Incentive Travel & Corporate Events in Japan
(Summer & Fall)
In Japan, the changing seasons and festivals provide a tantalizing backdrop for your team’s incentive trip. In addition to modern conference facilities, your team can spend some time at a traditional ryokan or a resort with an onsen. Venues for corporate events include gardens, famous samurai movie sets, and feudal mansions. However, it’s important to make your plans and book well in advance. During the summer, well-heeled Tokyo residents escape to the mountain areas to beat the heat. If you want to experience a popular mountain retreat during the summer or Kyoto’s fall colours, your planning can’t be left until the last minute.
We had an excellent response to our light on text virtual tour of Malaysia’s hills so, we’re using the same approach to this virtual tour of some of Japan’s mountain and countryside areas. Come explore the possibilities.
Summer
Due to the humidity, some locals describe Tokyo as a “blast furnace” during the summer. To find relief from the heat, head to the Japan Alps, Hakone, Toyama, or Sapporo.
Festivals: During the summer, there are a variety of summer festivals (Natsu Matsuri) throughout Japan. Almost every night, various communities throughout Japan feature stunning fireworks displays.
Bon Odori Matsuri is celebrated throughout the country from Jul 13 – 15.
Hakone: Temperature – 24°C – 30°C (74° – 87°F)
1 1/2 hours southwest of Tokyo by train, explore Japanese culture and add variety to your incentive travel itinerary by staying at a traditional Ryokan (Japanese Inn) or a resort with an onsen (hot spring bath).
Hakone is a stunning mountain retreat that has a number of resorts and ryokans with onsens. Give your team a break from your meetings with a vist to nearby Fujisan (Mount Fuji) and a cruise on Lake Ashi followed by a cable car ride at Mount Komagatake. The panoramic view is absolutely spectacular and on a clear day you will be able to see Mount Fuji. You’ll be able to see the lake below and even the golf course where your team can enjoy a round or two.
Every time I watch this video of a journey to the Japanese Alps in the summer, I get goosebumps. I wish I could jump right into the video.
Toyama: Temperature – 22°C – 30°C (72°F – 87°F)
Offering a panoramic view of the 3,000-meter Tateyama Mountains, Toyama is comfortable to visit all year. It has 4 mineral baths including the Unazuki-onsen. Attractions include Zuiryu-ji Temple and the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route where you can enjoy river rafting, cable car rides, and view from the Kurobe Dam observatory.
World Heritage Sites: Gokayama Village with ‘gassho-zukuri’ style dwellings
Sapporo : Temperature – 18°C – 29°C (65°F – 84°F)
Sapporo has a number of unique museums and attractions. Start with a tour of the Historical Museum of Hokkaido. Then visit the Bread Museum of Hokuo to learn about the Japanese art of bread making and sample freshly baked bread. There is also a chocolate factory that your team can tour.
If you’re looking for a few hours to unwind between meetings, you can let off steam at Teine Olympia, an amusement park within a forest. If you time your trip well, at any time of year, your team can take in a concert one evening at the Sapporo Concert Hall Kitara .
Shirakawa: For an interesting excursion, travel back in time this UNESCO World Heritage site, a 500 year old, traditional village with thatched roof huts.
Tohoku
It’s always cool and comfortable in this part of Japan that has numerous onsens, the ancient 4,000 – 5,550 year old ruins of Sannai-Maruyama.
Festivals:
Every year in August, you can enjoy the Nebuta Festival.
World Heritage Sites: Shirakami-Sanchi Mountains
Fall
Kyoto:
Festivals:
October 22 – the Yuki Shrine Fire Festival
Suzuka:
October – F1 Formula One
Hakone:
Festivals:
November 3 Daimyo Gyorestsu, a re-enactment of a feudal lord’s procession
One trip to Japan is not enough to see it all. So, to create a memorable incentive trip, pick your time of year and one or two areas to explore.
Once again. I have way too much material for one blog entry so I have actually had to split it into 3. The other two parts will go live soon. Next time, we’ll continue next time with incentive travel in Japan during the Fall and Winter.
