Group Travel Scoop - Groople.com

Packing Lightly for Group Travel

Time for some ultra-practical travel advice from the Group Scoop – how to pack lightly. With the major airlines now charging people to check their luggage, it’s inviting to think of ways to pack everything on to a carry-on.

I’m not going to go into clothes folding techniques, nor give you a slim pair of shoes to shop for, you can handle that. What I will do is point you towards a couple products out there that will aid you in packing everything into one small case.

First up is the Spacepak… a luggage system that aids you in clothing compression.

What about traveling with toiletries that you can carry-on? We all know that TSA has tight restrictions on bottles of fluid of any kind. MySmartPac is TSA-compliant toiletry kits that including cleanser, deodorant, lotion, toothpaste, and more all in biodegradable packaging.

These products will provide you with a head start, being able to do more with less (luggage) is the real key to victory here.

Group Travel To Green Hotels

Two green hotels to spend your travel dollar at.

I know that many of you are concerned about environmentally sustainable travel. You want to support businesses trying to be environmentally conscience. I have two hotel chains for you to consider that are trying to clean up their environmental act.

To my judgmental mind (full disclosure!) this first one is a surprise – Harrah’s Entertainment. Harrah’s has been doing a lot to reduce it’s environmental impact. In fact, they have recently won the highest recognition given by the Environmental Protection Agency Region Two. The EPA Region Two (New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, etc) gave the award to Harrah’s for demonstrating an outstanding commitment to protecting and enhancing environmental quality in the region.

What Harrah’s has done…

Since 2002 Harrah’s has taken on the challenge of becoming "green." With the direct involvement of its 16,000 employees, Harrah’s has eliminated from 2002 levels, 94 million pounds of carbon dioxide use. Harrah’s also recycles 50,000 gallons of cooking oil waste each year from its kitchens, uses waterless urinals, and recycles 1.6 million pounds of cardboard.

The second Hotel chain to make big strides in going Green are those under the "Starwood" label (Sheraton, Four points, Westin and more). Starwood’s new "Element" Brand will be some of the greenest hotels in the business. They pledge to build this brand to industry leading environmental standards. The "test" Element brand hotel featuring these green "elements" is the new 124 room property in Lexington, MA. This entire chain will feature building design recommendations from the US Green Building Council.

If you want to see more hotels incorporate these changes, vote with your feet and support these chains.

FlyClear of Airport Security

Want your group to "fly" through security at the airport? Want to "soar" above the rest of the crowd waiting to be screened? Want to "rise above"… enough with the cheesy flying references.

Point is I have a pretty nifty idea for frequent fliers. It’s called flyclear. It’s a card that entitles its holder to bypass security in the airport. What’s even better is you can skip security and NOT be gang tackled by homeland security. Not bad.

The flyclear program is in a number of major airports including: Albany, Newark, Denver, Orlando, Indianapolis, San Francisco, JFK, San Jose and more…

This luxury will cost you $128 in fees and a few minutes of hassle. Step one is complete you application online. Step two is stop by a local flyclear location prove who you are, take a photo, and your prints.

Fly clear costs a little bit of money and a little bit of time to give you a privilege only the president used to get- getting on a plane without standing in line for security.

Your Vegas Convention

I’m going to assume that word of mouth and advertising has taken care of the why you should go to Las Vegas for your convention. With the why taken of, let’s take care of some of the what and the how. Here comes some background and advise on planning a convention in Las Vegas.

First off, Vegas is busy, busy, busy. Whenever you have your convention in Vegas you will not be the only convention in town. Always expect people and lots of ‘em. There is no time of the year when the occupancy level of Vegas hotels drops below 80%, even on weekdays. That is not to say that there aren’t good times to go if minimizing the amount of people is a concern. Better to go on the 80% occupancy days than the 99.9% ones. The slower times of year are Jan, Feb, June, and Dec. June jumps out as a time of year with the best combination of weather and smaller crowd numbers. The busiest month of the year is March for both conventions and crowds in Las Vegas with 20 major shows, 220,000 delegates, and 3.4 Million total visitors.

