The Brief
We were asked by our client in the IT industry to arrange a 4-day travel incentive programme at an aspirational destination in Europe.
The hotel needed to be of a very high standard and accommodate 250 guests in double bedrooms with a variety of dining experiences, city tours and fun activities to create an exciting itinerary.
We would be required to build a bespoke website, look after all the registrations and book flights and transfers for all guests.
Scope Of Services
Results
The client chose to hold the event in Venice – a destination many people aspire to visit in their lifetime.
We created a bespoke website with registration portal and were responsible for all registrations and transportation requirements. We booked all the guests flights from 42 destinations around EMEIA and they were met with their partners at the airport and transferred by water taxi to the stunning five-star Excelsior Hotel in Venice. This wonderful hotel is steeped in history, hosts the annual Venice film festival and is located on the Lido, surrounded by beautiful beach and accessible only by boat.
The first night we held an informal welcome dinner with jazz band playing during the drink’s reception. The next morning, we arranged a walking city tour around Venice which included a Gondola ride for all guests along the Grand Canal. A coffee stop was arranged at various coffee shops around St Mark’s Square and guests were able to see all the famous sites including crossing the Rialto Bridge. The tour finished with lunch in a Venetian restaurant and guests had the afternoon to spend at their leisure.
From the profile of the attendees, we noted that city tours are a popular choice so we arranged several additional optional tours for them to choose to attend or spend time at leisure if the pleased. These included a guided tour inside the Doge’s Palace and St Mark’s Basilica plus an additional tour of Hidden Venice. On the final full day, a tour to the islands of Murano and Burano was arranged.
Dinners are always an important part of these trips and we feel it’s important to offer a variety of formal and relaxed with different food choices and service styles. One dinner was held at Hotel Monaco with a fun casino and guests were surprised and delighted when two of the “wine waiters” burst into operatic song in the middle of service!
Another more informal dinner was held inside the wonderful Antichi Grenai opposite St Mark’ Square. This charming building dates back to the Venetian Republic and was a blank canvas for us to decorate. We chose a rustic, country style theme with market stall buffet stations, wooden crates, barrels with fruit, vegetables and flowers and trees to decorate. We invited several local crafts people to produce their products in front of the guests and offer them an opportunity to purchase them including masks, jewellery and lace.
The gala dinner on the final night was a masked Venetian Ball held in the stunning ballroom located inside the Excelsior Hotel. We provided locally made Venetian masks for all guests. After a sumptuous meal, the guests danced the night away to one of our favourite bands, Fully Funktional.
Feedback from all guests was that they had enjoyed a wonderful trip, even those that had visited Venice before had the opportunity to take part in different tours and explore different parts of this fascinating city.
“Congratulations to you all, for managing all of your respective elements of the project so ‘effectively’ and planning every minute detail. I’m absolutely delighted with all aspects of the event – from the website and communications, management of the flights, the agenda, tours, each dining experience and the grand finale, the Gala Dinner. Together we have created some outstanding experiences over the years and we keep exceeding year on year as I’m sure the feedback results will show!
Thank you for all of your immense hard work, dedication and always being a pleasure to deal with.”