For help in planning incentive travel in Japan, please visit our website. Then, contact us to let us know your requirements. For the best choice of options and to allow ample time for logistics, it is best to book your retreat at least 4 – 6 months before you intend to travel:
Anne Thornley-Brown has toured Asia 16 times and facilitated workshops and team building sessions for over 2000 executives, managers, and professionals.
For this blog entry, I’ve decided to take a totally different approach and share some good news headlines. The AIG effect is fading. The luxury corporate travel market finally seems to be recovering.
Part of the reason for this is that luxury hotels are now providing very attractive packaging and pricing for corporate meetings or adding value at existing price points. Consider these recent stories:
Trend #3Extreme Price Sensitivity, with Hotels once again competing for Meetings Business with Aggressive Package Pricing.
The recession and the AIG effect caused many traditional hotels to turn to midsized corporate meetings to fill their rooms. Although not an uncommon strategy for hotels in a recession, the severe business climate of 2009 helped re-educate traditional hotels on the merits of aggressive meeting package pricing with its high perceived value.
Companies are finding that they can stay at luxury 5 star properties in the USA, Canada, the Caribbean, Asia, and the Middle East for the same price as a 4 or 5 star hotel.
While dealt the hardest blow during the economic meltdown, luxury hotels are not down for the count. For an increasing number of buyers, the unprecedented value now offered by top properties is just too good to ignore.
There are signs that luxury hotels have been able to cut into the business that might otherwise have gone to a hotels in a lower-tier category. Greg Champion, chief operating officer for Benchmark Hospitality, which operates hotels primarily in the four-star category, is among those feeling the heat from the top tier.
“It’s now more competitive between properties than it’s ever been,” he says. “We’re now competing head-to-head with five-star properties. Everyone talks about the AIG Effect, but there are a lot of planners out there who say, ‘If I can stay at a five-star for the same price as a three- or four-star, why wouldn’t I do that?’”
If luxury hotels are seeing a rise in meetings business, it’s safe to say that a big motivator is the smorgasbord of value-adds on the table, everything from rate discounts to packages offering reduced attrition, free breakfasts, spa discounts, suite upgrades and more.
This CNBC Interview with the CEO of Ritz-Carlton echoes similar themes:
Money is still a major issue for people — even at the luxury end — so we’re looking for value more than ever: upscale packages are desirable as there aren’t any hidden costs or room service extras above and beyond what you’ve already shelled out.
4. Eco luxe
Hotels are starting to become more and self-sufficient wherever they can and travelers are considering the environmental credentials of a hotel more — this is constantly on the increase so hotels going the extra mile to lower carbon emissions.
A recent survey of high-end retailers revealed that 81 percent of Virtuoso travel retailers’ future bookings were up compared to this time last year. Eighty percent say sales are up over the last three months, while 55 percent say revenues are higher than this time last year.
So what business is increasing? Over half stated that leisure and corporate travel bookings are expected to rebound in the next six months.
Trella del Mare, Ain Al Shockna, Egypt
Luxury hotel chains around the world from Toronto to Dubai are seeking to increase capacity in the luxury sector for what they feel will be a market on the upswing.
Canadian hoteliers are actually now projecting a shortfall in the luxury hotel sector:
It is only a matter of time that pricing will rise to pre-recession levels. Savvy companies are making their plans for the rest of 2010, 2011, and even 2012 to lock in these favourable rates and offerings.
We work with a number of luxury properties that currently have favourable pricing and packages for meetings, incentives and retreats.
As long as there is some flexibility in your dates, at some properties, groups of 20 – 40 people can have exclusive use of the resort for the entire duration of their stay.
It’s been almost a full year since my article “Should companies cancel incentive travel during a recession?” was printed in Incentive Magazine. In view of more hotel closures or bankruptcies that have recently been announced in Las Vegas, it’s to re-visit this issue.
These issues are vital and have a direct impact on the economy. Please tweet about this article, link to it, reprint it, Stumble Upon it, and share it with every executive you know. Please also share the other articles and resources that I have listed. Please add your comments and join the conversation in the Q & A section on LinkedIn.
As we all know, a dramatic chain of events has had a devastating impact on the business travel, hospitality and team building industries.
