The Ultimate Guide to Check-In Challenge Prizes

Check-in challenges have become a fun way to encourage visitors to explore a destination. The themes vary and include everything from food, beverages, children’s activities, outdoor adventures, and more. When building these visitor experiences, you can assign points to each check-in, and as visitors accrue points, they can redeem them for prizes. 

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The Importance of Rewards 

Rewarding visitors for exploring your destination can have a profound impact. Even an inexpensive prize can motivate passholders. Psychology Today has shared how small rewards, such as stickers, can help support adults’ needs by showing that effort still counts. 

Aditi Subramaniam, Ph.D. wrote, “For adults, small rewards can compress several motivational signals into one tiny object: I made progress. It is noticeable. I belong here. I can do this.” 

Do people simply like cool stickers? Absolutely. Sticker-covered water bottles are proof.  However, per Subramaniam, a sticker can have a much more profound psychological meaning. 

She shared, “Self-determination theory, one of the most influential theories of human motivation, suggests that people are more likely to stay motivated when three basic psychological needs are met: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Autonomy is the feeling that we are choosing what we do, competence is the feeling that we are improving, and relatedness is the feeling that we are connected to other people.” According to her article, a sticker can meet all three needs. 

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Common Prizes for Check-in Challenges 

• T-shirts
• Hoodies
• Hats/Beanies
• Stickers
• Water Bottles
• Tote Bags
• Coasters 

While these are some of the more common prizes, and Bandwango’s partners have had great results with these, there are some organizations that have also created other unique and enticing rewards. 

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Unique Prize Ideas for Check-in Challenges

• Themed prizes that are specific to the pass

Experience Columbus has seen success with using t-shirts as prizes, but they also find targeted prizes that match the themes of their passes. For example, one of the prizes passholders can earn on the Columbus-Style Pizza Trail is a stainless-steel pizza peel. Some of the prizes available on the Columbus Coffee Trail are an insulated hot/cold tumbler and stainless-steel coffee press. 

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• Posters created by local artists

Visit SoIN has multiple passes, and some of them, such as the Scenic SoIN and Inspired SoIN passports, allow passholders to have the chance to win a poster created by a local artist. Each year, they refresh their passes and have a new poster that’s available. These have become collectable items that encourage passholders to keep participating so they can earn enough points to get the newest poster. They also have a party each summer and the new posters are unveiled there. “We do something called the Summer Passport Party,” said Katerina Koehler, Senior Marketing Manager for SoIN Tourism. “It is a party that is free to the public, and we use it to promote all of our passes and unveil the new posters for our passes that use those as prizes. We started it last year, and it was a huge hit.” 

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• Gift cards for local businesses

Visit Bloomington Indiana has found a creative way to avoid paying for prizes out of pocket. On their check-in challenges, passholders earn points for visiting each location on the pass, and they can redeem those for gift cards to local businesses. Visit Bloomington’s Leisure Marketing Manager, Jordan Smith, shared how they acquired those and said, “We sell advertisement space in our visitor’s guide, and to make it a little more affordable, we offer trade-outs. It just kind of worked out beautifully. If the business wants to buy an ad, and they say it's a bit out of their price range, we will allow them to provide the difference in gift cards, which we then use for prizes. We don't have to buy prizes, because we already had them on hand.” 

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• Tickets to an exclusive event 

Missouri Wines’ Marketing Director, Annette Alden shared some tips on what has worked for their loyalty programs, saying, “Different folks like different incentives. So think about that, and your budget. Keep the rewards fresh so that they're always working towards something different. That has been really helpful in keeping that excitement going.” They’ve developed a robust collection of appealing rewards such as pins, t-shirts, hats, a foil cutter, a stainless steel wine saver, and a candle that is made from real Missouri wine bottles. However, they’ve also included a special reward for those that saved up enough points – tickets to an exclusive wine event at the Governor’s Mansion.

