How changing work practices bring new opportunities for incentive travel

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua & Chief Marketing Officer, SITE Pandemic in Dublin Deserted streets. #WFH. Skies free from planes. Weather. “Modern Family”. Zoom calls. Neighbourhood walks. Entire families on bicycles. Where the Crawdads sing. Bird song. Coffee lines. Webinars. Sourdough bread. “The Americans”. Quizzes on Zoom. That’s my random list of memories from… Read more »

Incentive Travel – a true force for good

Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua and Chief Marketing Officer, SITE “When she was bad, she was horrid” There’s a touch of the little girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead about incentive travel. You know the one “when she was good she was very, very good, and when she was bad she… Read more »

Will Covid-19 kill Incentive Travel?

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua & Chief Marketing Officer, SITE Will Covid-19 kill Incentive travel? Part of me loves the speculation, the permutations and combinations. The “if this, then that” logic that we indulge in on a daily basis. I’m referring, of course, to the endless chatter around what meetings 3.0 or incentives 3.0… Read more »

Meetings & Events after Covid-19 – Looking in to the Crystal Ball

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua & Chief Marketing Officer, SITE Who knew? Covid-19? Nobody saw this one coming. Not our cleverest crystal ball gazers. Not our sharpest soothsayers. Our industry predictions for 2020 and beyond made no reference to a virus and, in January, even when it ran through China, like bind weed in… Read more »

Today I’m grateful for Freddie White

by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua & Chief Marketing Officer, SITE Reasons to be grateful Today I’m grateful for Freddie White. As part of my new social distancing routine, I’m trying to identify, each day, something that I’m grateful for. This morning I woke up around 6:20 and it came to me immediately: I’m grateful… Read more »

Soft Power trumps hard dollars when measuring success of incentive travel

by Pádraic Gilligan, Chief Marketing Officer SITE & Managing Partner, SoolNua Incentive travel is self-liquidating In the past, when pitching a company on the merits of an incentive travel programme, the clincher would always be that it’s self liquidating, ie, technically it costs you nothing  as it’s paid for from the incremental revenues generated by… Read more »

Disruption in the Hospitality sector – the rise and rise of local experiences

by Pádraic Gilligan, Chief Marketing Officer, SITE & Managing Partner, SoolNua Radical Disruption in the hospitality sector Lokal Hotel in Old Town Philadelphia is yet another example of the radical disruption that’s been tearing up the hospitality sector ever since Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky used digital technology to rent floor space in their apartment… Read more »

Why DMCs and DMOs need to work better together as destination partners

by Pádraic Gilligan, Chief Marketing Officer, SITE & Managing Partner, SoolNua The initial release of the Incentive Travel Industry Index took place during IMEX Americas back in September 2019 but for numbers nerds and data daleks it continues to provide rich pickings. It also offers up some great insights for incentive travel professionals working in… Read more »