Cruise through your
business meetings
Escape from shore for better focus

by R.W. Clever

After a long recruitment effort, you find the perfect executive to successfully position your company for future growth, but he or she has never visited the Pacific Northwest. You want to do everything possible to influence his or her decision to accept your compensation package and join your team in Anacortes or Bellingham.

Here’s a way to make it happen. Charter a yacht.

Whether it’s to cruise from Anacortes Marina to Friday Harbor for a partnership or management meeting, or book a 7-day offsite retreat for executive training from Bellingham to Victoria, B.C., a yacht provides an isolated environment to conduct important business.

“Corporate charters are all-inclusive, we can make arrangements, from the catering and all on-board provisions, to the spa and meeting rooms at the destination,” said David Motherwell, Bellingham fleet manager for Anacortes Yacht Charters (AYC). “It’s a great way to get away from the office and avoid interruptions for effective discussion, resolution and planning.” The company is headquartered at the Anacortes Marina.

Cruising is also a great way to impress a job recruit. “If you want a person to fall in love with this place, charter a boat to show them around the San Juan Islands,” Motherwell suggested. “If someone has never been to this area, taking them out on the water is a wonderful introduction to the beauty and first-class dining this area has to offer.”

For meetings that require time and focus, yacht cruising in a yacht can break up monotony. You can hold your meetings in a conference room at Rosario Resort on Orcas Island, and take a lunch-hour cruise.

“Meetings for groups can be distracting to conduct on the boat when you’ve got an Orca right outside the window,” said Motherwell. “But to get a group together for a working retreat at a resort where the boat is used for recreation breaks up the pace and provides entertainment at the same time.”

While Anacortes Yacht Charters does not specifically market the onboard convention concept to meeting planners, they do work with meeting planners at companies and resorts like Rosario to coordinate meeting events and schedules.

The most efficient yachts to charter for meetings are 47 to 76 feet in length because they offer salons where groups of up to 10 people can gather. Yachts of this size also provide enough room for people to move around, and all meetings and events are easier to cater on a larger vessel.

As for the weather, the measurable annual precipitation in Skagit and Whatcom counties is reported to be half the amount of Seattle, which makes planning a cruise out of Anacortes or Bellingham – whether for business of pleasure – a better bet that you’ll bask in the sun.

So if your next company meeting or retreat requires a healthy combination of isolation and relaxing diversion, a yacht charter may be the perfect meeting getaway. For reservations and more information, call Anacortes Yacht Charters at (800) 233-3004, or visit their Website at www.ayc.com.

Plan travel now to avoid higher prices

Bargain prices for air travel and hotel accommodations may soon disappear, or at least rates will increase during the next few months. The National Business Travel Assn. (NBTA) and Yesawich, Pepperdine and Brown, one of the nation’s leading travel marketing firms, predict such in recent research studies.

Two hundred corporate travel managers were interviewed for the NBTA study, reporting that business travel demand increased 10 percent since January. Business travel had near crashed following September 11. As a result of the declining business travel volume, airfares and hotel room rates, went south.

“Twenty-two percent of travel managers expect travel to return to previous levels within the next six months,” said Marianne McInerny, NBTA executive director. The trend continues, she stated, “25 percent expect recovery in six to nine months.”

Yesawich, teamed with marketing research firm Yankelovich Partners, found that of leisure travelers, 36 percent say they will take more trips than last year, 15 percent expect to take the same number of trips.

If the research projections are accurate, travel demand could increase some 10 percent and range higher. Airfares are already edging upward and fewer deep discounts are available at hotels.

 

What to do about travel

Start your travel planning earlier rather than later say travel insiders we interviewed. Air tickets bought now at bargain rates are still valid even though pricing escalates.

Consider refundable versus non-refundable rates. The small extra price for refundable tickets may be worth it.

Even if you’ve been accessing the Internet for reservations, also see a local travel agent who may be able to access comparable rates and get a hard ticket in the deal. The paper ticket is in your hand while the e-ticket may not be in the airline’s computer when you arrive at the airport.