Imagine... your 100 guests are traveling comfortably en route from the United States to Florence, Italy on the incentive trip of a lifetime. Most of them have already dozed off with dreams of Italian splendor...

...of lush Tuscan landscapes dense with vineyards, olive groves, rustic farmhouses, blooming orchards, wooded valleys and old world nostalgia...

...of their luxurious guest rooms at the Westin Excelsior, an ornate palace with intricately designed marble floors and hand-painted artwork from wall to wall...one of the most opulent palazzos in all of Florence...

...and of the luscious breakfast buffet they will awaken to daily, with vine-ripened fresh fruit, hot baked bread, light fluffy omelets made-to-order, rich steaming cappuccinos and more...

KEY POINT: These dreams were generated months in advance, by a pre-trip promotional program that utilized motivational teasers, direct mail pieces, exciting emails and regional gifts.

What they weren’t dreaming of...was that something was about to go terribly wrong.

This is the true story of our client’s unbelievable experience and Mayer Motivations’ quick thinking and fast acting that ultimately saved the day!

So here are 100 guests on a flight to Florence, Italy. As usual, Mayer Motivations has taken care of every aspect of the trip, and our guests are snoozing away, personally escorted by a uniformed member of our staff.

KEY POINT: On every trip, at least one Mayer Motivations escort accompanies the group on all flights, from their home town to their destination and back again.

Meanwhile, another Mayer Motivations’ team is already in Florence making final preparations for our guests’ arrival. We make sure that our guests are seamlessly transported from the airport to the hotel, swiftly checked in, greeted with snacks and refreshments, and their baggage is whisked off to their rooms – so they don’t have to lift a finger!

KEY POINT: We always send staff ahead to ensure everything is in perfect order BEFORE our guests’ arrival.

For the next seven days, they were going to live like Italian royalty with daily breakfast buffets, VIP treatment and our personally-staffed concierge desk right inside the hotel! All their transportation for the entire trip had been arranged, tours booked, parties planned, ultra-exclusive tickets secured, and even reservations for restaurants that require booking months in advance were all taken care of...

We, Mayer Motivations that is, had planned yet another amazing trip right down to the last detail!

KEY POINT: Transportation, tours, and hard-to-get reservations are pre-arranged with the most accredited vendors for all group activities, and our experienced staff is always ready to assist guests with any individual plans at the group’s exclusive hospitality desk - right inside the hotel.

Believe me; we’ve got this down to a science, so it’s mind blowing to think how close our guests came to missing out on all the spectacular events we had planned!

They were going to enjoy an exclusive culinary lesson at the famous cooking school at Badia a Coltibuono, a 900-year-old Abbey run for centuries by the Medici family – the richest family in Italy! Why at one time, every Medici cousin was a Duca or Duchessa; and 13 Popes were actually descended from the Medici’s! Deep in the heart of Tuscany, the ancient Badia a Coltibuono is now one of Italy’s most famous cooking schools – and our guests were personally invited for a private demonstration by a true Medici chef!

Upon arrival, they would be entertained by an impressive display of epicurean antics followed by a stroll through an authentic Italian herb garden where our gastronome would teach them how to pick the freshest ingredients for the succulent feast to come. Then, back to the kitchen to make – then EAT – tangy and delicate antipasto, tender lamb in sage and rosemary sauce, a tantalizing selection of the Abbey’s own wines, and of course, the most heavenly tiramisu ever to cross their lips!

And this was just the beginning!

KEY POINT: We have thousands of connections worldwide allowing us privileged access to places many tourists and ordinary travel agents aren’t allowed to go!

Another elaborately planned event - even more extravagant than being a Medici chef for a day – would be a luxurious royal dinner celebration in a grand palace in their honor! Beginning with twilight cocktails overlooking lush vineyards and exquisite gardens, they would indulge in magnificent cheese displays, plump sweet grapes, zesty sausages, and other hot delicacies, while the haunting breezes of wealthy lives past stirred the senses...

Then at dinnertime, the double doors of an extravagant ballroom would be thrust open revealing table upon table of silver, china, and crystal reflecting in the twinkling light of hundreds of candelabras and chandeliers!

Picture it. A full orchestra resonates through the halls as waiters in livery swiftly work the room in a flourish of white linen and fine wine. Course after course of gourmet delicacies flow, each paired perfectly with its own wine and song... and at the height of the evening, three tenors and two sopranos magically appear, raising the intensity of the ambiance to sheer exaltation with beautiful Italian arias, stunningly high refrains and seductively rich harmonies!

