Mauritius Incentive Connection fam trip July Aug 2012
Mauritius Incentive Connection is a marketing consortium exclusive to the South African MICE trade, consisting of eleven major, MICE focused hotels, one production company (Impact Production Company) and one DMC, namely Connections DMC Mauritius. We established this unique initiative to bring fresh and exciting incentive activities the paradise island of Mauritius has to offer...
Mauritius Incentive Connection, Air Mauritius and the Mauritian tourism promotion authority recently hosted an extremely successful MICE fam trip for 8 incentive planners, showcasing the MIC portfolio. The hotels are: Intercontinental; The Grand Mauritian (A Luxury Collection by Starwood) The St Regis Resort; The Maritim hotel; Le Meridien Ile Maurice; One&Only Le Saint Geran (Member Leading Hotels of the World); Four Seasons Resort at Anahita; Shanti Maurice a Nira Resort (Member Leading Hotels of the World) Heritage Awali Golf & Spa Resort Heritage; Le Telfair Golf & Spa Resort (Member of the small Leading Hotels of the World); and Hilton Mauritius Resort & Spa.
Connections DMC
With an increased frequency introduced by Air Mauritius the “MICE Paradise” is more accessible than ever.
With an increased frequency introduced by Air Mauritius the “MICE Paradise” is more accessible than ever.
Air Mauritius has daily flights from Johannesburg, double daily on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays with a wide-bodied aircraft addressing capacity requirements. Air Mauritius has also introduced night flights on the above mentioned days, providing two additional full days in Mauritius, maximizing time on the ground. Air Mauritius also has three weekly flights from Cape Town directly to Mauritius. Air Mauritius will now have 10 weekly frequencies, nnegotiated group rates, 20% breakaways permitted, journey extensions and name changes permitted; site inspection and free group leader ticket and personalized group check in for MICE groups.
Upon arrival at SSR international airport, the group was pleasantly surprised with a beautiful flower garland, the traditional tikka ceremony, cocktails, canapés and the scintillating sega - we couldn’t help but shimmy our way to the welcoming drum beats to our colourful Connections bus escorted by the friendly Connections Incentive team
The InterContinental Mauritius was our first port of call. The hotel is located just north of the capital, a 15-minute drive from the clubs and sights of Grand Baie and 50 minutes from the airport. We were once again welcomed with pomp and pageantry, Indian dancers in bright colours danced around us like fire flies in the night, we then enjoyed a dinner in the Senso restaurant before retiring to bed and looking forward to what the next day’s Mauritius incentive activity offerings .
A private breakfast awaited us before our full day of fun. After filling up on tropical breakfast delights, we hit the conference centre for a quick inspection... the ballroom accommodates 500 pax theatre style and boasts 4 break out rooms for superior island conferencing. As we headed in the conference centre foyer we were met by 3 Mini Cooper cabriolets parked indoors – this was the start of our self drive island discovery. Kitted with a task list, maps and lunch boxes, we carefully drove the cars out the conference centre, filled with a sense of achievement of not damaging the cars or the conference centre doors, pumped the music of Bollywood beats and hit the open road.
The first stop was L’Aventure du Sucre, a sugar factory where we wondered around, imagined fabulous off site dining options on the grounds, tasted a variety of different sugars, and just a touch of rum (since this was a self drive activity...) next was the wondrous Chateau Labourdonnais, another beautiful property with gardens perfect for cocktail soirees under the stars in palatial style surroundings. From there we were off to Cap Malheureux (the red roof church) for some photo ops and walk abouts. The fun drive discovery tour can be tailor made to anywhere on the island too!
After a thrilling morning of getting lost and chatting locals with a dash of Grand Baie shopping we headed to the Le Meridien Ille Maurice for an informative site inspection, delightful cooking lesson and fabulous lobster BBQ lunch with free flow champagne in the gardens of the Nirvana wing of the hotel.
