The tale of the generous boss, and why Marbella remains the “treat” destination of choice

Marbella is often short-hand for Puerto Banús, and is world-famous as a glitzy, sunny destination.

Tap ‘Marbella’ into a Google search engine this week and your screen will throng with pictures of beaming employees of travel and party firm Red7, who were treated to an all-expenses paid staff holiday to Marbella last week as a ‘thank you’ for their hard work…

The story has gained traction across all the leading tabloids because it comprises all the ingredients for an easily digestible online read: Marbella and the Costa del Sol – Check; pretty girls in bikinis – Check; a sunny backdrop – Check; and enough elements to make the readers jealous – Double Check.

Red7’s Managing Director Ian Lucas must be delighted with the free publicity, and as the owner of a travel and party specialist, it certainly looks like he knows what he’s doing: selecting the right location, at the right time, for the right reason and duration, and reaping the excellent PR.

But there is a bigger story at play here than just: generous boss does generous thing. And that is: why is Marbella always the location of choice for work-based rewards of this ilk?

Now, don’t get us wrong, the vast, vast majority of British firms usually stretch to little more than a hundred quid behind the bar of the local Wetherspoons when treating their staff, but there is a curious trend – centred largely in London and confined to the recruitment, sales and marketing industries – that positions Marbella as the year-end carrot, the target-hitting reward, the summer dream to be realised if staff go the extra mile to boost the coffers of their employers.

It is a smart ploy: calculate a target that if hit then the Marbella trip goes ahead as planned but still leaves the firm nicely in profit, or, if it falls just short then the outlay expense is spared but profits and staff motivation may vastly improve.

And Marbella is the perfect target destination for this. It is close by, meaning a two- or three-day treat is feasible (the Caribbean, in contrast, may well be a spectacular destination but the cost – both in terms of finance and human productivity, may prove prohibitive even for the richest companies); its reputation is suitably glamorous so as to properly incentivise staff; its actual, on-the-ground costs are not as expensive as some may believe, and its variety is second-to-none, meaning companies can hire yachts, nightclubs, restaurants or beach bars, or simply put up staff in a hotel and say “see you at Málaga airport on Sunday night”.

Benidorm, Barcelona, Ibiza and Tenerife – for all their strengths – either have too little or (in the case of Barcelona) too much going for them to make them viable work-reward destinations, while Marbella’s complete package and undeniable prestige certainly makes it stand out from the crowd.

So if you see a sunburned group of office workers hitting the beachside cocktails hard this week, cut them some slack – they’ve probably worked very hard to be where they are!