Some of my colleagues blame statements like this by Obama for the problems that followed:
I see it differently. I agree with my colleagues that there is an important role for sales incentive trips, luxury corporate events, and recreational events for teams. However, I think that Obama definitely “hit the mark” when he said that the companies that accepted the TARP bailouts had no business planning lavish trips and corporate events. I believe that Obama, other lawmakers, and the media were justified in their comments and that they should not be blamed for the troubles that have plagued our industry. In fact, I have been sounding the alarm for years about:
companies behave as if they are country clubs and recreational centres rather than businesses
companies that opt for strictly recreational events as placebos and pacifiers rather than bonafide business team building to get to the root of the problem and generate solutions when they are having trouble
companies trying to pass off entertainment and recreation as “team building”
It’s a matter of remembering why we are in business, balance and priorities. I have been cautioning that an eventual backlash would come and we would see severe cutbacks in this sector. This is one time I wish I was wrong. The scenario that has unfolded is even worse than what I predicted.
The White House made its support for business travel clear:
So it is hard to understand the way in which some companies with a solid bottom line have responded to the criticism of AIG and other TARP fund reciplients. In a knee-jerk overreaction, even companies that are doing well and that had earned the right to reward their people have hit the panic button & cancelled incentive travel and retreats.
Axa Life head of events Patti Heaven, says: “From the perception of the greater general public, financial institutions are viewed very much in the same way as banks, which are not enjoying good media coverage. To host overseas incentives together with big production conferences in this global economic climate would create the wrong image. This would be insensitive and could potentially be interpreted as a lack of respect for individuals that have been made redundant.”
Heaven’s first foray into the events world was taking a group of 60 plus partners overnight to a hotel down the road. It was so successful that in the following years the event was held in Amsterdam, then Switzerland, Monte Carlo, Mauritius, the US and Bangkok.
“They just kept getting bigger, and more frequent,” says Heaven. ” And now there’s all kinds of different events every year, from conferences to product launches to overseas sales incentives.”
Events run by Heaven have always had an edge of excitement. She once found herself in trouble with Florida police after a mix-up with
passports as ID at a Miami nightclub. “I grovelled so much I made Uriah Heep look like Osama Bin Laden,” she says. “They loved it. Everything was fine then.”
Other stand-out events – but this time for the right reasons – include a recent incentive to Venice where the group had a private tour and recital at St Mark’s Basilica. “The tour was divine, although it was 35degC and we were all in black tie – tourists were taking photos of us,” she recalls.
“But the recital was electric. The room was dark except for candles. The music was extremely atmospheric. It was an amazing experience – it reduced some grown men to tears.”
Patti, what in the world were you thinking? A backlash to this type of excess was inevitable. However, to go from one extreme to the other – overkill to cutting incentive travel completely is a clear case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It makes absolutely no sense.
If anybody reading this is in touch with AXA executives or Patti Heaven, please share this blog with them. They are welcome to give their side of the story. I hope that someone from AXA will answer the following question that I throw out to executives from all companies that have decided to scale back despite the fact that they are doing well:
How do you expect the economy to ever recover if you don’t spend money and if you make decisions that are contributing to the deminse of many organizations?
Please don’t think I am just picking on AIG and AXA. In one of my other blogs, I have previously written about some of the bizarre ways in which companies were spending money on recreational activities and passing them off as “team building. The problem with corporate excess is that there will ALWAYS be a backlash and innocent people eventually have to pay for the poor judgement of executives by losing their jobs.
Luxury hotels like the Ritz-Carlton have suffered from the backlash from the so-called “AIG effect.”
Just days after the federal government committed $85 billion of taxpayers’ money to a bailout of insurance giant American International Group (AIG) in September 2008, senior execs from the troubled company headed to the swanky St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach for a week of wining and dining of 100 top salespeople.
The uproar was deafening.
“The whole demonization of luxury meetings and companies’ pulling back on having their high-end meetings in luxury hotels–. this has had a tremendous impact on Las Vegas,” Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman Vivian Deuschl reportedly said.
Last year, revenue for U.S. luxury hotels fell nearly 17 percent, outpacing the 14 percent drop in the overall industry, according to an analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC. Revenue per available room, a fiscal measure of health in the industry, plummeted about 24 percent, compared with a 16.4 percent drop for the industry overall.