It was spa spoils upon arrival at our home base InterContinental – or “Golden I” as it became affectionately known, we were all treated to a massage before freshening for sundowners on the hotels’ jetty and a marvelous progressive dinner where we enjoyed appetizers at the segala beach restaurant, a sorbet to cleanse the palette at the sorbet hut as we walked through the local market that sets up shop within the hotel common areas once a week, entrees of lobster tandoori style at the Veda Indian restaurant to the sweet sounds of the sitar and finally, dessert platters at the Noble House restaurant.
We were then escorted to the hotels’ private island for night caps, where a beautiful private bar set up awaited us, complete with guitarist serenading us to familiar favourites, we even got a few songs out of Shane Jameson director of sales of the hotel...
The next day was a sunshine spectacular with not a cloud in the sky. We were whisked off to the Maritim hotel by glass bottom boat, were lucky enough to spot some dolphins along the way and soon arrived at hotels’ jetty, welcomed by a private breakfast on the beach set up with a singer for our morning entertainment, we tucked into the delicious spread and were ready for a comprehensive inspection of the 25 hectare property, complete with 9 hole golf course, The Balaclava Ruins for fantastic gala dinner and cocktail events (where we were treated to more champagne and serenaded by the hotels’ own staff members) as well as an award winning spa and soon to boast a total of 100 twin rooms by the end of the year making it the largest twin room inventory on the island!
Next stop West Coast, in the scenic village of flic en flac we were welcomed at the Hilton Hotel with personalised coconut cocktails baring our names , a great beach restaurant lunch at Les Coquillages of fresh fish cooked to perfection and show around of the best of what the hotel has to offer. Something quite unique to the Hilton is the torch lighting ceremony. It’s daily tradition where staff members light the hotels’ garden torches to very soulful music, announcing that the restaurants are open for dinner, welcoming the hotel guests to the evening activities.
Zip lining at casela bird park was next on the agenda, we were harnessed and rigged and ready to rock and roll, we walked along a suspended bridge above what felt like the deepest gorge known to man and then raced up down zip lines (longest in the Indian ocean) at “mach 3” Fear of heights were conquered by a few of our fam trippers that day - what a great high light of the trip!
It was sunset cruising time following our zipline experience, time to unwind with a tasteful cheese and wine on a catamaran with entire Connections DMC incentive team, we learnt how to sega on board with a live demo by the ladies of Connections until the familiar favourites of “kaptein” and “Los Lappie” started to really get us in the mood.
Heritage Le Telfair is a member of the ‘Small Luxury Hotels of the World’; we called this home for the next stop during of our stay in Mauritius. Once we were shown to our beautiful colonial style rooms, we quickly refreshed ourselves and head of the The Villas Valriche which played host to a networking cocktail soiree with Heritage staff compete with singing trio (suiker bossie on the playlist and all...) Villas Valriche has received numerous international accolades including awards for Best Development and Best Golf Development; it has also been ranked by the property press in the Top 10 Best Luxury Developments in the World, Best Residential Golf Resort and Best Long Haul Golf Resort...
We hit the Heritage golf course for a quick round of night golf with glow in the dark balls... where some of us flashed budding golfing talent and others thought it best to quit whilst ahead... (me) before we enjoyed a magnificent dinner and what seemed like a “sushi mile” at Gin’ja Restaurant
The Chateau Bel Ombre is a wonderful off site dinner experience within the domaine, dating back to the early 1800's, Le Château de Bel Ombre, restored as a restaurant, serves a 'cuisine d'inspiration'. Whether for lunch in the French garden or a romantic dinner, or even an elegant cocktail, the refined and intimate atmosphere makes it the perfect setting for incentive groups with fine dining on their mind.
The Heritage Awali is just next door to Le Telfair, a stylish and contemporary luxury resort with superb facilities and a range of activities making Awali a great all inclusive choice for MICE groups. Attached to the two hotels is the magnificent 18 hole "Heritage Golf Club" golf course which covers 100 hectares, is the masterpiece of architect Peter Matkovich, of Peter Matkovich and Hayes the world renowned South African architectural practice. Green fees are free of charge for guests staying at both the properties.
