Stellar Events Blog

Recently I enjoyed the outstanding service and beautiful setting of the five-diamond Grand Velas Nuevo Vallarta,  located about 15 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta’s airport. This beautiful resort offers an elegance that I never expected from an all-inclusive, and our stay was perfect.

Although some guests never leave the resort grounds, I always explore the locale. A highlight of this trip was joining the promenade of locals in downtown Puerto Vallarta on Sunday evening, complete with a band concert in a park gazebo and circus-style performers at a seaside public amphitheater.

On Monday hotel guests who relaxed poolside were surprised to find that one of the locals stopped by for a swim – a pelican, who obviously had very good taste.

Stellar Events can help you take advantage of the extraordinary value currently available at  Grand Velas Puerto Vallarta for a five-star, all-inclusive incentive program or corporate retreat.

The morning news programs have not been starting anybody’s day in a positive way.  The Discovery Channel HD has an antidote, and life is better since I found “Sunrise Earth”  at 7:00 a.m.( Monday through Friday.)  Set in amazing global sites, it is one hour of astonishing, uninterrupted beauty as nature awakens in edited “real time.”   Recent favorites include the Florida Everglades, Haleakala on Maui, Venice’s canals, and geysers in Yellowstone - pictured below.

It’s good to tune out the junk and remember that THIS is reality.

The highlight of my recent stay at Dreams,an excellent, high-end all-inclusive resort in Los Cabos, was the sea turtle release, which occurs frequently in the Fall on the shores of the Sea of Cortez. Several hotels in the corridor, including the nearby Hilton Los Cabos (a superb resort with the area’s only swimmable beach) protect nests of turtle eggs with 24-hour patrol.  The eggs hatch in about 45 days, and guests participate in the release.

Each nest has about 60 eggs, and during my stay there were daily hatchings. Observers were totally enthralled by this amazing experience, cheering the reptiles as they instinctively crawled from the beach into the sea.

All seven species of sea turtles, including the Olive Ridley found in Los Cabos, are endangered, and the efforts of the hotels to protect them deserves applause.

Almost everyone wants to visit Costa Rica – a fabulous destination with unique activities, friendly locals, enticing cuisine, and gorgeous beaches. Because incentive trips require the best of the best, hotel choices are currently limited, with the outstanding Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo (pictured below) as a consistent favorite.

However, development is rampant in northwestern Costa Rica’s Guanacaste province, and it’s amazing how many elite resorts are under construction. Here’s a partial list of luxury properties with name-brand reputations, along with projected opening dates:

• JW Marriott – December 2008
• Hyatt Regency Azulera Resort – 2009
• Mandarin Oriental – 2009
• Regent Papagayo – 2010
• One and Only Resort Cacique – 2010

Now is the time to plan ahead and look for pre-opening values – Stellar Events excels at negotiation, and we LOVE to see hotels compete for your business. 

I just saw a presentation about the Four Seasons Bora Bora, which opens this summer, and it looks like heaven:

In this economic climate, incentive trips are more important than ever.  Stellar Events has found that it is the high-end destinations, offering the best of the best, that consistently motivate clients, salespeople, or whomever your target audience is.  This resort has attractive pre-opening group rates, and it’s truly special:

- Set on its own private moto (islet)

- 100 over water bungalows (all suites over 1,000 sq. ft.) and 7 beachfront villas

- 15-minute ride across the lagoon in a private launch from Bora Bora Airport

A new resort set in paradise, and it’s a Four Seasons.  Can you imagine a more appealing incentive destination for 2009?

Stellar Events is finally seeing European suppliers respond to our repeated requests to guarantee rates for incentive travel in U.S. dollars.   As noted in previous entries, our clients prefer sites such as Bermuda and Costa Rica, where their budgets are secured in US dollars.

Ireland   is a popular  incentive and meeting destination, and we just received an amazing offer guaranteed in US dollars instead of Euros.   For an outstanding price of $1,700 US per person, based on double occupancy,  a trusted supplier is offering 5 nights in Dublin at the  luxurious Clontarf Castle  plus daily breakfast, welcome buffet, an off-property dinner with entertainment and transfers, farewell gala dinner with entertainment, a half day tour, a full day tour with pub lunch, plus airport transfers.

