Top: Ovation Rewards are usable at Fairmont,
Raffles, and Swissôtel properties
THE RECOVERING ECONOMY IS A BIG
GROWTH FACTOR BUT NOT THE ONLY ONE,
SAY TRAVEL CARD COMPANIES
By Leo Jakobson
As the economy improves, the indi- vidual incentive
travel market is doing not
just better, but very well
overall, according to a number of hospitality companies
that offer gift cards and
certificates to the corporate
motivation market.
This sentiment seems to
cut across the spectrum of
travel providers, ranging
from American Airlines to
Carnival Cruise Lines, and
from Best Western to Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.
While individual incen-
tive travel awards have been
around for many years, they
were seen largely as sepa-
rate reward and recognition
tools from traditional group
incentive travel awards. Gift
cards and certificates for
hotel rooms, airline seats,
and cruise cabins were
treated much like retailer
gift cards or merchandise
awards—often redeemed as
one-off rewards using pro-
gram points.
