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Meeting and Event Analysis, Case Study 1, pp. 1 –5 978182345-58-8/11 $25.00 + 0.15 Tales From the Trenches DOI: 10.3727/97818823455811X13033147356031 Printed in the USA. All rights reserved. www.cognizantcommunication.com Copyright © 2011 Cognizant Comm. Corp.

Case Study 1

An Unexpected Challenge

Thomas B. Anderson

Incentive trips are rewards for hard work. They are a way for a company to motivate and reward employees for meeting sales. They are also a lot of work for event planners. The pressure is to create a “once in a lifetime” ex- perience. Planners rely heavily on the staff to make the trip memorable. What do you do when a wildcat strike occurs the morning before the first of three large incentive trips?

I awoke shortly after 8 am, startled that my preordered early morning “wake-up” cof- fee did not arrive. It was a cool but sunny Sunday morning on Costa del Sol. Surprised, I pulled on my jeans and t-shirt and headed to the lobby.

The previous day, upon arrival, I was greeted at Malaga airport by my trusted DMC representative, Enrique, who advised me “not to worry.” I was about to begin a series of three 7-night back-to-back incentive trips for 750 auto industry executives in the Mar- bella region of the Costa del Sol. Our home was a five-star luxury resort in a picture postcard setting overlooking the Mediterranean.

All the details were in place: welcome and closing receptions and dinners; tours to local cities like Sintra, Granada, Seville, and Tangier; golf, tennis, and sailing; pool par- ties and plenty of local food and beverage options. For many it was the trip of a lifetime. I, on the other hand, had to make an excruciating decision. The local hotel workers union was about to call a “wildcat” strike. Every hotel in the Costa del Sol was about to shut down indefinitely.

I arrived in the lobby and there was not a soul to be seen. As I stood at the front desk pondering what my next step might be, I immediately thought of my client, arriving in a few hours and how I could explain this unbelievable situation to him. “Don’t panic,” I said to myself. “I need to get info and find out exactly what is going on and how long it might last. Maybe by the time the group arrived later tonight it would be back to nor- mal, business as usual.” I called my hotel sales contact, who I had been working with for nearly 2 years and found that, conveniently for him, he was back in the States on a weeklong sales trip! Yikes.

2 T. B. Anderson

So now I was faced with two options: proceed with caution (and hope and opti- mism), or cancel the program and avoid an embarrassing and tenuous situation. Not an easy decision by any means, I had 750 incentive winners arriving, taking the trip of a lifetime, one they worked hard for all year. Also they were bringing guests who had taken time off from their own jobs and had arranged childcare and who were also in- deed looking forward to enjoying a week of sun and adventure. It would be demoraliz- ing to cancel the trip.

I also had to consider the Company. They would be faced with millions of lost dol- lars in deposits paid to the charter airline, the resort, the local DMC, and all the other vendors and all the marketing and promotional expenses. Even putting the financial losses aside, the Company image and employee motivation would suffer tremendously from a cancellation. It could take months to recoup the goodwill and motivation that they tried so hard for and achieved.

I had less than 10 hours before the first charter was scheduled to leave for Malaga, so decisions had to be made quickly. My first step was to get a handle on the situation at the hotel. After that I had to contact the client, brief him, present the situation and al- ternatives, and come to a decision. The client was scheduled to arrive a few hours prior to the first charter, so this meant I had to move quickly.

Assessing the Situation I didn’t want the client to arrive with no idea of what was happening, so I called him

on his cell to give him a heads up when he landed. Then I went on a search for some- one that could help me. I was able to locate the sales office assistant manager, who was coordinating the front desk arrivals and departures and got an overview from her. It was not promising; there was no staff, which meant no services. If we went ahead with the trip, my staff and I (12 people) would have to be prepared to do everything.

What did “everything” mean? It meant guest rooms, food, tours, transportation, and security. I set out to get a realistic idea of the state of each of these areas so that I could present this to the client.

Currently there were 125 clean rooms for the first guests, but there were no house- keeping services. This meant that vacated rooms would remain dirty and unoccupied until the strike was over. We could arrange to have laundry done mid-week, with clean sheet/towels delivered to guests.

We needed to provide breakfast and dinner for 250 people each week. It was clear that hot meals would not happen, but after a tour of the kitchens with the assistant sales manager, I determined that a limited continental breakfast of fruit, rolls, juice, and coffee could be served for a few days. The welcoming and closing receptions and the mid-week dinner could be taken off property with relative ease. The other dinners could be done with restaurants in the local area, although feeding 250 people at a time could be difficult.

Fortunately the tours and transportation were not arranged with the hotel. This meant that they could proceed as planned.

There was no security staff available from the hotel, and my staff and I would not be able to perform this function. The local police station was contacted, with a request for uniformed officers. In addition I was able to arrange for private security guards.

My final step in assessing the situation was to meet with hotel management and the DMC representative. We brainstormed ideas and solutions that could be presented to the client.