Deuschl did not comment specifically on the Ritz-Carlton Las Vegas occupancy levels, other than to say it is lower than the company would like, but she did have an opinion about the ripples from the AIG effect.
Fallout in Canada
The AIG effect does have an impact on companies in Canada and around the world:
It was the poor judgement of some corporations that triggered the AIG effect. It is the selfishness, short-sightedness and cowardice of other corporations that is prolonging it. Sound decision-making and decisive action can reverse the AIG effect.
The time to act is now! So here is the bottom line:
If your company is in trouble, don’t schedule a luxury junket or corporate event. Instead, hire a consultant and have an on-site team building or brain storming session to generate solutions to your business challenges
Let’s stop this madness before we do permanent and irreversible damage to the global economy. Your team has worked really hard, beat the odds and generated outstanding results. They deserved to be rewarded. Let’s learn from excesses of the past, reward teams and expess appreciation to clients in a way that shows good judgement. At a time when there are so many in need at home and abroad, devote part of your sales incentive trip or retreat to a project that gives back to the community. Help boost the economy and save jobs by booking a sales incentive trip or retreat today.
I join the following organizations in urging executives from companies that are doing well to reactivate their incentive travel programmes before even more hotels go bankrupt, more employees lose their jobs and companies in the hospitality and business travel industry are forced to close their doors for ever.
Executive Oasis International is a Toronto based consulting firm that helps organizations succeed even in the midst of turbulence. Core services include consulting and on-site facilitated business team building and off-site team building reatreats. They also offer incentive travel and corporate event planning to help organizations reward their people when business objectives have been achieved.You are welcome to reprint this article as long as you keep the by-line intact and ensure that all links are live.
Jamaica Incentive Travel & Event Planning: Top 10 Ways to Enjoy the Water After you Finish Lying on the Beach
In Part 1 of Jamaica Incentive Travel, we discussed the fact that water is 1 of 2 essential elements in Jamaica’s name (meaning “land of wood and water”). We focused on exploring “wood” in all its forms from mountains to rainforest:
In Part 2, I’ll share a number of ways for your team to explore water. I’ve broken it down so that you can find something of interest that is close to where you are planning to stay.
Fitting it all in
Don’t let the variety of things to do overwhelm you. You can’t possibly fit it all into 1 trip. So when your trip is over, remember to “make it Jamaica again”. Here is how you can fit in some of the attractions we’ve been describing and still leave time for relaxation:
Day 1: Arrive early, spend most of the day relaxing but try to explore Outameni.
If you’re heading to Ocho Rios, make it a rest stop on the way from the airport.
Day 2: Fit in a Water Adventure & a Historical site
Relax in the Afternoon
Day 3: Leave early to explore Kingston & stay overnight
Day 4: Fit in a Mountain Adventure on your way back to the hotel
Day 5: Relax, shop and head home late in the evening
If your stay is shorter, then save some activities for your next trip to Jamaica.
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Top 10 Ways for Your Team to Enjoy the Water
When you Finish Lying on the Beach
Water. Splash in it. Play in it. Float on it. Take photos of it. Most of all, enjoy it.
You’ll witness a natural phenomenon that occurs at only 3 places in the world. The water in this phosphorescent lagoon glows at night. When the microscopic organisms that live where the fresh water and the Caribbean sea intersect are disturbed by boats or people swimming, they give off a luminecent glow.
35 min. boat tours are available every night. After your tour, relax and enjoy treats form the full service bar and authentic Jamaican cuisine. Just looking at the photos made me hungry.
Reggae & soca music, dancing, a scrumptious Jamaican buffet, and spectacular views. Need I say more. I thoroughly enjoyed it and so will your team.
Night on the White River
Torches and drums create an electrifying setting as you travel in canoes along The White River. Your destination is an open park with stage and a huge dance floor. You’ll savour the delights of delicious Jamaican cuisine as you enjoy a cultural show. Then, you’ll dance under the stars to the reggae beat. This is a spectacular and memorable crowd pleaser. I really had a great time.
2. Rafting
Near Port Antonio
Rio Grande
It’s said that the British movie star Errol Flynn, who settled in Port Antonio, was responsible for introducing pleasure rafting to Jamaica. He modified the rafts that were used to float bananas downstream to the boats for export by fitting them with a seat for 2. The rest is history.
