Planning a company retreat starts with finding a perfect venue. 

We are experts in this area, knowing all the nuances of this process. 

A mistake we see almost everyday: clients limiting their options for no reason. 

Well, there is always a reason. Let's discuss them. 

The fewer restrictions you put into the venue search, the more options you have to choose from. You always have the final word on what you confirm. 

Set dates

You’ve set some dates that you all agreed on within the company. 

You had a big meeting or did a quick voting on Slack.

Or maybe your CEO told you, "Go with these dates,” and there was no discussion about it at all.

“There is absolutely zero flexibility with these dates.” - We've heard this hundreds of times and you can't imagine how many times these dates were changed anyway. 

We are not trying to convince you to change your dates. We will always do our best to find you a perfect venue. This is just friendly advice.

If you keep these as “preferred” dates and not “fixed” dates, you significantly broaden your options and chance to book a perfect venue, and likely a better price.

Full buyout and exclusivity

You want to have the venue just for yourself. Who doesn't?

Before jumping into nuances, let's first explain the difference between buyouts and exclusivity, as they can be confusing:

• Buyouts include all guest rooms, function spaces, pools, and most areas of the hotel or resort. However, the property may allow outside guests access to restaurants, the spa, meeting rooms, golf courses, or private residences.
• ‍Exclusivity provides a complete takeover of the hotel or resort – with no outside use of any areas on the property.

You might think that hotels love to be fully booked. 

That's partially true. Some small hotels (up to 20 rooms) prefer this type of booking, but larger hotels typically want to diversify. The same is true for airlines. 

One group booking a whole hotel for a couple of nights brings them a few constraints:

• They are likely not going to have good occupancy before or after your retreat
• They have to refuse guests that want to stay longer or overlap with your retreat
• They can't leverage last-minute bookings with higher rates
• They put all their eggs in one basket
• They need more staff (you probably want to have all the meals around the same time for all your team members)
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Here are a few questions to ask before you consider a full buyout or exclusivity:

• Is it “mandatory” or just “nice to have”? We have some clients who want exclusivity for security reasons.
• How large is my group? Finding a small venue is much easier than finding a hotel with 150 rooms for a full buyout.
• In what season do I want to book? It’s always easier in the low season. Some hotels even have a policy of “no buyouts” in the high season.
• What is my budget? You should expect to pay significantly more for a full buyout. 
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We have a fantastic experience with hybrid setups: You can book a whole floor, or a section of a hotel for your crew and have other spaces private for your activities while there are still other guests in the hotel.

Fixed location

We had clients that wanted to go to  Catskills first and ended up having a retreat in a small village in Mallorca. Or clients who initially planned Costa Rica and ended up in Miami. 

These are extreme examples. 

The takeaway is: to focus on the perfect venue for your needs and budget. Location is important, too, of course. 

You should definitely organize a retreat in the location where it is easiest for the majority of your team (we have a tool for that btw).

It’s good to have some location preferences, but stay open-minded.

With an amazing team staying in a perfect venue, having fantastic activities and food doesn't really matter if you are in Nashville or Tuscany. 

The location is overrated when it comes to company retreats. But yes, if you go for family summer holidays, you would probably enjoy Tuscany more.

Type of venue

“We want a retreat in Spain, in June, in a cool hotel on the beach, with a private area where we can have bonfires, and ideally with a full buyout. We've already been looking around, but couldn't find anything. Maybe Surf Office can help?”

We receive this type of inquiry quite often. 

Let's put it this way. Who doesn't like bonfires? Sitting a whole team around the fire, chatting and sipping red wine or green tea. Imagine those memories!

We have some venues with a private area for a bonfire and many venues on the beach. 

But do many venues have both? And are they available for you in June for a full buyout? 

That number is going to be close to 0.

The most important thing about your retreat is a functional venue that has everything you need, a good vibe, and a fun agenda. 

That is what creates memories for your team, not designer sofas in the lobby. But they are nice to have, too. 🙂