  

Clontarf Castle

With Aer Lingus   offering bargain short-term airfares,  excellent group rates can be negotiated.   Plus, they are partnering with Jet Blue on over 25 connecting cities that link to Aer Lingus’ New York departure.

In recent years, Ireland’s booming economy has been termed the “Celtic Tiger.”   This offer showcases how the Irish succeed by creating a financial edge over the competition.   Take advantage of it!

Although Bermuda offers the unique charm of its British heritage, the costs associated with hotels, restaurants and an all-around good time are far, far below those of a trip to England. Last summer our client, a television station, marveled at the splendid and affordable incentive trip they could offer their top advertisers. With all prices quoted in US dollars, the budget was never a worry.

The obvious hotel choice for an incentive program or any corporate meeting is the tradition-rich Fairmont Southampton, which is elegantly perched on a hill overlooking the Atlantic on one side and the Great Sound on the other, so every guest enjoys a fabulous waterview.

It’s just a short stroll to Horseshoe Beach’s fabled pink sand. Our Welcome Reception included a croquet tournament on the hotel’s Great Sound Lawn (view pictured at right) as well as a memorable sunset.

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The golf is legendary (this 20 square mile island has nine courses), the shopping is special (Irish Linen Shop  and Dockyard Glassworks, for example) and the location is convenient (just 600 miles east of North Carolina.)  It’s an ideal warm weather incentive trip destination for travelers from the East Coast.

But the feature that most impressed our client’s guests was their very own private yacht, “Spellbound,” which they boarded three times for:

• A snorkeling adventure
• A sunset trip to Hamilton, for Friday night’s traditional “Happy Hour” on the Great Lawn of the Hamilton Princess.
• A leisurely cruise to the Commissioner’s House and Maritime Museum at the island’s western tip for a gala farewell dinner.

Continuing to highlight affordable international incentive trip destinations that are not affected by the rise of the Euro or the Canadian dollar: the most popular by far among Stellar Events’ clients is Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is a hot, hot, hot destination, with several new resorts opening within the next two years (more on that another time.)  While incentive groups with a higher budget flock to the luxurious Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica for a fabulous experience, this client delighted in the value of the all-inclusive Paradisus Playa Conchal, located relatively near the Four Seasons in the trendy northwestern area served by Liberia’s International Airport.

Because all the participants’ rooms were upgraded to the Royal Service Regal Suites level, they relaxed in a new, adults-only area with many special privileges and dedicated butler service.  

Costa Rica’s most appealing features are its natural wonders, and the plentiful activity choices make is easy to create a rich incentive experience:

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Consider the “mega-adventure” which combines zip line, horseback riding, and thermal springs plus mud baths in one memorable day.

And the outrigger canoe outing, with abundant fresh fruit snacks after snorkeling, is extraordinary.

When I first planned corporate meetings and incentive trips seventeen years ago, people rushed into airports at the last minute without showing ID, and attendees registered by mailing back forms in business reply envelopes.   We didn’t have email and our computer screens were black and white.

So much has changed, but one aspect of the meeting planning business remains constant:  the need and desire for people to communicate face to face, whether at an industry trade show in Las Vegas, a sales conference in Vancouver, or a fabulous incentive cruise in the Mediterranean.

Stellar Events has enjoyed the privilege of partnering with amazing people and successful companies over the years, gathering meeting planning and negotiation experience that enables us to offer our clients outstanding service as well as value.

The aim of this blog is to share ideas and spark interest in the power of meetings where you shake someone’s hand rather than stare at a screen.   We embrace the technology such as e-vites and secure online registration that enable us to serve our clients and attendees more efficiently.  However, we recognize there is no substitute for creativity and the pleasure of meeting or re-acquainting yourself with your colleagues in person.

May we take you on a journey?   It’s possible to create a memorable meeting that is also cost-effective.    Stellar Events knows exactly where to go.   Although we hear the concerns about the weak dollar, we recently operated three fabulous international incentive trips that were immune to the rising Euro and Canadian dollar.  All these destinations’ suppliers guaranteed rates in US dollar - today let’s consider:

Peru  -   Combine one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Machu Picchu, with the hotel that is consistently voted the best in Latin America, Monasterio, in Cusco, and you have a unique incentive trip that your guests will never forget.