An Unexpected Challenge 3

To Stay or Not to Stay In a very short period of time I had an assessment of the situation and suggestions for

how to proceed. Now I waited for the client so that I could brief him on the situation and allow him to make the decision of what to do next. After hearing everything, the client decided we would proceed with the event.

First Challenge: Arrival The charter was delayed 3 hours so our first 250 guests would be arriving at midnight.

Of course, in keeping with the theme of what more could happen, it was pouring rain. At 1:00 AM, 250 very tired guests and 1,000 pieces of somewhat wet baggage were in the hotel lobby. It was not a happy greeting; there were no hotel staff to greet them, no bell- boys to carry luggage, no hot coffee or bar service. I announced the situation of the strike on loudspeaker and we began handing out room keys, trying to convey an optimistic view.

Second Challenge: Picketers An Executive Luncheon was scheduled for Monday, and I set out to find a few restau-

rants in Puerto Banus. I jumped in my car and drove out the main entrance of the hotel through a parade of picketers. I would learn later that I would become a target of injus- tice for them. They really wanted me to cancel the trip.

As I came out of the first restaurant, I saw more picketers heading my way. They convinced some of the restaurants to join them in a “sympathy strike.” I struck a deal with the next restaurant and loaded up my car and headed back to the Hotel. I took a different route to avoid driving past the picket line.

Successes and Challenges: The Rest of the Week Most of the guests settled into the situation with a positive attitude. The weather was

perfect, the full-day excursions went off without a hitch, and the dining “adventure” each evening made up for the more formal gatherings that had been planned.

Two significant challenges happened that week: an inebriated guest who decided to initiate a fight, and a bomb threat. The fight began at a group dinner when a guest who had way too much to drink decided that I had “ruined his trip.” With a little physical restraint, we were able to contain the incident and instructed the guest (and his wife) to return home immediately.

The striking union decided to use some heavy-handed tactics to get management’s at- tention. A rumor was spread that a bomb would go off within the next 24 hours. This was my first experience with a bomb threat, but I knew that it was always taken seriously. I met with the head of hotel security and the local police, who advised me that a group of plain- clothes officers would be searching the building using dogs and sensors. We were advised not to tell our guests before finding out if it was a prank. Thankfully, there was no bomb.

The Final Day: Sunday On the last day, a Sunday, 25 guests wanted to go to church. I chartered a minibus as

taxis were not allowed to cross the picket lines. I also arranged for armed guards to be positioned in the front and back of the bus in case of problems with the picketers. It

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was definitely an unusual sight—armed guards taking a group of tourists to church on Sunday morning.

Big Decision to be Made It was a long week. With the strike still in full swing, the question we had for the cli-

ent was whether or not to bring the next group. Because we had a basic footprint in place and the expectations of the guests were so high, executing week two seemed like a natural. The decision was made. A fresh set of troops were brought in, well rested and briefed on what we hoped would be a much smoother operation. In addition, we had heard that a settlement in the works.

The second group arrived and fortunately the strike was settled the next day. It was back to normal and everyone was happy to be back at work. Customer service was at the optimum. Weeks two and three went off without a hitch.

Notes

Event

Event type: Incentive Event attendees: Employees and Guests Third-party planner hired to develop an incentive trip that would reward and motiva-

tion employees for high sales

Event Planning Phases

Planning: venue staff, supplier/venue relationship Coordination: on-site logistics

Challenges

Wildcat strike Picketers No hotel staff Food and beverage Activity schedule Bomb threat

Potential Questions for Discussion or Testing 1. Was there any way for the planner to have prepared for the strike? 2. What other options could have been presented to the client? 3. How would you create a staffing schedule for this situation? 4. How would you handle crossing a picket line? 5. What suggestions do you have for dealing with a strike while you are on-site? 6. How do you notify guests of a strike? 7. What would you do if you received a bomb threat? 8. Evaluate the planner’s solutions and suggest alternative strategies. 9. What effect did all the necessary changes have to the budget of the event? 10. Outline a policy for dealing with guests who were unhappy with the experi-

ence.

An Unexpected Challenge 5

Thomas B. Anderson, CMP, is currently Manager of Conferences & Events for the Technology Services Industry Association, the largest technology services association in the world, with a constituency of over 60,000 members representing all the major play- ers in technology as well as a strong SMB component. He plans and manages major events and trade shows, worldwide.

Prior to joining TSIA, Tom was Division President and ran UNIGLOBE® Main Events, a third-party convention and meeting planning company that was a wholly owned divi- sion of UNIGLOBE Travel International, the retail agency chain.

His business background includes a variety of management positions with government agencies: Canada Tourism, Tourism Toronto; suppliers: Pala Mesa Golf Resort; Master- piece Entertainment and The Group Planners destination management; and travel retail- ers, UNIGLOBE® Travel International and Carlson Motivation (formerly P. Lawson Travel Canada). Tom has spearheaded the planning and execution of meetings and events world- wide for a wide variety of companies and clients,- ranging from 50 to 6,500 attendees.

Recognized as a leader in the meeting and convention industry for over 25 years, Tom is a Past President of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) San Diego Chapter, a member of ASAE, and has his Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) accreditation.