One of the most important decisions to make in the meetings and incentive marketplace is where to host your program. With today’s more challenging economic climate, when you need to balance all of your constituencies, this decision can become more difficult than ever.

Even if your company or organization is faring well, the perception effect is that everyone should “hunker down” and be extra cautious with expenditures. While it is always wise to control costs and curb unneeded expenses, the current mindset seems to be to deliver a program with equivalent standards, but do it for less.

So here is the big challenge. How do you maintain the high-caliber of programs, attain the “Experience Expectation” of attendees, and meet in venues that substantiate the importance of the event, when executives within your organization and participants attending your programs are expecting the budget to be at the same (or even a reduced) level as last year?

One trend we have noticed recently is that an increasing number of planners are opting for regional site solutions for their national programs. Having meetings, conventions or incentive programs closer to your organization’s headquarters can often meet all expectations of a first-class program, while offering cost-savings benefit to meet budget objectives.

We are all well-aware that higher fuel prices can affect virtually everything, including air fares. By selecting a site closer to home, you can reduce overall expenses, because more attendees can reach the site by automobile or train, or can drive together.

In addition to travel cost-savings, you may enjoy other benefits as more members of the headquarter’s staff may be able to attend. This can contribute to motivating staff, enhancing camaraderie and the exchange of information, and providing an opportunity for them to meet their counterparts from around the nation or world.

There can also be a much-overlooked time-saving benefit for key leadership and staff away from the headquarter’s office. There can even be “green” benefits, as programs conducted regionally tend to have less of a carbon footprint, since fewer individuals travel by air, and attendees may drive together or take mass transit.

While meeting regionally isn’t an option -- or the best choice -- for all programs, it can be a way to present an opportunity to save without negatively impacting your meeting or incentive program. The good news is that there are many qualified solutions that can work for you as there are many exceptional offerings in each part of the country.

Depending upon your program, this may be a trend to consider as a short-term solution, as we expect to see this phenomenon continuing in 2009. Re-tooled budgets and external costs for 2010 and beyond may not require planners to think in these regional terms, and planners may go back to previous rotations. But for now, this strategy can address some challenges that many planners are facing. If you need assistance determining optimal options within your region, please talk with your sales professionals in your National Sales Office. Give them a call so they can help you identify the best solutions to present to your management.

David Gabri is president and CEO of Associated Luxury Hotels International (ALHI), which has the national sales responsibilities to the meetings and incentive industries for its membership of over 120 premier Four- and Five-Diamond/ Star quality hotels and resorts worldwide. For information, contact your nearest ALHI National Sales Office, call the “ALHI Luxury Group Desk” toll-free at 866-303-2544, or visit www.alhi.com .