A corporate buyer receives two proposals for the same group, the same destination, the same number of nights. They open the spreadsheet, go straight to the last row, compare the total in dollars. The lower number wins. Decision made.
That is the mistake. And in 28 years putting together incentive programs at AV Business & Communication, it is one of the costliest ones we have seen a client make.
The Bike and the Helicopter
A concrete example, one we use often in client meetings. A helicopter ride can cost 350 dollars per person. A city bike tour, with the same group and the same destination, comes out to 45 dollars per person. Both activities fill an entire morning. Both show up in the spreadsheet as “half-day activity.”
If two suppliers quote the same program and one included the helicopter while the other put in the bike tour, comparing only the final total means comparing two things that are not comparable. Nobody sets that trap on purpose. It sets itself, in the bottom row, where the detail disappears.
The same happens with a dinner. A three-course meal with a good bottle of wine for every four people does not cost the same as two courses with a milanesa, fries and a tiramisu. Both show up as “group dinner” on the spreadsheet. The final total hides them both equally.
2019 Budgets No Longer Exist
Part of the problem is that many companies are still comparing against an old picture. On average, everything costs about 25% more today than it did in 2019. A company that set 5,000 dollars per person to put together something creative in Europe cannot sustain the same level of creativity today with that same 5,000 dollars. The budget stayed frozen in time, but the expectations for the program did not.
That is where the real work of the intermediary comes in: what matters is not so much what the client wants, but what can actually be delivered with the real budget they have. The alternative is not to quietly lower the quality. It is to show the client, with numbers, what that budget lost over three years and what options remain available with what there really is to spend.
What the Total Row Does Not Show
When two spreadsheets compete only on the final number, the questions that define the group’s real experience get left out:
→ Is the room single or shared?
→ Is the wine at dinner the bare minimum, or one a sommelier would recommend?
→ Is the afternoon activity something a participant could put together on their own from an app, or something that only exists for that group?
→ Does the transfer include on-site assistance, or is it just a car service with no one to solve a problem at ten at night?
None of those questions show up in the last row of the spreadsheet. And yet they are the ones that end up deciding whether the trip is remembered as a top-tier experience or as an errand with scenery.
How to Compare Properly
Comparing incentive budgets is not a spreadsheet task. It is a judgment task. Before looking at the total, it is worth asking for the breakdown of each line: which specific activity, which restaurant category, which room type, which level of on-site assistance. Only then can two proposals actually be compared.
At AV Business & Communication we have been building budgets with that logic for 28 years: we do not sell the lowest number, we sell the experience that number can sustain. If your company is comparing incentive trip proposals and is not sure what to look for beyond the total, we can help you read the fine print.
Write to us at [email protected] or fill out the contact form.