Five-star getaway “wows” 2014 Convention qualifiers

Wow!

I’m certain all 312 of our Convention 2014 attendees expressed this sentiment as their private transport slowly entered The Resort at Pelican Hill – Wow! They repeated it as the winding road led them to the grand front entrance of the Italian Renaissance-inspired hotel. You could hear the word over and over as guests mingled around the 136-foot Coliseum Pool while violinists played from an acrylic stage on the water.

“Wow” was all one needed to say to express their enjoyment of the adjacent Pelican Hill Golf Club, the authentic Italian Street Fair held on the property, or the whales and dolphins spotted on an afternoon ocean excursion. Our guests whispered it to their loved ones as the sun set each night over the glistening Pacific. They said it out loud when they retired to their luxurious villa or bungalow for the evening.

They said it to me as they made their way home and back to work, motivated by the opportunity to experience something new and exciting next year.

CreativeOne hosted its annual incentive trip – Splendor – June 1-6, 2014. This year we brought our top producers, carrier representatives, CreativeOne hosts, and their guests to The Resort at Pelican Hill on the Newport Coast of Southern California.

After spending 2011 in Mexico, 2012 in Hawaii and 2013 in Europe, it was nice to stay in the continental U.S. Travel time is shorter, and there were no customs or passports to worry about.

Staying closer to home didn’t lessen the experience a bit. On the contrary, Pelican Hill offered such over-the-top décor, service and amenities, many of our guests said it was the nicest resort at which they had ever stayed. It was obvious how this hideaway earned a Forbes Five-Star rating the last two years and the title of #1 Resort in the U.S. by Condé Nast Traveler magazine.

Pelican Hill is known as a retreat for the rich and famous. During our stay pro golfer extraordinaire Tiger Woods was spotted working on his short game on the golf course’s practice green. And actor Lee Majors, the “Six Million Dollar Man,” made an appearance in the famed Andrea Restaurant.

CreativeOne’s Event Management and Incentives (EMI) team strives to provide unique adventures every year. To that end, Convention 2014 included an authentic Italian Street Fair, dinner at the 238-year-old Mission San Juan Capistrano – complete with authentic flamenco dancers, a night golf cocktail event, and a derby-themed farewell event, that left our guests motivated and looking forward to next year’s trip to Grand Cayman.

This year, we started what will become an annual tradition at our convention. We presented the spouses of our top 10 producers with a commemorative precious stone ring from Lugano Diamonds, one of the finest jewelers in the world. These handcrafted rings were designed to be stackable and created with a variety of precious stones, allowing producers the opportunity to add another ring to the collection every time they reach top 10 status with CreativeOne.

Something that sets CreativeOne apart from other IMOs and BGAs is our focus on relationships. Our annual incentive trip reflects that. Instead of using a third-party event planning company to handle all the details, CreativeOne has its own in-house Event Management & Incentives Division. As a result, many longstanding relationships with the producers and their families have been developed over the years, giving us even more motivation and satisfaction in planning each and every event to reward our producers for their hard work and loyalty.

It also means we strive each year to provide an experience topping the years before. It seems like after every event, we wonder if that’s possible. But we somehow always find a way. And though our 2014 trip raised the bar pretty high, CreativeOne’s EMI staff – myself, Sarah, Hannah and April — are up to the challenge of eclipsing it in 2015.

I hope to see many of our CreativeOne producers and their families in Grand Cayman next June!