Corporate & Incentive Travel: Golf Resorts are the Remedy

Putting together an incentive program rewarding top producers for their over-the-top results is a challenge. Add to the mix the simultaneous task of offering such an enviable event that it entices attendees to re-create their prime performances ensuring qualification the following year, and the assignment morphs from a mission to an uber undertaking.

So, what’s a planner to do? The answer lies in a four-letter word, though not an inappropriate slang, mind you. The answer is golf. Today’s in-the-know planners who capitalize on the game’s ever-growing popularity by incorporating golf into meeting agendas are realizing results.

Here’s the deal. By luring employees who only dream of playing some of the nation’s most celebrated courses with the promise of an actual visit to one of these resorts, company contenders are upping their games — professional ones, that is.

Loews Ventana Canyon Resort

Selecting Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, Arizona, as site of a January 7-10, 2019, sales meeting of approximately 75 representing MindPlay — a developer of educational software created to teach children and adults how to read (with a special focus on children with dyslexia) — Nora Quintero explains her company’s reasoning. Citing the main factor as staying within budget, while still being able to provide guests with a beautiful resort, Quintero elaborates. “We picked this resort because of location, price, golf course and the quality of the food. We felt Loews Ventana Canyon provided a great meeting location and appreciated the staff’s attention to detail, with one of the most important deciding factors the room accommodations, as other resorts seemed in need of room renovations.”

The resort recently completed a soft goods renovation at its signature restaurant, the Flying V Bar & Grill, this year will see a renovation of the Kiva ballroom and on the golfing front there’s a new fleet of golf carts, as well as a planned clubhouse redo in 2019. There’s also news on the food scene with the innovative culinary concept, Flavor by Loews Hotels. Built on partnerships with local artisan food and beverage vendors, this resort’s Flavor affiliations are the Tucson Tamale Company, Barrio Bread and the Dragoon Brewing Company.

In addition to 36 holes of Tom-Fazio designed championship golf, the resort’s made-in-Arizona group activities include the on-property, half mile Window Walk nature trail, koi pond, certified butterfly garden and stargazing. Giving a special shout-out to the resort’s vistas, Quintero says: “The views of the Santa Catalina Mountains from the golf course, restaurants and rooms were breathtaking. Our guests from the East Coast couldn’t say enough about the Sonoran Desert landscape.”