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Booking corporate travel differs from booking travel for pleasure. The client is more accountable in the case of booking corporate travel compared to booking travel for pleasure. Missed connections by members of a delegation, inadequate seating at an event, or unconfirmed block bookings of hotel rooms will impact a business association and a career more adversely compared to impact on a holiday.
What we mean by corporate travel management from Islamabad, what you should expect from the service, and where the gaps usually are.
Our service for corporate travel and event logistics is based in Sector H-13, Islamabad. Our service includes staff travel in Pakistan, inbound delegation management, corporate retreat packages to northern Pakistan, selection of conference venues, airport transfers, block booking of hotels, coordination of visas for guests, and supporting the program throughout. To place a request, message the brief on WhatsApp. Contact information is listed below.
Corporate travel management from Islamabad is split into 3 sections based on the travelers activity.
Staff travel. The constant requisition: staff travel tickets, bookings of staff travel hotel accommodation and staff travel transport and car rental for staff travel to Pakistan and beyond. Organisations that manage this requirement centrally rather than allowing staff to book their own travel save money, keep consolidated travel records, and know where staff are, especially when something goes wrong with staff travel on a road or flight.
The argument for a travel manager over a corporate credit card and a booking platform: the booking platform doesn’t phone the hotel to confirm the booking, doesn’t negotiate a rate below the best available to the hotel, and doesn’t make bookings for staff travel hotel accommodation or staff travel transport, or answer the staff travel phone calls when the Gilgit flight gets cancelled and a staff travel plan on alternate transport is required in an hour.
Inbound delegation management. The requirement for international delegations, foreign government delegations, business partners, and foreign investors visiting Islamabad is a full staff travel and delegation management service. This includes airport meet and assist, staff travel hotel accommodation in a confirmed hotel block, staff travel transport and drivers, staff travel hotel and conference room bookings, catering and protocol arrangements, and a staff travel and delegation management local contact who remains available during the staff travel visit.
Details relevant for a delegation: Host organizations are responsible for Pakistan’s first impression on their guests. Unbooked meetings, poorly planned transportation, and inadequate reservations are not guests’ problems to solve. These issues are the hosts’ problems.
Organizations headquartered in Islamabad regularly utilize northern Pakistan for corporate retreats, offsite team-building activities, and leadership programs. Swat, Naran, Hunza, and Skardu are all less than a day from Islamabad and each provides the change in scenery that a corporate retreat aims to achieve.
Event management services range from the organization of a large corporate event in an Islamabad hotel for over 200 participants, to a full-scale corporate retreat in a resort of the northern valleys.
There are numerous quality conference venues in Islamabad’s major hotels. The Serena Hotel Islamabad, in the Diplomatic Enclave, provides the space and security needed for international conferences and events. The Marriott Islamabad, the PC Hotel group, and the Pearl Continental Hotel Islamabad, among others, manage large to medium conferences. Smaller venues, as well as dedicated conference centers, are appropriate for workshops, seminars, and trainings.
What event management provides in comparison to standard venue booking is the coordination of the necessary audio visual equipment and provision of catering and services with the specification and management of the event, the registration and management of delegates and attendees, the provision of translation and interpretation services for multiple languages, the management, arrangement, and booking of accommodations for delegates, and event production time management.
Destination Events. More and more organizations in Islamabad require services outside the city for company-wide dinners, leadership retreats, or other events to mark an important milestone in the company's growth. The Serena Hotel Swat, approximately 4-5 hours away, has a variety of spaces, gardens, and the full standard of the Serena Hotel service. PC Legacy Skardu has banqueting and meeting spaces with a mountain backdrop. For a smaller group and with some advance lead time, the Hunza Serena Hotel is another option. A destination event in the north of Pakistan is more complex than an event in a city. Everything, from transporting the group to accommodating the block, program, and catering, has to be coordinated as a single unit rather than as multiple individual activities.
Business Events for Inbound Visitors. An example of this is a visiting trade delegation from an overseas country; a combination of business meetings in Islamabad with a site visit to a project location or a cultural visit is required. This would involve the business event and hospitality service management combined with transportation and an appropriate program on the part of the business and hospitality service management, respectively.
From the organizations that we usually interact with, we understand the most common requirements include the following:
A single point contact who is reachable at all times and does not leave everything to a hotel helpline which only operates during regular hours.
A confirmed block of hotel rooms with a reserved room list and event and room schedule, which is not left to the hotel's front desk to manage on event day.
Ground transport with confirmed drivers, pick-up times, and a vehicle type based on group size. A company that uses three vehicles to transport twelve people, but only confirms one, is a problem waiting to happen at the airport curb.
Invoicing to a company account with supporting documentation for finance departments. Some operators handle personal transfers. Organisations cannot process those.
A clear contingency plan. What happens if the Skardu flight cancels the day before the retreat? What happens if the conference caterer does not show? These are not edge cases in Pakistan’s operating environment. They happen, and the difference between a managed and an unmanaged event is if someone has a plan for when they do.
A northern retreat from Islamabad is a two to three day program for groups of ten to fifty people. Planning for the retreat begins with three questions: how many people, how many vehicles, and how the program balances professional and leisure activities.
Swat Valley retreats. Our shortest northern retreat from Islamabad (4-5 hours by road), Swat Serena Hotel in Saidu Sharif offers conference facilities, a garden setting and ample room for mid-size group bookings. A group of thirty can conduct a morning conference, head off to the Malam Jabba or Kalam area by jeep in the afternoon and return to Islamabad within 2 days. The construction of the motorway has reduced the Islamabad to Mingora drive to less than 4 hours, thus facilitating same day arrivals for sessions.
