Close Menu
Best in TechnologyBest in Technology
  • News
  • Phones
  • Laptops
  • Gadgets
  • Gaming
  • AI
  • Tips
  • More
    • Web Stories
    • Global
    • Press Release

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest tech news and updates directly to your inbox.

What's On

How to Season a Griddle—and How to Keep It in Good Shape

7 August 2025

16 Golden Rules That Business Travelers Swear By

7 August 2025

A Single Poisoned Document Could Leak ‘Secret’ Data Via ChatGPT

7 August 2025
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Just In
  • How to Season a Griddle—and How to Keep It in Good Shape
  • 16 Golden Rules That Business Travelers Swear By
  • A Single Poisoned Document Could Leak ‘Secret’ Data Via ChatGPT
  • The Extravagant Rise of the Corporate Incentive Trip
  • These Democrats Think the Party Needs AI to Win Elections
  • Trumpworld Knows Epstein Is a Problem. But They Can’t Solve It
  • Amazon Great Freedom Festival Sale 2025: Top Deals on Mobile Accessories From Xiaomi, Ambrane, and More
  • Inside the US Government’s Unpublished Report on AI Safety
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest Vimeo
Best in TechnologyBest in Technology
  • News
  • Phones
  • Laptops
  • Gadgets
  • Gaming
  • AI
  • Tips
  • More
    • Web Stories
    • Global
    • Press Release
Subscribe
Best in TechnologyBest in Technology
Home » The Extravagant Rise of the Corporate Incentive Trip
News

The Extravagant Rise of the Corporate Incentive Trip

News RoomBy News Room7 August 20254 Mins Read
Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Reddit Telegram Email
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

Business travel doesn’t typically conjure up the most glamorous images: working-group sessions in overlit conference rooms, awkward dinners with coworkers at unmemorable chain restaurants. But for some lucky employees, there’s a special subset of work travel that isn’t just something to look forward to but something to fight for: the corporate incentive trip.

Mark, a former sales director at LinkedIn who asked to not use his real name, is a frequent flier in the world of corporate incentive travel, wherein companies motivate employees to crush their sales goals with the promise of all-expenses-paid stays at luxury hotels and bucket-list sightseeing experiences. He has qualified for seven or eight such trips awarded to the company’s top performers, including one to the Four Seasons Resort Peninsula Papagayo in Costa Rica and another to the Apurva Kempinski in Bali. “It kind of ruined travel for my wife and I, because we’ve now gone on so many of these trips that we know that these places exist,” he says.

His company typically buys out the entire hotel—often a Four Seasons—for thousands of top performers, who are each invited to bring along the one person they feel has most contributed to their success. (Mark, a smart man, generally brings his wife.) While there’s usually a few hours of meetings or talks one morning, the rest is actual, genuine fun: Mark remembers being skeptical of a “white party” on the beach in Costa Rica before it ended up turning into a huge rave, with everyone covering their face in neon paint and dancing until the wee hours. “It was probably one of the more fun parties I’ve ever attended,” he says.

Corporate reward or incentive travel is a common motivational tool in sales-focused jobs, particularly in the finance, insurance, pharma, and auto industries. (Multilevel marketers love them too.) It’s also a mainstay at big tech companies like Microsoft and Salesforce, the latter of which hosted Katy Perry for a private performance on its 2022 President’s Club trip to Hawaii’s Mauna Lani, an Auberge resort.

A 2014 report by the not-for-profit Incentive Research Federation showed that US businesses had spent over $22 billion a year on incentive travel, and 46 percent of companies surveyed relied on it as a reward for top performers, with sales programs using it the most. (A 2022 follow-up study correctly predicted incentive spending would grow substantially across the board.) In the past few years, as the world reopened after the height of the pandemic and tourism skyrocketed, these trips have become increasingly opulent and bespoke, with companies vying to outdo one another with five-star extravaganzas that most employees might never experience outside of their honeymoons or that one bougie friend’s destination wedding—if that.

Illustration: Alex Green

“After Covid, things went crazy,” says Sean Hoff, the founder of Moniker Partners, a corporate-retreat-planning agency based in Toronto. Companies that had once brought top employees to nearby locations like New York City or Miami were suddenly asking him to plan excursions to Asia or the Middle East. Many of Hoff’s clients are real estate developers or brokerages based in Canada, and as the market boomed, “it almost became like a mini arms race, where different builders were trying to compete for who could offer the most incredible trip,” he says.

While companies typically spend between $4,000 and $6,000 per attendee, Moniker’s most lavish trips can cost up to $25,000 a head. One especially decadent trip to Paris for a group of real estate brokers included a stay at Hôtel Plaza Athénée, the fashion-industry hot spot once favored by Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie O, and Grace Kelly where rooms go for more than $1,500 a night. Attendees were whisked around the City of Light in 1960s Citröen CV2s; activities included a behind-the-curtain tour of the Louvre, hosted by the head curator, and a private meal in Le Jules Verne, the two-Michelin-star restaurant inside the Eiffel Tower.

This story is part of The New Era of Work Travel, a collaboration between the editors of Condé Nast Traveler and WIRED to help you navigate the perks and pitfalls of the modern business trip.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Previous ArticleThese Democrats Think the Party Needs AI to Win Elections
Next Article A Single Poisoned Document Could Leak ‘Secret’ Data Via ChatGPT

Related Articles

News

How to Season a Griddle—and How to Keep It in Good Shape

7 August 2025
News

16 Golden Rules That Business Travelers Swear By

7 August 2025
News

A Single Poisoned Document Could Leak ‘Secret’ Data Via ChatGPT

7 August 2025
News

These Democrats Think the Party Needs AI to Win Elections

7 August 2025
News

Trumpworld Knows Epstein Is a Problem. But They Can’t Solve It

6 August 2025
News

Inside the US Government’s Unpublished Report on AI Safety

6 August 2025
Demo
Top Articles

ChatGPT o1 vs. o1-mini vs. 4o: Which should you use?

15 December 2024104 Views

Costco partners with Electric Era to bring back EV charging in the U.S.

28 October 202495 Views

Oppo Reno 14, Reno 14 Pro India Launch Timeline and Colourways Leaked

27 May 202582 Views

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest tech news and updates directly to your inbox.

Latest News
News

Trumpworld Knows Epstein Is a Problem. But They Can’t Solve It

News Room6 August 2025
Phones

Amazon Great Freedom Festival Sale 2025: Top Deals on Mobile Accessories From Xiaomi, Ambrane, and More

News Room6 August 2025
News

Inside the US Government’s Unpublished Report on AI Safety

News Room6 August 2025
Most Popular

The Spectacular Burnout of a Solar Panel Salesman

13 January 2025129 Views

ChatGPT o1 vs. o1-mini vs. 4o: Which should you use?

15 December 2024104 Views

Costco partners with Electric Era to bring back EV charging in the U.S.

28 October 202495 Views
Our Picks

The Extravagant Rise of the Corporate Incentive Trip

7 August 2025

These Democrats Think the Party Needs AI to Win Elections

7 August 2025

Trumpworld Knows Epstein Is a Problem. But They Can’t Solve It

6 August 2025

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest tech news and updates directly to your inbox.

Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
© 2025 Best in Technology. All Rights Reserved.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.