Group Scoop Trivia Tangent -  Las Vegas Historical Visitors

• 1976 9,769,354
• 1986 15,196,284
• 1996 29,636,361
• 2006 38,914,889

Just because Vegas has a lot of Conventions and is busy already does not mean it can’t handle more. It can. The city already has 133, 000 hotel rooms available and more coming online all the time. Vegas has four major convention facilities: the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Cashman Center, Sands Expo Convention Center, and the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. The city is also peppered with smaller facilities that are able to accommodate events of all sizes and needs. The agency in charge of coordinating conventions in the Las Vegas is the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). The LVCVA website contains information covering all the conventions logistics you’ll need.

More generally, tips for attending a Las Vegas Convention are the same as advise for attending conventions in other cities. Except the idea of staying onsite is especially pertinent in Vegas because the hotels are so large and inclusive they provide no excuse to miss out on the networking boost from staying onsite. Another idea is to pick a hotel along the monorail as Vegas is fairly large and walking to off site activities may not be an attractive option. If you have any delegates with special needs ask for your hotel’s ADA consultant as no city provides for special needs rooms better than Las Vegas.

Another important tip…use a travel expert to set up your convention. A resource like Groople.com can really save you time, money, and make life easy. Not that this space isn’t biased…but right is right.

My final piece of advise is to brush up on your gambling skills. Many of your delegates will likely indulge in Vegas’ main attraction- be prepared! Here’s some help:

General Gambling Advise #1          General Gambling Advise #2          Sports Betting Advise

"Always bet on black."

Summer Corporate Meetings Ideas

Summer - corporate meetings season? Lots of folks are on vacation during the summer months, and it is not typically the biggest meeting season of the year. During the summer months, we see some team building trips and a variety of corporate events.

My suggestion for this summer if you are trying to plan a meeting is to opt for simplicity. Summer is an excellent time to plan a meeting that also makes your team feel like they are being rewarded for their knowledge, expertise, and hard work. Plan an off-site corporate meeting based around a great location or beautiful setting, where people can feel relaxed. I am not suggesting you take everyone on a free vacation this year, but I do think you will be pleasantly surprised if you take a slightly different approach.

Opt for a little less planning and structure and a little more for spontaneity, creativity, and pleasure. There are beautiful retreat locations, mountain cabins, lake houses, beach properties, and golf resorts all over the United States. I have a few suggestions of places you might want to consider for something a little different in an off-site meeting venue. These places won't break the bank, either:

Northeastern U.S.:

Consider a trip to the Poconos. These mountains are stunning in their beauty, and offer everything from hiking to fishing. The town of Hawley is in the northerneastern Lake Region of the Poconos Mountains and offers several great resort properties. Plan ahead, and choose a great escape from the city for your next corporate meeting.

West Coast:

Not far from Los Angeles is the town of Ojai, a great place to host a small off-site meeting. Ojai is home to Lake Casitas, which is a great place to spend a summer day. Ojai Valley Inn and Spa offers world-class golf. In fact, it was rated the #1 golf resort in California by Conde Nast readers. Ojai, California has summer festivals, a Shakespeare festival and offers you and your colleagues the opportunity to really get away for a few days.

Rocky Mountain Region:

In northern New Mexico is The Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort and Casino. In the town of Mescalero, just outside of Ruidoso enjoy an incredible retreat at the Inn of the Mountain Gods. The meetings facilities are top-notch. The golf course is excellent, and the setting could not be more beautiful. The resort is owned and operated by the Mescalero Apache Tribe as a world-class resort facility in the heart of the New Mexico Mountains. Skiing in winter, golf in summer, hiking, fishing, and gorgeous scenery make the Inn of the Mountain Gods an ideal choice for an off-site meeting.

I just gave you some of my ideas. Please contribute some of your own by commenting on this post. Remember to keep it simple this summer when it comes to meetings. A winning idea might come on the trail or at the lakeshore instead of at the conference table.

Patrick Soch, Senior Marketing Manager