KEY POINT: Our trips are uniquely designed to create magical moments that you won’t find on other trips, guaranteeing phenomenal memories that last a lifetime!

Yes, this special group had a LOT to look forward to, and they had no idea they would almost miss it all!

See, what they didn’t know as they were dreaming away in flight, was that the next morning, when they were supposed to arrive at their long-awaited destination, there would be no motor coaches waiting to take them to their hotel, no hotel staff to greet them, no porters to handle their luggage... there wouldn’t even be a kitchen staff at the hotel to prepare food. Talk about a rude awakening!

It gets worse. Our guests would never even make their connection from Paris to Florence because there would be no airline personnel in Italy to receive the plane! Our unsuspecting guests couldn’t even get INTO the country!

There would be no lush Tuscan landscape...no luxuriously soft pillows...no hot shower and certainly no sumptuous breakfast buffet for our travel-weary guests.

Instead, our slumbering passengers, still en route, had no clue that they were about to face at least 24 hours of uncomfortable boredom, stranded in an airport in Paris with nothing but stale coffee, hard seats and dashed dreams of grandeur.

KEY POINT: It’s situations like these (if not handled properly by a team of professionals such as Mayer Motivations) that can make or break your program.

Luckily, our client had recognized the value of using a professional staff...and the actions of the Mayer team over the next 24 hours would prove this to be a priceless decision.

Here’s what happened...

As mentioned, a Mayer Motivations team was already in Italy making final preparations for the arrival of our guests. During their routine facility checks, they received a frantic call from the home office in the U.S. saying that all flights from Paris to Florence were being cancelled for two days with no explanation - meaning our guests would be stranded in Paris!

KEY POINT: We always have staff back in the home office monitoring the skies, ready to act in a moment’s notice.

The Mayer staff in Florence, Italy immediately spoke with their local liaison at the hotel, who assured them it was only an air traffic controller strike and not a major problem. So, the team swiftly began making arrangements to have our guests transferred to Florence by train, but as it turned out, they could not find one single train coming into Florence, there were no busses either, they weren’t even able to find a private motorcoach or even a cab driver that would bring our guests to Italy!

Our team was beginning to sense the gravity of the situation, and they were suspicious that their hotel contacts weren’t giving them the whole story. They’d noticed the newspapers had front page images of people marching with signs indicating some sort of strike, but the hotel management brushed it off with a false translation of the headlines. The Mayer team decided to investigate further, and one escort went to a nearby hotel to ask the concierge to translate the three-inch headline for them.

KEY POINT: Our experienced staff takes the initiative, is highly resourceful, and fully prepared to take care of unforeseen complications so you don’t have to!

Finally, the Mayer escorts found out what was REALLY going on! As it turns out, the entire country of Italy was on a one-day strike, not just air traffic controllers, but train conductors, bus drivers, cab drivers, chefs, waiters, bellmen – everyone!

The famous upscale hotel had tried to keep the strike a secret with full intent of keeping the thousands of dollars in revenue for what would have been the group’s first night stay – knowing the guests would be stranded in Paris! Even if we had been able to get the guests to Italy, there would be no one to drive them to the hotel, no one to cook food for them, no one to help with luggage – utter disaster!

Thank goodness for the ingenuity of the Mayer Motivations team. They were able to get to the bottom of the situation just in time to reassess their options and take immediate action!

The Mayer staff in Florence contacted the U.S. home office, and together they divided up tasks. The U.S. office, six hours behind, stayed up through the night while the team in Florence continued on through the day.

KEY POINT: We work around the clock to ensure a successful program no matter what obstacles arise.

The first thing the Mayer team did was to make sure those guests would not be stranded over night in the airport! Because of Mayer Motivations’ worldwide connections, they were able to call an important contact in France and secure rooms overnight in an upscale Parisian hotel comparable to the one in Florence for all 100 guests upon their arrival – so no one would be stuck at the airport at all!

Next, knowing the client would have to pay for this unexpected night in Paris, while the rooms in Florence sat empty, our staff used their professional pull to secure a discounted rate! How? The hotel management knows Mayer Motivations brings groups to Paris often and wants their hotel to be chosen for future trips – even a global jetsetting CEO doesn’t have this kind of clout. Why? Because he or she isn’t booking multiple groups per year – a LOT of business for Parisian hotels.

