Downsized travel = local opportunity

Date: November 7, 2009

WEST MICHIGAN - How do you make a trip to West Michigan as exciting as an African safari?

As a result of the economic crisis in 2008, large, extravagant business trips and incentive travel have been down-scaled with many area companies bringing meetings back to the Grand Rapids area, according to Amy Young, co-owner of Grand Connection Inc., a meeting management firm in Grand Rapids. Her company handles all the logistics from selecting hotels, registration, shuttles and anything to do with meetings outside of the content.

A group from Germany and Eastern Europe affiliated with Steelcase Inc. previously traveled to Africa for a safari and a visit to Victoria Falls. Young was tasked with creating a trip to West Michigan that rivaled that African trip. Grand Connection developed a theme for the trip – "Small Towns and City Lights" – and received rave reviews from the Europeans.

The West Michigan trip included overnights at the JW Marriott in Grand Rapids, a tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright home, dune rides on Silver Lake, photos in a Steelcase semi-trailer and helicopter tours and sailing in Chicago. Young said the Europeans were "blown away" by Lake Michigan with its fresh water and available fishing.

"When you say Grand Rapids, Michigan, it does not scream extravagance," Young told M&C.

However, the region can offer fun, unique experiences with plentiful restaurants, and hotels with a walkable downtown.

What's been described as the "AIG effect" has resulted in scaled-back incentive travel. What was seven nights in Rome may now be three nights in the Florida Keys. Instead of Las Vegas, Palm Springs and Hawaii, it's Detroit, Denver or Dallas.

The American International Group (AIG), the largest U.S. insurance company, was bailed out by the Federal Reserve and then, as it teetered on the brink of collapse, received negative publicity about extravagant trips and huge bonuses to top executives. AIG gave the whole insurance industry a bad reputation, Young said.

"The (incentive) industry is reeling to try to change the perception," Young said.

Incentive trips have been used by a variety of companies to boost sales and employee morale. Young said incentives serve as a carrot for employees and typically are better than the stick approach that uses fear to motivate employees – rewards work better than penalties.

Andrea Bau, owner of A-List Event Planners in Kalamazoo, said some of her business clients have decreased the number of meetings they host. Businesses that used to host weekly meetings may be down to a handful a year.

Bau said she has seen a pick-up in the last six months in the number of conference and business meetings, although she is unsure of whether it is an improved economy or her five-year old business becoming more well-known. Her business clients are typically from out-of-state and hire her to host a meeting in the Kalamazoo area. An example is a Miami, Fla.-based medical research company that hosts medical education conferences at Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo and Lakeland Hospital in St. Joseph.

Even in a down economy, businesses have a fine line to walk, Bau said.

"They need to have enough of the meetings to provide the doctors with updated medical information that they need, but also watch how much they are spending to do that," Bau told M&C.

During the downturn, Bau has noticed companies are doing less with their goodie bags and giveaways because there are fewer companies able to donate.

As an upside to more meetings being brought back to West Michigan, restaurants, hotels, golf courses and attractions all benefit from more business, although it's definitely a buyer's market, Young said.

Janet Korn, VP of marketing for the Grand Rapids/Kent County Convention & Visitors Bureau said there are some indications that corporations are keeping their meetings local as companies strive to make their meetings and events more affordable.

Korn said the CVB looks to local people who belong to national associations and groups to help the CVB book future meetings. Bringittograndrapids.com is a Web site of several years that is used as a follow-up mechanism to encourage people to bring meetings to the Grand Rapids area.

Although Grand Rapids is still a cost effective option for meetings, other destinations have become more affordable and are on sale right now.

"We have new competition – we're having to step up our efforts because there are others who typically weren't that interested in our target markets," Korn told M&C. "We hope the client recognizes the fact that we've always been soliciting their business." M&C

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This article appeared in the Monday, October 26, 2009 issue of MiBiz, read by upper management executives in West and Southwest Michigan. Print subscriptions are free to qualified individuals who are employed in West and Southwest Michigan. For further information about MiBiz, visit www.mibiz.com.