The C beach Club is located right on the beachfront and adjacent to the Heritage Le Telfair and the Heritage Awali, and appeals to MICE groups for exclusive parties and events, or just for a casual beach lunch.
St Regis resort Mauritius opening November 1 2012 is set to be something spectacular. We had an inspection in hard hats as it was still under construction at the time. As the sun started to set, it was champagne sundowners and sega trio serenades while will mingled with the hotel management and got to know each other better in the gardens of the hotel, overlooking the brilliant beach in the gorgeous setting of Le Morne. The room was a marvel in itself, with a home away from home concept attached to the hotel; most of us were seriously considering swapping our own homes for the St Regis...
The Shanti Maurice on the beautiful south coast of the island has one of the best beaches. We had a stunning breakfast with the turquoise sea and tempting white sand as the backdrop as well as the hotels’ unique volcanic stone pools behind us. The Shanti Maurice has the familiar taste of home with their Cape Malay cuisine consulted by Reuben Riffel himself. The celebrated Fish and Rhum Shack offers a most authentic Mauritian evening. The rustic beach-side barbecue, elevated by lantern-light and the sound of waves breaking on the reef, is an unforgettable feast under the stars and has won accolades with Trip Advisors excellence awards. The hotel boasted beautiful rooms with WIFI and the most amazing outside showers we had even seen.
Shanti Maurice also has special concept called ‘Grandma’s Kitchen’, a new offering which allows guests of the resort to dine at the home of the grandmother of one of the resort’s own team members.
Ile Des Deux Cocos is a secluded and dynamic island with outstanding service and a range of activities to enjoy for incentives: volleyball competitions, beach BBQ, underwater treasure hunts around the island, snorkelling. We had time to sniff and sip a few of their homemade rum varieties; apple and cinnamon deemed the favourite... The island comes with a villa too... is renowned for its themed evenings from Arabian nights, with a Moroccan twist with tents by the water's edge, to a night at the circus, or a honeymoon retreat for a private wedding...
Ile Des Deux Cocos is a secluded and dynamic island with outstanding service and a range of activities to enjoy for incentives: volleyball competitions, beach BBQ, underwater treasure hunts around the island, snorkelling. We had time to sniff and sip a few of their homemade rum varieties; apple and cinnamon deemed the favourite... The island comes with a villa too... is renowned for its themed evenings from Arabian nights, with a Moroccan twist with tents by the water's edge, to a night at the circus, or a honeymoon retreat for a private wedding...
We hopped onto a speedboat transfer from Ile Des Deux Cocos, Four Seasons Anahita bound, feeling like Bond Girls but looking rather windswept, we enjoyed a fabulous lunch followed by informative inspection of the resort via golf cart and ended up in one of the villas for a delectable dessert spread. Every villa comes complete with private plunge pool with day bed. The Four Seasons also has a teen’s club that converts into a night club for groups after hours, for those that want to carry on partying into the night, we experienced that sound system first hand!
One and Only Le St Geran, set the on the pristine East Coast with beautiful a beach accommodated us for the evening. After a wonderful show around of the hotel, quickly refreshed and discovered we were blessed with Butler service, a spot of wine pairing in the Prime Restaurant’s kitchen with the chefs and sommelier as well as an address from Doctor Karl Mootoosamy, director of the Mauritius tourism promotion authority... we then made our way to the hotels jetty for some pre dinner cocktails and a fabulous firework display, we jingled as we walked to our next destination kitted up in Bollywood bangle bling had a super farewell dinner at Rasoi by Vineet with delightful Indian spread, followed by hubbly bubbly time Bedouin style and a last shot of Mauritian rum before making our way, night cap bound...to reminisce over the friends and memories we had made. :)
