We were asked to arrange a 4 day travel incentive programme for an IT client to an aspirational European destination for 180 people in a well located hotel, close to the sea, warm climate with variety of dining experiences, city tours and fun activities. The destination needed to be easily accessible from 30 different European airports with direct flights.
The client chose the beautiful coastal town of Sorrento in Italy, located around an hour from Naples airport with great flight schedules. We created a bespoke website with registration portal and were responsible for all registrations and transportation requirements. We booked all the flights from over 30 European airports and guests were met at the airport and transferred by to the Hilton Sorrento Palace Hotel, which has fantastic views of Mount Vesuvius.
We also built an event app that had an interactive itinerary and maps, local information, attendee list, an A-Z guide and free time suggestions. This is a really sustainable way to communicate via push notifications, sharing photos and event feedback survery, cutting out the need for printed materials.
A welcome dinner was held in the Citrus Gardens located at the hotel with BBQ and buffet stations, Limoncello tasting stall and guitarist strumming background music. The next morning after a Business Update meeting, we booked a private hydrofoil boat and took the guests to the infamous island of Capri for the day. The guests were split into teams for guided tours with some free time to look around the island and gardens themselves. We dined in pretty Ville Verde Restaurant for lunch. After returning from the tour, dinner was held in a beautiful Sorrento Restaurant – Bellevue Syrene. This wonderful venue gives spectacular views over the sea and is a great place to watch the amazing sunset. The guests were delighted when surprised when the “waiters” started singing some opera classics!
On the second day the hydrofoil took us for a tour along the Amalfi Coast with visits to the pretty towns on Positano, Ravello and Amalfi. Lunch was taken in the Sigilgaida Restaurant which again provided stunning views. That evening after two days of optional excursions, we had an informal dinner at the hotel and transformed the swimming pool terrace into a pool party. We removed the sun loungers and arranged for festoon lighting, LED orbs in the pool, sparkly palm trees along with live cooking stations, a disco, saxophonist and caricaturists. It was a lovely casual evening with some surprise entertainment by a pizza acrobat thrown in!
On the final day we arranged an optional morning tour to the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. This step-back-in-time city is on many people’s bucket lists and it was wonderful to have guided tours walking around the streets and look at shops, houses, theatres, swimming pools, saunas, fast food restaurants pools literally frozen in time since 79AD – a really fascinating insight into how they used to live! For the grand finale we arranged for the gala dinner to take place in “Castello Mediovale” a local medieval castle. The guests were greeted on arrival by traditional flag wavers and drummers for a champagne reception while the sun set and dined amongst trees and fairy lights overlooking Mount Vesuvius before dancing the night away to a local band.
“What a fantastic end to a wonderful few days. The guests are feeling fully pampered and eager to work hard to earn their place on next year’s trip!”
