When cities around the globe were vying to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, Joyce Landry and Josephine Kling were rooting for Rio de Janeiro to win the nod from the International Olympic Committee.

Their Miami-based company, Landry & Kling, helped Brazilian leaders propose a plan to use cruise ships as floating hotels to augment hotel bed capacity in Rio, which clinched the games Oct. 2 to become the first South American nation to host the games.

``We provided letters of interest saying that cruise lines would be interested in charters if Rio were to win,'' says Landry, chief executive of Landry & Kling, which she founded 27 years ago with Kling, who is president.

The firm specializes in planning and overseeing meetings, corporate and incentive programs, and charters on cruise ships. It's a destination-management company for cruise ships.

Back in 1982, the former Holland America Line managers foresaw the fledgling cruise industry was on the verge of blossoming into a big business, but it was missing the boat on a big potential market -- onboard business meetings and incentives. The friends launched their startup using bonus money Landry received for her work at Delta Queen Steamboat and Kling's baccarat winnings from a Las Vegas trip.

Now Landry & Kling has $20 million in annual revenue and 27 employees and is synonymous with meetings at sea, though it has a host of competitors vying for the same niche.

``Landry & Kling became the gurus of the meetings and incentives business,'' says Rick Sasso, president and chief executive of MSC Cruises USA in Fort Lauderdale.

The pair's push to bring meetings to sea helped encourage cruise lines to design ships that incorporate conference and meeting facilities onboard. Such bookings now account for between 1 percent and 15 percent of cruise lines' business.

When the Cruise Lines International Association named the women to the trade group's hall of fame in April 2009, its president and CEO hailed Landry and Kling as, ``the first to identify the potential of meetings and incentives at sea.''

The company has handled all sorts of events for clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies including AFLAC, Microsoft and Pepsico to tiny private firms.

In the current bleak economy, of course, many businesses are more focused on just keeping staffers on the payroll than on treating them to exotic travel.

CORPORATE IMAGES

Even when money isn't a problem, perception is. After AIG's $440,000 splurge in September 2008 to regale company employees at a California resort, even as the insurance giant was taking an $85-billion bailout from the federal government, was made public, conferences and business meetings dried up -- on land and at sea.

As the deep recession took hold, ``It was a complete, screeching halt'' to new bookings, says Landry. During the first quarter of 2009, corporations were putting off decisions on such spending due to the economy or image concerns. With a backlog of business and government events -- the company toughed it out.

More recently, bookings are beginning to pick up, says Landry. ``Luckily, our government program saw us through as a company.''

One advantage: A business meeting at sea can be marketed as an economical choice for business meetings, because most expenses for room, meals and entertainment are built into the ticket, the women say.

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