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• Sweepstakes for high value items

Jeff Robinson is the Managing Director of Marketing for Visit Indy and one of his tips for success is to offer the right prizes. The incentives for the Indy Hoops Pass included things that were easy for everyone to win – such as stickers and t-shirts. But they also had sweepstakes drawings for basketball tickets, signed balls, etc.

Beef Loving Texans also believes in incorporating multiple prizes onto their check-in challenges, including some high value items. Adriana Mora, the organization’s Manager of Consumer Marketing, shared, “The lowest tier prize is a sticker – everyone loves stickers.” Other prizes include a canvas bag, a t-shirt, a hat, and a YETI tumbler. They have also had a grand prize sweepstakes that includes a weekend getaway to Austin, Texas, and a hands-on Smoking 101 course led by Beef Loving Texans’ pitmaster.    

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Tips from Other DMOs 

• Make it easy

Eddie Kirsch, Director of Digital and Data for Visit St. Pete Clearwater, shared that making it easy for passholders was also important. On their 727 Day Deals Passport, one redemption scored passholders enough points to win a prize. He said, “Just make things easy for people and they will appreciate it.”  

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• Use your visitor center as a prize pick-up spot 

If you want to push traffic to your visitor center, consider using it as a place for passholders to pick up their prizes like the Frankenmuth Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau is doing for their Frankenmuth Gnome Hunt. Lydia Walker, the organization’s Director of Operations and Services, shared that this has been an extra bonus of the initiative. “Getting people into our visitor center opens up their eyes to all that’s in Frankenmuth. You’ve got to talk to the staff when you pick up your prize, and that’s likely going to open up a conversation about something else in town – so it’s good to drive traffic into the visitor center.”

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• Have a variety of prizes

Travel South Dakota has a variety of prizes available at different levels so that people can have a chance to win something, even if they are only there for a short visit. Their prizes include everything from stickers designed by local artists, a children’s activity book, posters, puzzles, socks, t-shirts, stuffed animals, an ENO hammock, a North Face backpack, and a Rumpl blanket. 

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How to Avoid Paying Upfront for Prizes 

Hopefully this has given you a few ideas of the different types of prizes you can offer when you build a check-in challenge. If you don’t know how many to order though, or don’t want to pay upfront for prizes, there is another option that can make prize fulfillment easier for you. 

At first, Sarah Harris, the Sales and Marketing Director for Visit Luzerne County, ordered prizes such as t-shirts on her own, but she found it to be challenging. She shared in the Experience Builder Webinar Series: Prize Fulfillment, “We struggled with how many shirts to order, and how many of each size.” She then learned that prize fulfillment is one of the support services Bandwango provides. 

After relinquishing the duties of prize fulfillment to the Bandwango team, she’s seen the impact that it’s made. She shared, “It’s so great to not have to worry about the cost of ordering them, shipping them here, and shipping them out.” She also highlighted another benefit: “The manpower… because people’s time is valuable too.” It has created less work on her team by having Bandwango help with fulfillment, but there are other perks as well. 

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Reasons to use Bandwango prize fulfillment

• Take the work off of your team to fulfill prizes
• No upfront costs
• Save money by not ordering too many or too few prizes
• No on-site storage at your business
• Opportunity to have a wider prize selection 

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How it works

• First, reach out to the Bandwango team at success@bandwango.com to request links to the catalogs.
• Review and select your items and colors. You can select as many prize options as you like. 
• Send over a high-resolution image to be imprinted or embroidered on the item(s).
• Bandwango will send pricing estimates and mock-ups for your approval.
• Bandwango will confirm with you once you can add the prize to your pass and assign points. 
• As passholders redeem points for prizes, Bandwango handles the shipments – there is no need for your team to do anything.
• You’ll be invoiced monthly for the previous month’s prizes. You’ll never pay upfront for prizes, and will only pay for the prizes that passholders redeem. 

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Are you ready to get started on a check-in challenge for your destination? Let’s chat! Set up a free consultation with our team to learn more about creating a check-in challenge and picking the perfect prizes your visitors will be excited to earn.  

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