Travel Executive Group’s New Benefit: Free Conference Registration

If you can make it to Copenhagen or Hong Kong, it’s a pretty killer member benefit.

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives, a trade group for the business travel industry, is giving its members with corporate buying power free admission—as long as they can make it to either the ACTE Global Corporate Travel Conference in Copenhagen (taking place October 19-21  (opens in a new tab)) or the ACTE Asia Corporate Travel Conference in Hong Kong (taking place August 6-7  (opens in a new tab)).

“Many travel managers are still subject to cost limitations on conferences and training events. With registration fees coming out of their own pockets, they will attend conferences if participation costs are lowered. There is nothing lower than free,” ACTE Executive Director Greeley Koch explained in a news release  (opens in a new tab).

Now granted, there are a couple catches—first, there’s a nominal $15 booking fee for those who register for either event. And if you have to cancel or you don’t show up, you’ll get charged $150 (in the case of Hong Kong) or $200 (in the case of Copenhagen). And your company is still on the hook to actually pay the costs to travel to and stay in those places. (But let’s face it: If you’re a business travel buyer, you probably already know this.)

However, if you can make it to those far-flung places, the member pricing could prove a good hook, as the price of a year’s membership (which varies by region  (opens in a new tab)) is cheaper than the nonmember price at either  (opens in a new tab) event  (opens in a new tab).

And if you can’t make it, there are still plenty of membership perks to go around, including a 35 percent discount on the association’s other events.

Have you tried the free event route as a member benefit for your association? If so, offer up some insights in the comments.

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