Rafting is one of the most relaxing experiences that you can have on water. All you have to do is sit back, breathe and take in the scenery. Be sure to bring your camera and some extra money for cool, refreshing drinks and tasty snacks from the floating bars.
Near Falmouth
Martha Brae
Martha Brae was settled by the Spanish and it survived the 1655 British invasion. If your hotel is near Falmouth or Montego Bay, you can go rafting on the Martha Brae. It’s a shorter excursion than rafting on the Rio Grande but closer to where most tourists stay. Also, some of the raft captains have a great sense of humour.
3. Waterparks (Manmade & Natural)
A number of hotels have waterparks but I’ll focus only on a couple that are accesible to the public.
Near Ocho Rios
Tubing on the White River
Speaking of the White River, during the day it becomes, nature’s water park. Enjoy.
At this 5 acre waterpark, enjoy 10 amazing water slides, 1/4 mile lazy river and the adjacent Kool Kanoe Swamp Adventure. Kool Runnings Water Park is bordered by the Great Morass, a magnificent wetland that is home to 300 species of plants and 900 species of animals. Your team will have an opportunity to get up close and personal with Jamaica’s indigenous species that make the Morass their home.
4. Playing with Dolphins
Montego Bay
Swimming wih the Dolphins at Half Moon Club Resort
Ocho Rios
Dolphin Cove
5. Horse Riding on the Beach
I’ve done it many times and there is nothing like it. The guides are very friendly supportive and helpful to ensure the comfort of first time riders.
Near Ocho Rios
Hooves (at Seville)
We’ve talked about Hooves before. Now, join Dry Land Tourist as she goes horse riding in the ocean. You’ll notice that even her friend who was nervous in the video I shared in Part 1 is relaxed and comfortable.
You can follow Dry Land Tourist on Twitter @drylandtourist and also check out her Facebook Fan Page.
Near Montego Bay
Half Moon Equestrian Centre
When you stay at Half Moon on one of their all-inclusive plans, the beach rides on horse back and the dolphin experience are included. You can enjoy these experiences without leaving the property. This will help you manage your time, provide a varied itinerary, and meet the needs of members of your team who want to spend a lot of time relaxing on the beach.
I highly recommend that you consider staying at the Half Moon Club Resort, particularly the villas. During a recent stay the Half Moon Club with a group, we were pampered in the Royal Villas.
I didn’t have a thing to worry about as the butler, housekeeper and cook took care of everything from preparing breakfast to laundry and ironing. It was great to return home with a suitcase filled with clean and neatly folded clothes for a change.
6. Iron Chef Inspired Gourmet Cooking Challenge
Half Moon Club Resort Villa Cook-off
You’ve seen it on TV. Now give your team a chance to try it. In Jamaica, you can take advantage of the perpetual summer and try out your culinary skills in the garden area of a villa that’s right beside the beach. You’ll get 4 mystery ingredients and access to a pantry of local species. Our team got duck, ackee, and okra.
Brian Martenis is dead wrong. His team wasn’t robbed.
Even though our presentation sucked, we had great fun and with excellent teamwork, top notch cleanliness, and seasoning to perfection, our team definitely deserved the coveted title. The chefs even complimented me on my ackee.
7. Mineral Baths & Healing Streams
Near Kingston
Rockport Mineral Bath
In Clarendon
Milk River Mineral Bath & Spa
The Milk River bath opened in 1794. Of all the mineral baths in the world, the Milk River Mineral Bath has the highest curative powers.
Near Port Antonio
Bath Foundation Mineral Springs
It’s the second oldest mineral bath in the Western hemisphere.
8. Waterfalls
This is definitely my favourite water pleasure in Jamaica. True to its name, there are numerous waterfalls on the island but I will highlight a few places where you can climb waterfalls and soak yourself under them.
Near Ocho Rios
Dunn’s River Falls
I climbed Dunn’s River Falls 2 years ago from bottom to top with my mother who is over 70. This is Jamaica’s most well known waterfall and one of its iconic attractions but it’s not the only waterfall to conquer in Jamaica.
