Incentive Travel and Meetings: Hot List

This is the quick-reference hot list — the cities and properties that are actually moving on our client programs right now, organized so you can scan it in two minutes. For the long-form guides, the links throughout point to the comprehensive destination pieces.

The data points below are drawn from the latest IRF/SITE Incentive Travel Index (the joint annual research from the Incentive Research Foundation and SITE Foundation) and from Cvent’s group business demand reporting, cross-checked against our own client booking pipeline.

Hot Right Now — Domestic Incentive

The Big Island, Hawaii. Four Seasons Hualalai. Still the top-rated U.S. incentive destination across post-trip surveys we collect. Best for groups 80–200.

Park City, Utah (summer). Montage Deer Valley off-season. Same property quality as winter at roughly 30% off rates — the under-the-radar shift of the past three years.

Charleston / Kiawah Island, SC. The Sanctuary at Kiawah. Walkable historic-district extension is the differentiator.

Sedona, Arizona. Enchantment Resort. Right call when your audience has already done Hawaii and Napa.

Phoenix-Scottsdale. The Phoenician for full meeting + resort programming. Year-round value play.

(Long-form: domestic incentive travel destinations, or the curated five-destination shortlist.)

Hot Right Now — International Incentive

Lisbon & the Algarve, Portugal. Rising fastest in the IRF/SITE Index for the past three reports. Per-attendee program cost roughly 20–25% below Spain or Italy for equivalent property quality.

Los Cabos, Mexico. Waldorf Astoria Pedregal or Las Ventanas. Direct flights, no passport jet-lag, established luxury bench.

Punta Mita, Mexico. Four Seasons + St. Regis adjacent properties on the same peninsula. Cleanest 150+ buyout configuration in Mexico.

Turks & Caicos. COMO Parrot Cay (small-group private-island), Amanyara (estate luxury). The value-tier Caribbean play.

Bali, Indonesia. Four Seasons Sayan. The Asia entry that consistently rates highest on post-trip surveys.

(Long-form: international destinations (non-Europe), or the European President’s Club guide.)

Hot Right Now — Meeting & SKO Cities

Nashville, TN. Has overtaken several traditional SKO cities in Cvent’s demand index over the past three years. Lower Broadway is the walkable evening district that makes the format work.

Phoenix-Scottsdale, AZ. Year-round meeting destination most planners under-use. Property density at the Phoenician + Fairmont Scottsdale Princess.

San Diego, CA. Lowest weather risk of any major U.S. meeting city. Marriott Marquis Marina + harbor-side offsite activation.

Dallas, TX. Central-time logistics work mechanically better than coastal cities for cross-country audiences. AA hub means direct flights from nearly every U.S. metro.

Charleston, SC. Best small-group meeting city in the U.S. for 60–150 attendees who need walkable evenings.

(Long-form: top meeting destinations and SKO hot spots.)

What We Wouldn’t Default To

Three destinations that frequently appear on “hot” lists but we’d push back on for most 2027 programs:

Orlando. Disney/Universal distractions are a net negative for both content-heavy meetings and reward-focused incentive programs. The convention infrastructure is real, but it’s a destination that works against your program goals more often than for them.

Cabo San Lucas (the city itself). Not Los Cabos resort areas — Cabo San Lucas town has gotten busy and tourist-coded in a way that hurts the rated wow factor on incentive programs. Stay at Pedregal, Esperanza, or out the corridor toward San José del Cabo instead.

Bahamas / Atlantis Paradise Island. The property quality has not kept pace with the price point. Top performers notice. The Caribbean money is better spent in Turks & Caicos or Anguilla.

The Per-Attendee Math

Quick reference for 2027 programs:

Domestic incentive: $4,500–$8,500 per attendee at our default property tiers (Hawaii and Aspen at the top, Phoenix-Scottsdale and Sedona at the bottom).

International incentive: $6,500–$10,500 per attendee (Asia and Patagonia at the top, Mexico and the Caribbean at the bottom).

European President’s Club: $5,500–$8,500 per attendee (Switzerland and Lake Como at the top, Portugal and Croatia at the bottom).

U.S. SKO: $2,500–$5,500 per attendee, broadly consistent with IRF and SITE corporate-meeting benchmarks.

If you want help building a destination shortlist tied to your specific group profile and budget reality, our incentive travel team or SKO planning team can help.

Related reading: 2027 President’s Club destination guide — the full curated shortlist for next year’s program.

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