Gateway Express Travel

For tonight's poolside award banquet, you've been asked to dress in black-tie, and come barefoot. Entering at sunset you are escorted to your table by formally attired, white gloved waiters. The only lights are from the waterfalls and more stars than you have ever seen before. You are unmistakably in the tropical dream world of Hawaii. But, this is a part of Hawaii seen by very few - the enchantingly island of Lanai. You are at the only beach resort on the island - and life can't possibly get any better. A slack guitar plays in the background as you enjoy the cocktail reception. Three Hula Dancers emerge from the cascading waters to perform as you enjoy a sumptuous meal, filled with local delicacies, the stars twinkle in the sky above. As dessert is served the fireworks rise over the sea celebrating your presence in this enchanted land.

Salaries enable your employees to make the mortgage payment, pay for the kids' braces and buy the groceries, but it is the Incentive Trip that enriches their lives and stimulates their imaginations. So a key factor in motivating employees is a well-structured incentive program. This theory is simple; but carrying it out is complex.

While exotic incentive trips challenge our creativity, that Staff Meeting in Chicago or Tampa can also be made more interesting with a little creativity. You have enough to do with your content and presentations - you don't need to be worrying about break-out rooms, audio/visual equipment, lunch breaks and the like.

Thinking outside the box! Helping you decide WHERE to hold your meeting, in terms of a destination as well as the perfect specific resort or hotel, is not only the first step in the process - it's the most vital to the ultimate success or failure of your project! All too often, a site is selected based upon the personal desires of the person in charge of the project. One of our first admonitions oftentimes is to remind our client that the destination they would most like to experience for a personal vacation is usually not the right place for their meeting or incentive trip. This is but the first example of the many steps in our consultation through thre process.

We bring the experiences of dozens of other companies with us to suggest some cities and specific hotels or resorts that you may not have considered. We have seen the mistakes that clients have made in previous projects. The old saying that those who do not know history will repeat it applies here. You have probably learned some things from your past mistakes - we have learned from mistakes of dozens of companies!

Here is a partial list of our Meeting & Incentive Services:

* Destination & Site selection.
* Theme creation.
* Entertainment and Menu management.
* Meeting room and Banquet room setup.
* Audio/visual needs.
* Flight arrangements.
* Local transportation coordination.
* Meet & Greet services.
* Hotel Arrival and Departure management.
* Professionally staffed on-site Hospitality Services.

The Gateway Express Meetings & Incentives staff boasts a combined 63 years of experience.
With our guidance and expertise, you can develop an incentive program or a meeting that meets your goals and objectives, relieves you of most of the heavy lifting and helps you avoid the pitfalls.

Here are a few samples of what our Meeting & Incentive clients have to say about our services:

"Gateway Express has been handling all our meetings and sales incentives for 18 years now. We couldn't function without them."

"Having utilized two previous agencies for meeting planning services, we were disillusioned and did it ourselves for two years. Then, we were attendees of one our supplier's incentive trips. It was spectacularly handled. I inquired as to whom they used for their trip and was thus introduced to Gateway Express. We are currently planning our third incentive with Gateway and couldn't be more thrilled with their expertise and professionalism."

" In our first project with Gateway Express, we had a 'creative idea' for the awards banquet. The Gateway staff warned us that it would be very difficult to do properly and probably wouldn't work. We insisted. They were right!"