New Version of Maritz Travel Insight Launched to Offer More Options in Improving Effectiveness of Incentive Travel Programs

Today at The Motivation Show, Maritz Travel announced key additions to Maritz Travel Insight, an online survey and analysis tool that uncovers what elements of incentive travel rewards provide the highest level of motivation for a company’s unique set of employees or sales channel partners.

Chicago, IL (PRWEB) October 6, 2006 -- Today at The Motivation Show, Maritz Travel announced key additions to Maritz Travel Insight, an online survey and analysis tool that uncovers what elements of incentive travel rewards provide the highest level of motivation for a company’s unique set of employees or sales channel partners.

Incorporating feedback from current Maritz Travel Insight users, the new version expands the number of travel experience elements it evaluates, including the motivational impact of the following:

•    Hotel quality (Luxury, deluxe, upscale or moderate)

•    24 different hotel brands

•    10 different cruise brands

•    Specific destination types (beach, big city, mountain, etc.)

•    Specific travel destinations (Cancun, Hawaii, Italy, Las Vegas, etc.)

In addition, the tool now provides companies of all sizes with a way to optimize their current travel incentive program spend, whether they want to focus on making their one annual trip the best it can be or identifying the right mix of several travel experience choices to ensure all segments of their diverse workforce are motivated to higher performance levels. Maritz is currently using Travel Insight with three clients: Cingular, a brewery and an insurance company.

“There are three main incentive travel program problems companies face – how to keep participants engaged year after year, develop a program that motivates middle as well as the usual top performers, and get more bang for the buck,” said Christine Duffy, CEO, Maritz Travel. “Maritz Travel Insight helps companies overcome these challenges by identifying the areas most motivating to participants and designing incentive travel programs tailored to these desires.”

“Without full engagement from the top producers on down the motivational value of the incentive is limited,” said Karen Bennett, vice president of sales strategy and support for Cingular. “If you’re going to make this kind of investment, you want to make sure that you’ve got the engagement and motivation, and that it is clearly linked to your business drivers so that get the maximum value.”

HOW MARITZ TRAVEL INSIGHT WORKS

Maritz Travel Insight surveys incentive travel program participants to determine what travel attributes, activities and interests are most appealing to them. There are a variety of options, such as destination, attendee type, activities, trip length and date flexibility, and the survey can be customized to meet each company’s individual culture or needs. Results are then compiled into an easy-to-use decision support tool used to conduct head-to-head comparisons of the motivational return of different travel experiences. The results can be viewed across all participants, or segmented by demographic sub-groups.

“The program identifies the trade-offs associated with different combinations of program elements. For example, will the trip be more motivational for your participants if it includes a luxury hotel or does holding it in a more exotic location have a bigger impact?,” said Chris Gaia, vice president of marketing, Maritz Travel. “It also helps companies maximize their incentive program spend. For example, if your workforce consists of young families, you may find out they are more motivated by a less expensive four-day trip to a theme park than the seven-day ski trip to Colorado that you sent them on last year.”

SELECT STUDY FINDINGS – A recent Maritz Travel Insight survey of nationwide incentive travel program participants found:

•    The most important attribute was destination type, with cruises (36%) and beach/sun/water locations (31%) ranked as the most motivational.

•    Guest policy was the second most important attribute, with more than half (53%) of respondents reporting they are most motivated by trips that allow them to bring family members or other guests.

•    Luxury level of the hotel type ranked a close third in most important attributes.

•    Different people are motivated by various hotel brands or luxury categories. While hotel brands like Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons were in the top four for all people surveyed, brands like W and Park Hyatt ranked much higher with those under 30 and Meridian ranked much higher for those ages 40 and above.

•    While Royal Caribbean and Radisson Seven Seas were in the top two cruise brands for all, employees with children included Disney in their top three and those with higher incomes ranked Seabourne or SilverSea in their top three.

•    All income levels ranked Hawaii and Italy in their top four destinations, but those with incomes above $250,000 included Las Vegas and Cabo San Lucas in the top four and those with incomes under $25,000 showed more of a preference for Cancun.

About Maritz Inc.

Founded in 1894, St. Louis-based Maritz Inc. helps companies achieve their full potential through understanding, developing, and motivating employees, channel partners and customers. The company consists of seven business units:

• Maritz Incentives             • Maritz Interactions

• Maritz Learning            • Maritz Loyalty

• Maritz Research            • Maritz Rewards

• Maritz Travel

Maritz has key offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany, with alliances in Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific and the Americas and ranked No. 265 on the most recent Forbes list of 500 Largest Private Companies. For more information, visit www.maritz.com or contact us at 1-877-4MARITZ.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Interviews with companies that have used Maritz Travel Insight and online demonstrations of the tool are available by request. Please contact Maria Ronan at 212-754-6500 for more information.

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