At Achieve Incentives & Meetings, we’ve always believed incentive travel has the power to do more than reward top performers.
That belief is what led to our recognition at the SITE Crystal Awards-hosted by the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE), the leading global organization dedicated to incentive travel professionals. As one of the highest honors in the industry, these awards recognize programs that drive real business results and meaningful impact. For Achieve, that recognition came from the measurable social impact created through intentional program design.
But this wasn’t about just one event.
It was about how we are redefining what incentive travel can do.
For an incentive program in the Riviera Maya, Mexico, Achieve partnered with a U.S.-based window supplier to host their 76 top-performers. When discussing the goals of the program, our client shared that they wanted the program connected to their values around purpose-driven growth and community impact.
With those goals front and center, Team Achieve planned strategically around the program’s very first impression – the Welcome Reception.
Instead of a traditional welcome gift, we collaborated with our long-time hotel partners at UNICO 20°87° Riviera Maya to designed an experience that aligned directly with our client’s values: El Mercadito.
Rather than purchasing gifts to hand to attendees, we transformed the Welcome Reception into a curated vibrant artisan gifting market that welcomed 11 Indigenous and rural businesses, including several women-led enterprises, to showcase and sell their handwoven, hand-carved, and heart-crafted goods.
This sourcing was intentional, with Achieve wanting to elevate voices that are often left out of traditional incentive programs. These talented artisans proudly displayed a range of goods, including Mayan-inspired straw art, Tenango embroidery laden with symbolism, hand-carved alebrijes, homemade salsas, and so much more. Products reflected the rich local talents and cultural histories that date back centuries in Quintana Roo.
“It was important to us that El Mercadito reflected both our client’s values and the spirit of the destination. We moved beyond traditional gifting to create an experience that was interactive, culturally grounded, and directly supportive of local artisans,” said Ellen Traylor, Program Manager at Achieve and the lead event planner for this program.
Upon arriving at the first night’s welcome reception, incentive winners were greeted by a vibrant artisan market, where they were invited to personally select beautifully handcrafted gifts from local makers. As they explored, they had the opportunity to speak directly with the artists behind the pieces. Each maker was warmly encouraged to share the personal narratives that shaped their work and detail their process, techniques, and who their crafts helped support back home. Spanish-speaking program managers from the Achieve team and the hotel were also readily available to help bridge any language gaps, deepening connections with just a few words.
Achieve’s graphic design team even created custom-branded “currency” inspired by our client’s brand, with real monetary value associated with each bill. Guests used the currency to purchase items directly from the artisans, making the brand visible in a way that clearly reflected our client’s values around community investment and responsible impact. This turned a traditional gifting moment into something interactive, meaningful, and impactful for both the winners and the local community.
To bring El Mercadito to life, Achieve worked hand-in-hand with their hotel partners to bridge logistics, creativity, and trusted local relationships. Cynthia Cecilia Machado Perez, Conference Service Manager at UNICO 20°87° Riviera Maya, shared her thoughts on the impact: “Working with our partners at Achieve to create El Mercadito was such a beautiful way to support our local Mayan community. Together, we created a vibrant space within our hotel where artisans could present their work and share their hand-crafted goods.
They brought our colors, flavors, aromas, and essence of our local Mayan culture to life – and the incentive winners loved it,” shared Cynthia. “At UNICO, we truly value working with Achieve on initiatives that embody our shared commitment to supporting our local people – and even better that our collaboration led to generating a big positive economic impact in our community.”
Through El Mercadito, Achieve infused a total of $5,281.08 directly into the local economy. Of that amount, $3,158.68 came from our client to fund the real value behind the custom-branded currency, and an additional $2,122.40 was spent out of pocket by incentive winners beyond the currency they received. This meant our client’s direct investment represented less than 1% of the total program budget, yet it generated measurable economic impact on the ground. It’s proof that small, strategic investments woven thoughtfully into program design can create meaningful, lasting returns for both the community and our client’s brand.
As a result, each artist earned an average of $480 in income from this single event. That means that this one event generated earnings that exceed what many would typically make in an entire month in Riviera Maya.¹
Beyond the direct economic impact, Achieve intentionally designed El Mercadito to align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, embedding global impact standards directly into the event experience. The artisan-inspired gifting supports key SDGs focused on poverty reduction, decent work and economic growth, reduced inequalities, and responsible consumption and production – demonstrating how incentive travel can advance measurable community impact while delivering an exceptional guest experience.
“The fact that it became the highest-rated element of the program reinforces that when you lead with purpose, you create experiences that resonate far beyond the event itself,” Traylor added.
Centering local culture and investing directly in surrounding communities became “a mutual exchange of gratitude and celebration.” The program didn’t just create a memorable welcome event, it left a legacy of cultural respect, economic empowerment, and genuine community connection.
And the response from incentive winners was undeniable. Post-event survey results showed that El Mercadito was the highest-rated element of the entire program, outperforming entertainment, excursions, golf, and spa experiences.
For less than 1% of the total program budget by our client, this activity became the most memorable, talked-about, and most requested ‘bring this back’ part of the trip. It proves that when you center purpose and pair it with a socially impactful strategy, incentive travel becomes a true force for good.
This program wasn’t recognized just because it was creative.
It was recognized for proving that when designed intentionally, incentive travel becomes a performance strategy, one that drives measurable results and meaningful community impact, not just reward.
El Mercadito demonstrated that incentive travel can:
- Drive performance by delivering experiences top performers genuinely value
- Bring company values to life in ways attendees actually experience
- Create measurable social impact that extends far beyond the event
This program drove economic growth, inclusion, responsible sourcing, and cultural preservation.
But the difference was simple: impact wasn’t added, it was embedded.
That’s why it resonated. That’s why it performed. And that’s why Achieve was recognized globally.
At Achieve, we believe this is the future of our industry, and we’re excited to continue building programs that create impact not only for our clients, but for the communities that welcome us around the world.
Impact is the new expectation.
Ready to connect your corporate values to your next business event? Let’s talk.
¹ Data México, “Quintana Roo: Education and Employment,” Secretaría de Economía, Government of Mexico, accessed February 2026, https://www.economia.gob.mx/datamexico/en/profile/geo/quintana-roo-qr