RoWards Individual Travel Aims to Fill Experiential Niche
With over 30 years of experience in travel, of which 17 of them were in individual incentive travel, RoWards founder and Chief Rewards Officer Robert Ward says his company focuses on offering a selection of getaways around the world offering recipients the “opportunity to exhale.”
Despite the popularity of individual incentive travel, there are only a few companies that specifically focus on providing incentive travel experiences. This is one reason Robert Ward founded RoWards earlier this year, just as the country began to see a path out of the pandemic.
“Individual travel has the unique ability to inspire people in three ways: before the trip, in terms of anticipation, planning, excitement; during the trip, in fulfilling once-in-a-life dreams with a significant other paid for by their company, and afterwards in the memories and photographs looked back upon for a lifetime,” Ward says. “Our job is to make dreams come true.”
RoWards curates and delivers flexible, personalized travel experiences for both employee and customer loyalty programs, he explains. While others focus on events or adventure-oriented experiential packages, or on providing points-based travel rewards solutions, Ward says the RoWards story is to create offerings in the US and around the world categorized by Couple's Getaways, Family Travel, Golf Trips, Ski Destinations, Exotic Excursions, along with gift cards. The selections range from exclusive resorts to private home rentals, categorized into plateaus. The goal, he adds, is to focuses on offerings “that are special…Not things people can easily do on their own.”
The packages can be purchased either directly from RoWards.com or through affiliates, which can white label a redemption web site or offerings and earn a commission. “We are getting early traction with incentive representatives who have traditionally sold only brands. With so much pent-up demand for travel, RoWards provides a turn-key solution—we do all the work.”
He adds, “We do the work that a lot of the traditional incentive, recognition, and loyalty companies don’t wish to do and that we’re happy to do for them: Complete personalization A-Z. We can arrange for car pickups and other concierge services. Our goal is to make it as easy as buying a ticket. People pick when and where they wish to go and want to do, enjoying the sense of control we’ve all lost over this past year during the pandemic.”
Robert Ward, CPIM
Chief Rewards Officer
RoWards - Corporate Rewards & Incentives
773-799-8300
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