Incentive travel: how to plan your trip to Italy

What is the point of incentive travel?

Incentive travel is an excellent tool that an increasing number of companies is using to motivate their employees, reward them for outstanding results and prompt them to reach certain goals (such as improving sales). Incentive travels doubles as an effective team-building tool, even without a specific team-building project attached to it: going on a trip with someone, sharing new experiences and the making of memories, inevitably leads to bonding and it helps build a stronger company culture.

What you need to plan the perfect incentive trip to Italy

Consider hiring someone on-site, someone with in-depth knowledge of the territory and relevant experience in the fields of corporate event planning. Incentive travel differs from normal leisure travel in many ways. It is meant to provide the kind of experiences that your employees would not embark upon on their own. Moreover, when we plan our own travel, we are in charge of the whole experience and responsible for our own mistakes. Booking a disappointing excursion, choosing the wrong restaurant or miscalculating the distance between the hotel and the main local attraction are common mistakes that most of us have made, and we can laugh them off when they are our responsibility. If, however, those same mistakes are the employer’s responsibility during an incentive trip, the reaction and the emotional impact will be quite different. When planning an incentive trip, you simply can’t afford to make the wrong choice. If Italy is your chosen destination, you will need to choose between a seemingly endless range of options. Seaside or mountains? Art cities or countryside retreat? Bathing suits or winter clothes? Sports or relaxation? Comfort food or healthy eating? Adventure or culture? Roasted piglet or vegan buffet? Italy offers all of this and much more and making the wrong choice will negate the very essence of incentive travel.

Know your budget

Like any other project, an incentive trip to Italy needs to have a clear-cut budget. This will be the first line you draw, for your incentive travel experts to work within. Your budget and the size of your group will determine the kind of accommodation you can access. With Italy in particular, a smaller budget doesn’t need to be a problem. Most of the popular destinations in the Country (such as art-cities and natural landmarks) are in close proximity to lesser-known ones (small towns and villages) that offer less costly accommodation in beautiful settings. If you want to send your employees on an art tour of Florence, for instance, you might save money by having them stay in a villa in the Tuscan countryside. The accommodation will be as high-end as any hotel in the city, the surroundings will be breathtakingly beautiful, filled with old-country charm, and providing transportation to the city centre will still be more cost-effective than booking a hotel near Piazza della Signoria. In order to make this work, of course, you need to rely on local experts to point you to the perfect solution for your specific needs. The same goes for meals: in Italy, you don’t need to spend a fortune to have the ultimate gourmet experience. You just need to know the right trattoria.