Journey Map

Trip Name: Corporate Ski Trip to Lake Tahoe

Goal of the Trip: Ski as much as possible and have fun with work friends outside of a work setting and get a break form the grind of client service

Background: AL is a consultant for a large consulting firm working out of Cleveland.  At the time of the trip he was a consultant and was planning a trip for all the analysis and consultants in his office. This was the fourth time the ski trip was happening for the Cleveland office.

Milestones:

1. Deciding Where to Go

The trip location changed every year so this was the first and the most important step in the planning. Every year the location has changed. The year before it was at Breckenridge, CO. AL decided on the Lake Tahoe area because it was his favorite place he had skied but he had not been in many years.

 Selected the Lake Tahoe area for a few reasons:

1. Close to the Reno airport and close to other airports allowing people to find the best airport and price for them
2. There were many resorts in a small area so they could ski a different place each day
3. There were varied terrain easy slopes for beginners to extreme off trail slopes for the experts.

2. Gauge Interests

AL sent out an email to the Analysts, Consultants and Sr. Consultants in the Cleveland office.  There was about 50 people invited on the trip and about 25 were interested in the trip.  This allowed him to start looking for the housing options and go him very excited since with such a large group this is was going to be a great trip.

3.     Looking for Lodging

AL wanted to find the most fun house he could find. He developed the following criteria:

•       Available for their times
•        Ski in ski out
•        Large enough for all to sleep in beds
•        Hot tub
•        Large common area
•        Game room

There are a lot of houses in the Tahoe area so finding a house with all of his criteria was not that hard to do. Once AL identified the house he was excited to share the news with all that were interested in the trip. His co-planner then told him he had to send out an email requesting deposit money from all interested, he was not happy about this.  He hates asking people for money but he sent out the email and they received all the money they needed for the deposit to secure the house for the trip.

4.     Travel Logistics

All of the participants were coming from different locations all over the US and booked flights in to different area airports.  AL was tasked with figuring out who was landing where and when so then they could share rental cars. He did this by developing a database of the flight information and the deciding whom was arriving around the same time and at the same airport each other. This allowed everyone to share rental cars and reduce the cost of the trip.

5.     Skier Activities

Most of the people on the trip were skiers and wanted to get the best deal they could on lift tickets and rentals.  Many of them had to rent ski equipment because they were traveling for work during the weeks before and after so getting the right equipment at the right price was important.  AL took this as his mission and used his negotiation skills to work with and pit the different companies against each other. Most would have found this a daunting task but AL was excited and treated it as a game. In end he found great deals for the group.

6.     Non-Skier Activities

There were a few people on the trip who were not skiers but wanted to join the fun anyways.  AL had to find activities for them to do while the others were out skiing. His goal was to find activities that were fun and winter focused for the non-skiers.  He did research and found out other options in the Tahoe area. He was able to find a few good ones that everyone enjoyed (snowmobiling, snowshoeing and gambling).

7.     In-House Activities

The trip was around the time of the winter Olympics and therefore they wanted to incorporate the winter Olympics into their trip.  AL planned a “winter Olympics” for the whole house one night. This was a lot of work on his part but enjoyed planning an event that had the potential for being a lot of fun for everyone.

8.     Meals

Meals were actually the easiest part for AL because he outsources the mail planning to two other people on the trip.  They went to Costco before the trip and bought everything they needed to feed the 25 people on the trip and then included the costs into the final payment amount. 

Below is the Journey Map for this trip.