When I was in Jamaica a few months ago, when the rest of the group was enjoying Dunn’s River Falls, I took the opportunity to head up to The Enchanted Gardens. I had heard rumours that it was re-opening and I wasn’t disappointed.
I mentioned The Enchanted Gardens in Part 1 but, since its my favourite place on the planet, I want to highlight the fact that it has 14 waterfalls and too many meandering streams to count in a lush tropical garden and mountain setting. If you love water, step into this tropical fantasy where you can soak in it, splash in it and climb the Ooh falls.
Coyaba used to be a banana plantation. Now visitors can enjoy the Spanish architecture, breathtaking views of Ocho Rios, the Mahoe waterfalls, gardens, and a Museum of Island History focusing on the forgotten culture of the Taino, Jamaica’s first inhabitants.
In the following video, Dry Land Tourist visits Coyaba. Her guide is Rainford Thomas. He is extremely knowledgeable about Jamaican vegetation and how it has been used historically and today. I learned a lot.
Now join Jamaica’s Dry Land Tourist on a tour of the museum and for a refreshing time splashing in the Mahoe waterfalls at Coyaba Gardens & Museum.
Reach Falls emerge from one of the most beautiful natural springs in Jamaica. They are stunning and definitely less commercial than Dunn’s River. We all know how development works worldwide so the time to visit them is now. With the new road that has been constructed joining Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, and Port Antonio, the trip is a lot shorter than it was previously. Also, if you spend some time in Kingston, you can arrange to return via the North East corner of Jamaica and visit Reach Falls and many of the other attractions near Port Antonio. When I was a girl, my mother used to take my sister and me to visit her uncle who was living in Port Antonio. It’s a gorgeous part of Jamaica and well worth the trip. I highly reccommend exploring it.
A 7 tiered cascading waterfall featuring canopy tour with ziplines that take you over the falls, river tubing, gardens, and natural spring ponds. You can get there easily from Negril.
Explore this intricately woven network of stalagmites and stalactites as well as a subterranean lake at this site that was once a hideaway for runaway slaves and pirates. You’ll recognize it as the location of Kanaga’s Lair from the James Bond movie Live & Let Die.
10. Restaurants
The following restaurants feature gourmet cuisine and spectacular views of the water or waterfalls that come right into them. There is a garden above the falls where you can stroll before or after your meal and enjoy the view.
An open air restaurant in a picturesque rainforest setting that was once part of a sugar mill on a huge estate. You can stroll in the gardens above the waterfall before or after your meal. There are some wonderful photo stops.
Enjoy gourmet cuisine and elegant dining at this restaurant that has the original working water wheel that powered the stream on this mid-17th century, 50,000 acres Running Gut sugar plantation.
Bellfield 1794 Restaurant & Greathouse
The restaurant is an old sugar mill on what used to be a sugar estate. Guests normally have cocktails in the waiting area before touring the greathouse situated on Barnett Estate. The dining room has a thatched roof and no walls.
Kingston – Gone but Not Forgotten
The Mill Restaurant, Manor Park Plaza
When I was working in Kingston, I used to love this restaurant located at Manor Park Plaza that at the time was known as The Mill. I was disappointed when it closed down. It lives on in my memories. If anyone knows what’s standing there now, please add your comments. I’d love to know for old times sake.
Brawta: Dogsledding in Jamaica
Ocho Rios
There will be no snow in sight and you’ll be on dry land but, in Jamaica, you CAN go dogsledding.
Yes, as featured in the movie Sun Dogs, there really IS a Jamaican Dogsled Team. Here is how it got started.
So, you CAN have fun in Jamaica when you’re finished lying on the beach and there really is something for everyone.
Let Executive Oasis International Take Your Team to Jamaica
Executive Oasis International would be pleased to build a customized itinerary for you based on your interests. We can also offer you one of our own itineraries that give your group some down time and also a chance to experience some of the attractions we’ve described.
In the Footsteps of James Bond
Explore the places in Jamaica where some of the most memorable scenes in the James Bond movies were filmed including Kanaga’s Lair in Live and Let Die and the place where James Bond walked on the back of the crocodiles
This New York Times video gives you a glimpse of just a few of the locations you’ll visit. I wonder if they got the idea for this piece from me.
