Case Studies

Delivering an Even Greater Trip. Large-scale Incentive Tour With Personalized Hospitality for 25th Anniversary

Industry :IT Company

Participants :250

Destination :Bangkok, Ayutthaya

Period :May 22-24 and 27-29, 2024 (two groups)

# Case Studies
# Group Travel
# Asia

Summary

Planning special incentive tours for the company’s 25th anniversary celebration
Creating a sightseeing plan that would satisfy 250 guests
Demonstrating JTB’s services through accommodation, transportation, and sightseeing
Delivering a memorable trip worthy of an anniversary project

Objectives

JTB Hong Kong was assigned to organize a company trip for an IT company with a branch office in Hong Kong. This company plans a large trip for all its employees every five years, but for this year in particular, they wanted to do something special: a memorable 25th anniversary trip that would encourage employees to get to know each other and boost morale in the process.

With the trip five years earlier having Taiwan as the destination, the guests for this tour requested that accommodations and sightseeing leave an even stronger impression. After confirming with the client about the number of people and budget, we suggested Fukuoka in Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam as potential destinations that met their requirements.

Our Hong Kong team is highly experienced in working with international clientele and creating unique and memorable tours. The team in charge of this tour had extensive experience in planning themed tours, and the client ultimately chose Bangkok and Ayutthaya in Thailand for the 25th anniversary trip.

Challenges

With a large group of 250 people traveling from Hong Kong, there was a wide range of issues that needed to be resolved in a short period of time.

These included arranging flights and hotels, scheduling local sightseeing activities, and making the tour unique enough to make it memorable for guests.In addition, we needed to accommodate more than a dozen specific requests, such as coordinating the accompaniment of some employees' family members, extra nights before and after the scheduled time at the destination, room upgrades, dining requests, and so on. We also organized a special group trip for those who requested a sales kick-off meeting during their time in Thailand.

Finally, all six executives participating in the trip requested their own personal itineraries, resulting in multiple itinerary routes and individual transportation arrangements. This meant itineraries beyond the main tour had to be created to accommodate each of their schedules.

Key Points

Tour for 250 people traveling together
Hospitality that responds to guests' detailed requests
Special itineraries and events to celebrate the anniversary

Solutions

Responding to individual requests to the hotel

Hotel reservations involved persistent negotiation until just before the start of the tour to secure places to stay for the entire itinerary. To prevent any omissions during the confirmation process, a direct point of contact with our desk was established to handle any sudden requests, such as room upgrades as well as booking extra days before or after the originally booked dates.

Proposing dividing group across two flights

The short time frame between the initial request by the client and making preparations made it difficult to accommodate everyone on a single airline. To this end, we worked with the client and the airline in arranging the tour to be split into two groups across two different periods in May. The itinerary was also adjusted to take into consideration this change, thus making it possible to transport two groups of over 100 people.

Capturing memorable commemorative group photographs

As this was a special 25th anniversary tour, we planned group photo shoots for 100 guests in stunning locations. Some locations in Thailand, such as the Grand Palace, do not permit photoshoots with such large groups. Therefore we selected locations among a list of historical buildings where it was possible to have group shoots that were away from major crowds. Through our research, we were able to take memorable commemorative photos at Ayutthaya Historical Park and the Ayutthaya Ruins.

Consideration for a diverse dining options

One of Bangkok's most popular tourist attractions are the local night markets. With this in mind, we selected hotels near them, allowing guests to enjoy local Thai delicacies even during their free time. We also arranged restaurants featuring not only Thai food, but also international buffets and a boat cruise with a choice of dishes for each group.

Flexibility thorough knowledge of local climate and geography

The extremely high temperatures in Thailand in May meant we worked with our local guides to allow for flexibility, changing some of our plans and switching to in-train sightseeing experiences, or reducing the time we spent outside, changing to a local shopping mall as an alternative for example. There was a strong emphasis on safety and comfort, such as returning to the hotel after an unexpected squall to allow time for guests to change clothes.

Conclusion

This large-scale incentive tour that we had to split into two groups was a success. The client complimented us on our excellent customer service through the way we responded to the detailed requests of each guest. The president also sent an email to the branch manager thanking the team for our excellent arrangements. There was particular praise for our professionalism in delivering smooth itineraries in any country.

This project led to requests for annual dinners, benefit programs, events for business partners, and other ongoing partnerships. It was through the concerted efforts of the entire team at JTB Hong Kong that it was possible to meet the client's requirements, with personalized attention to each individual, and flexible planning that places safety as the top priority when conditions on the ground change.

Project Lead

Takaya Goto

JTB (Hong Kong) Limited
Corporate Sales Department
Sales Representative

I have been engaged in corporate sales for nearly 4 years in Tokyo and Hong Kong; mainly handling Meeting & Events, company trips, incentive trips, promotions of Japanese products.