Incentives at sea: the way it’s done for Amway

Amway is a direct selling company conducting many incentive trips annually, and in Asia, it has 11 markets - Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia.

Katherine Lee, the global indirect procurement manager of these markets, was a panel speaker at the annual cruise conference, CruiseWorld Asia 2023, an event by Travel Weekly Asia, on 7 November 2023, where she shared how Amway considers cruise offerings:

“It’s a huge market and each year, typically, for each market we will do two large overseas events, and a cruise is always on the table for us to consider because it has so much to offer,” she said. The Asian market considers mainly Alaskan, Mediterranean, and Scandinavian cruises.

Criteria for selection

· The profile of delegates

· Cruise capacity based on the large numbers from Amway

· Interesting F&B, entertainment, and port of calls. Lee said: “Because they have been travelling to so many places, we need to bring in exciting and new places for them to consider.”

Amway’s compelling reasons for cruising

· Less unpacking - cruises have the advantage of having to only unpack once whilst being able to travel to multiple destinations to take scenic photos and videos to share on Instagram with friends and family

· Easier crowd control and logistics - cruises also tend to be more manageable in terms of logistics because the onboard activities are all managed on the cruise and bringing guests from point to point is easier in terms of crowd control

· Managing budgets - because the base fare includes entertainment, F&B, activities, Amway is able to utilise part of the budget and re-invest it elsewhere to offer better experiences for the guests.

Cruise broker relationship

Amway works closely with a US-based cruise broker for its sourcing needs. Said Lee: “They have been supporting us for a very long time so they know our needs and wants. It’s very helpful for us especially when the planners have too many options to consider or when they have nothing to consider. The broker will help us to solicit information and present this to us. It helps us to zoom down to what is really suitable for us.

“Once this is done, they will work with us on contracting, the negotiation and even to point of planning and support with the cruise line. But having said that, at this moment, there is no preference in terms of whether we really have to go to a cruise broker.

“At the end of the day, it’s still back to the vendors – are they able to understand what we need. For example, being Asian, if we need to have congee and noodles for breakfast, can the cruise line accommodate this and can the vendor help us to negotiate, given that we are having such a group size, we will usually contract two years in advance. So along the way, if there are changes, then how will they handle attrition for us? Are they able to give us this level of support, help with the concessions?”

Amway’s current ship broker is based in the US and working with them on different time zones has “been a challenge” said Lee; so far, there has not been any Asian broker that has come knocking on Lee’s door and she is open to discussions if one comes calling.