KEY POINT: Our extensive group travel history affords us valuable connections and major buying power that regular travel agents cannot provide.

To avoid further costs to our client, the Mayer team went ahead and cancelled all of the arrangements in Florence for the following day - the busses, the specially arranged arrival breakfast, and the first night’s dinner. THEN, because they’d found out it was only a one-day strike, they made new arrangements for the group’s arrival the following day and managed to reschedule the entire itinerary so that not one single event in Italy would be missed! Try doing that yourself!

At the same time, the staff back in the U.S. worked feverishly to secure arrangements with the hotel in Paris for bus transfers to and from the airport, a hearty breakfast upon arrival in Paris, a walking tour of the neighborhood to acclimate the guests with ATMs, pharmacies, boutiques and bon bon shops, and they even managed to book a special night tour of Paris culminating in a delicious dinner in a famous and historic Parisian bistro! What would have been a disaster turned into a special added bonus for our guests – an unexpected night of fun in Paris!

KEY POINT: An experienced team of professionals can facilitate any program need much easier, faster and less expensive than one person alone.

However, not just anyone could have pulled this off, especially when it comes to the financial details...

When it came down to the bottom line, once again, the seasoned staff of Mayer did not falter, the U.S. crew had already contacted the client to tell them what had happened, and they procured authorization for the additional $30,000 in expenditures they would have to sustain because of the group being stranded in Paris.

WAIT! I know what you’re thinking. Why was our client so quick to approve $30,000?

Simple, they knew the trip was covered with a trip insurance policy to deal with such emergencies. After the trip, Mayer Motivations filed a claim with the insurance company, and the client got every penny of the extra money they had to “front” to keep their guests from cooling their heels for 24 hours in the Paris airport including all the expenses of their surprise day in Paris as well!

After that, Mayer had to deal with the hotel in Florence that withheld the strike information. The hotel STILL maintained that contractually our client owed them for the first night hotel stay – even though the group couldn’t get there by plane, train, or bus. Nevertheless, Mayer’s meticulous planning and prearranged contractual safety measures once again saved the day. The clauses in an attorney-approved contract signed by the hotel prior to the trip, and of course the amount of annual business Mayer brings to that hotel chain, protected our client from having to pay a single dime!

KEY POINT: Years of experience, several safety precautions, legal contracts, seasoned negotiation techniques and vast buying power combine to protect you in more ways than you could imagine!

This does not happen every day!

The expertise of the Mayer team not only saved the day, but they saved this company more than $100,000!

Because of the quick thinking and fast acting staff of Mayer Motivations, what could have been a disaster turned out to be even better than originally planned! The client didn’t lose a dime, the group was elated over their ‘bonus’ stay in Paris, and they still managed to do everything on the original itinerary for Florence...the special cooking lessons, the countryside tours, the spectacular palace celebration - they didn’t miss a thing!

KEY POINT: Mayer Motivations takes lemons and doesn’t just make lemonade, we make lemon chiffon cake with toasted coconut icing!

Just imagine what could have happened had our client used a regular travel agent or even their own staff - neither of which would have had the experience or the means to do what Mayer Motivations did in this emergency situation...just imagine...the thought sends a shudder every time.

The discomfort of being stranded overnight in an airport with 100 frenzied people, more than $100,000 lost, the experiences missed, the overall feeling of disappointment...and worst of all, these very important guests would have always associated this horrific experience with our client!

That day, we saved more than just our client’s incentive program, even more than just $100,000 - we saved relationships.

Aside from the security you have knowing we have all your bases are covered, using a professional company like Mayer also offers a lot of additional perks...

• kickoff programs, well timed teasers, mailers whetting the competitive appetite of your team, bulletins, and updates, all creating the dream of a trip your achievers or clients will experience when they go extraordinarily above and beyond...
• extravagant room gifts, welcome receptions, escorted events, private tours, and themed celebrations...special touches that a regular travel agent simply does not have the ways and means to arrange...
• VIP treatment, pre-inspected hotels and restaurants, on site staff, personally-staffed hospitality desks, and seasoned negotiators...crucial elements you can’t afford to leave in the hands of just anyone...
• and most important, the peace of mind you have knowing the job is going to be done right, something only we at Mayer Motivations can truly guarantee!

If you’re considering a travel incentive program, contact us TODAY!