Napier University
School of Business
Conference & Exhibitions Management

Planning an Incentive at Gleneagles Hotel

by: Marieluise Bruch

Table of Content

0 Introduction 4

1 Venue 5

1.1 Location 5
1.2 Type of venue 5

2 Event programme 8

2.1 Day programme 8
2.2 Evening programme 10
2.3 Morning after programme 11

3 Additional facilities 12

4 Costing 13

5 Marketing 15

6 Conclusion 16

7 Appendixes 17

8 References 18

0 Introduction

Basically, this report is about planning an incentive for 25 employees of a company situated in Edinburgh which wants to reward their employees for their good work and sales achievements.

The event will last one day and include a fine dining experience as well as an entertainment event afterwards. Furthermore, there is also an overnight stay included and because the incentive will take place at a weekend the company invites also the partners of the 25 employees which mean the maximum number of participants will not exceed 45 (plus the CEO and the manager of the sales department) because not each employee has a partner. The event will take place in Perthshire, Central Scotland which is about an hour away from Edinburgh and easy to access. However, the company will hire a coach for the participants which is offered by the venue itself. Massey (2000) states that “common sense is the most important quality for conference and incentive organisers” which should be considered by addressing the five W’s of event planning:

- Why the event is hold?
- When the event takes place?
- What are the objectives?
- Who is invited?
- Where the event is located?

Therefore, there will be a closer look at several aspects such as the venue, the event programme, additional facilities, a cost analysis and the marketing of the event. At the end of that paper there will be a justification of why the event planned is appropriate for the event selected.

1 Venue

1.1 Location

Basically, location is as important as the venue itself because there are several aspects such as accessibility, accommodation, transport or infrastructure which have to be considered by choosing the right one. For this event the location was limited to Central Scotland which consequently limits also the range of venues appropriate for this corporate event. Due to the fact that “…location always makes a difference…” (Pemble 2000) Perthshire is chosen for this event because “it is a perfect recipe for innovative social and partner programmes and the most inspiring incentives; a rich blend of attributes that appeal to conference delegates and organisers alike - and makes Perthshire truly ′all of Scotland′.” (VisitScotland Perthshire 2005) Perthshire is also well known for its environmental qualities such as clear air, pure waters, and lush countryside contrasting with Highland magnificence which points out that “…diversity is also a selling point”.(Chester 1999) Furthermore, this location is very accessible for the client because it is approximately just one hour from Edinburgh and easy to reach due to the good infrastructure provided in that region. Perthshire is the perfect location for an incentive to spoil the client’s employees.

1.2 Type of venue

A further main aspect in planning a conference or an event is the venue itself. There are different kinds of venues, each appropriate for a different occasion of event. Mainly, there are usual venues such as purpose-built facilities or academic facilities and unusual venues such as castles, museums, theatres or country houses. The latter is chosen for this event because for providing incentives customers “are seeking that little bit different” (Hargreaves 2000 as cited by Pemble 2000) which mostly cannot be provided by a purpose-built venue or an academic venue. Greaves (2000) states that “often there is less pressure than an office environment, leaving guests to focus better on the content of the programme”. That little bit difference can be found at Gleneagles® Hotel which is situated between the cities Perth and Stirling on the A9 in the heart of Perthshire (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.2: Entrance of Gleneagles® Hotel [figure only in downloadfile]
Figure 1.1: Location of Gleneagles® Hotel [figure only in downloadfile]

Gleneagles® Hotel (Figure1.2) is a Five Red Star golf resort surrounded by 850 acres of magnificent countryside. Existing for over 80 years it is nowadays recognised as one of the top UK conference Hotels. The G8 summit for example will be held this summer at the Gleneagles® Hotel.

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