Naviva from Four Season: the future for luxury travel and high end incentives

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua Marketing Ultra-lux travellers, high net worth individuals and incentive travel qualifiers now define luxury as authenticity and seek out travel experiences that evoke emotions, stir up stories and trigger personal transformation. Naviva in Punta Mita, Mexico is a brand new concept from Four Seasons that’s already delivering on all… Read more »

The Boca Raton – the total resort experience

by Pádraic Gilligan, Chief Marketing Officer, SITE & Managing Partner, SoolNua Marketing SITE Classic at Boca Raton – discover 1 The Boca Raton Museum of Art is a cultural treasure of human proportions, not at all intimidating, or full of its own self-importance, the way some galleries can be. It’s located in downtown Boca Raton,… Read more »

Cashel Palace Hotel & Spa – new 5 star hotel for Ireland

Cashel Palace

by Pádraic Gilligan, Chief Marketing Officer, SITE & Managing Partner, SoolNua Marketing Cashel – now a destination I have vivid memories of Cashel as a stop en route to Cork or Blarney when I worked in the late 80s as an Italian speaking tour guide. As an experienced guide I knew exactly at what point… Read more »

Halifax, Nova Scotia – authentic experiences for incentive travel

Atlantic Sunset at halifax

Pádraic Gilligan, Chief Marketing Officer, SITE & Managing Partner, SoolNua Golden Moments in Nova Scotia Great travel experiences have golden moments during which something triggers a change of consciousness, and, almost without prior warning, you’re transported to another realm, beyond the physical limitations of time and space that tether us to the here and now…. Read more »

Jamaica say you will

by Pádraic Gilligan, Chief Marketing Officer, SITE & Managing Partner, SoolNua Marketing Jamaican Storytellers For an island nation of only three million souls, Jamaica has insinuated itself on the world’s stage and into the minds and hearts of multitudinous millions thanks, mainly, to brilliant storytelling, particularly stories that follow the archetypal trope of the underdog…. Read more »

Back in St Pete, Florida – 40+ years later

St Pete Florida

by Pádraic Gilligan, Chief Marketing Officer, SITE & Managing Partner, SoolNua Marketing Back to the Future Arriving at Tampa International recently I looked for triggers that might transport me back to 1979 when, during my second ever trip to the US, I visited St Pete Clearwater. A generous, older relative who worked in sales was… Read more »

Why it’s good to be an incentive travel professional in 2021

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua & Chief Marketing Officer, SITE Like all Incentive Travel Professionals, I’m looking forward to better times as we move into the second quarter of 2021. Realistically, it cannot get any worse as the pandemic has thoroughly devastated, decimated and destroyed the incentive travel industry – at least temporarily. This… Read more »

Oman – the Real Arabia?

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua & Chief Marketing Officer, SITE Oman: The Real Arabia Other than hearing that Oman  was the “real Arabia”, I had no expectations of the country prior to landing in Muscat on a re-routed journey via Bahrain, following a marathon journey and a missed connection in Istanbul. I was there… Read more »

New opportunities in Dublin for incentives & events – Welcome Aloft

by Pádraic Gilligan, Chief Marketing Officer, SITE & Managing Partner, SoolNua Plus ça change? In describing the extent of the change to Dublin as a destination for Business Events, I’m tempted to quote our national poet, W.B. Yeats and declare All’s changed, changed utterly … It certainly wouldn’t be an exaggeration if I were to… Read more »

Connect, Learn, Discover at SITE’s Incentive Summit Europe

By Pádraic Gilligan, Chief Marketing Officer, SITE & Managing Partner, SoolNua Connect, Learn, Discover If one thing is clear from SITE’s Incentive Summit Europe, real people in real time in real places are a force to be reckoned with and will NEVER be replaced by AI, AR or any other two or three letter acronym!… Read more »