Naran Kaghan retreats. These retreats are also 5-6 hours from Islamabad with Saif-ul-Malook Lake as the event set-piece. A corporate group using jeeps on the track to the lake is a team activity where no one needs to fake their enjoyment of paintball. Accommodation is at the named Naran riverside hotels, with Pine Park Hotel and Arcadian Riverside the established hotels for group bookings. A full program takes 2 nights and 3 days.
Hunza retreats. These are our prestige retreats with either a 2 day drive or a flight to Gilgit. Hunza Serena Hotel in Karimabad offers full group service. The program includes visits to the fort, Attabad Lake and the Khunjerab Pass. For international visitors, the Hunza region is the most unexpected and welcome part of Pakistan. A combined 5 - 7 day business visit with a program is ideal for most foreign delegations.
Skardu retreats. PC Legacy Skardu manages conferences and banquets with the proximity of the airport that groups need when schedules are tight. A Skardu retreat offers Deosai as the non-negotiable full day and Kharpocho Fort for the historical context. Five to six nights is the right length.
When planning a group transportation for a corporate retreat, there are a lot of components you need to consider, which most planners tend to overlook.
For starters, a group of 20 people needs at least 3 vehicles for a comfortable commute. This would include a coaster for a traveling group and 2 support vehicles for luggage and the added program delays. A coaster with 20 people crammed in with all their bags and luggage heading on a long and painful mountain drive is not comfortable and creates a hassle for the program timing as the coaster is the only vehicle.
For Northern retreats, site visit vehicles should be a completely separate logistical effort from the vehicles used for primary transportation. The coaster that brought a group to Naran will not go to Saif-ul-Malook. The fleet of jeeps for the lake run needs to be confirmed in advance and not organized in the morning at the local stand.
The same is true for Deosai from Skardu and getting on a proper 4x4 fleet with each vehicle having a driver that has actually done the run, not a single jeep and a wait schedule.
Foreign delegations visiting Pakistan require a visa sponsorship letter from a licensed Pakistani tour operator or agency. We arrange both.
Gilgit-Baltistan, Chitral and the Kalash valleys have special permits for some foreign nationals. Any itinerary to the northern regions requires confirmation on permit requirements prior to finalization of the program; permits cannot be obtained after the visa is issued.
A formal office address and a registered name for the company. Personal numbers and social media pages are not corporate offices.
A DTS license if the work involves domestic or inbound tours.
Appropriate invoices include the logo of the corporation, Pakistani Tax Number, GST, and relevant documentation. A receipt issued from a personal account is not an invoice.
Current or previous year references from similar sized and type organizations.
A written contract, including the group size, booking name and room type for hotel, number and type of vehicles, program schedule, activities and services, cancellations, and contact information for the emergency coordinator.
Specific coordinator assigned to the account (not a generic email)
Verify a booking is confirmed by name and room number for each guest in the block prior to the group leaving Islamabad. A hotel block of thirty rooms is not confirmed even if the hotel has "reserved" the block.
Who is the main point of contact on the ground at each location and how can you get in touch with them outside of office hours? This is vital information for a delegation or retreat.
Do not make plans for a northern retreat based on a schedule that cannot accommodate last minute changes. Canceling Skardu flights on the day of the event is not a cancellation, it is a logistics challenge. The program loses time waiting for a refund and misses an opportunity to go with the plan.
Do not accept events management from a third party without a confirmed agreement with the venue. If someone contacts a hotel for the first time to support your event, they are not managing your venue.
For international guests, confirm visa and permit requirements after finalizing the itinerary and before sending out the invitations. An unconfirmed NOC should not be considered a valid reason to cancel last minute changes to a Northern itinerary and should not be considered a planning oversight when explaining the situation to the delegation.
Why should you avoid travel management companies? They are single point accountable contacts, manage staff travel, coordinate visas, hotel blocks and transport and offer airport transfers.
What does event management from Islamabad cover? They arrange venues, manage catering services and provide technical support. They also delegate and accommodation services.
Can you organize corporate retreats to Northern Pakistan? Yes. Swat, Naran, Hunza and Skardu are host to corporate retreats as long as you book at least 4 weeks in advance. Coordination for a retreat includes booking hotels, arranging transport and having emergency contact points.
Do you organize incoming international delegations? Yes. We take care of airport pick-up, booking hotels, transport arrangements, booking meeting spaces, security guards, cultural tour programs, arranging visas, and obtaining permits for restricted areas.
How much time do we need for a corporate event? Corporate events in the city need 4-6 weeks advance notice, whileevents in Northern Pakistan and international delegations need at least 8-12 weeks’ notice. Anything less than that puts the event at risk.
How do you take payment from organizations? We email a full company invoice along with tax documents to the finance department on company letterhead. Payment will not be taken through personal accounts.
-What is the correct format for sending an enquiry?
Send us the group size, date, destination and how the programme will need to be executed. Along with the details you provide, we will respond with a cost proposal, venue options, vehicle plan and proposed emergency contact system.
To respond to your enquiry, what details do you need?
WhatsApp: +92 341 111 3777
Email: info@hospitalitytours.com
Head office: Office No. 2 & 3, Ground Floor, Parish Rose Plaza, Opposite NUST Gate 4, Sector H-13, Islamabad