Haigazian. "If a problem arises, you've done the site inspection, you know who's who, and you know where to go, whether that means finding another restaurant, another tour or anything else."
Call for backup. While it's standard for most companies to collect emergency contact information from participants, it's also important that attendees have access to important numbers when they need them. A page of contact numbers in the welcome packet won't help someone lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood if it's back in the hotel room. On trips planned by Windward, according to Mullins, each participant receives a wallet-size laminated card that lists the hotel number, emergency evacuation policies and any other key information. It can also be a good idea to have copies of participants' important documents on file, especially passports.
Get creative with contingency plans. "I believe in not presenting a problem to a client until you have a solution," advises Hurwitz. If a change of plans is in order, be sure of your backup before broadcasting it. Haigazian recalls a trip to New Zealand where a flight was canceled from Auckland to Christchurch: "The next thing I knew, I was behind the counter rebooking. Then I was in the baggage hold area, trying to get bags on the right flight." If the main event has to be canceled, think of a compensatory experience that tops the original, so attendees don't miss the loss.
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