Your Guide to Finding the Right Team Retreat Venue

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Any experience should start with the 5 Ws: Who, Why, What, When and Where. Team retreats are no stranger to that rule.

While "Who" (your team) and "When" (date of your choice) should be relatively easy, "Why" is often overlooked and assumed. When it comes to "Where", it is rarely a quick decision.

There is a lot of pressure and expectation around the "Where".

After all, we are the product of our environment. Our surroundings influence our behaviour, mood, creativity and even interactions. The chosen venue will shape the context of the whole retreat.

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Why does picking the right venue for a corporate team retreat matter so much?

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The Venue as Environmental Psychology

From the multidisciplinary social science of environmental psychology, we learn about the relationship between humans and their surroundings, understanding how people shape the natural world and built environments and how those environments shape us.

Or, as Churchill once famously said:

"We shape our buildings; thereafter, they shape us".

Everything is connected from the peace we find in nature, the excitement we feel in a busy city, and the safety we feel in our community.

A well-chosen venue can foster open communication, creativity and teamwork, and a poorly chosen one can break a whole gathering. The natural light, comfortable furniture, and informal meeting spaces all play a role in making a corporate retreat more productive and memorable.

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The Venue as Best Supporting Actor

Consider planning your team offsite to be the making of a movie. In that case, the venue is definitely one of your best-supporting actors. Indeed, the role the venue plays in a team retreat is almost that of a secondary facilitator acting behind the scenes to:

• Enhance interactions and engagement
• Support activities and goals
• Encourage productivity and focus
• Inspire and boost morale
• Ensure comfort and safety

Think of your venue as you would hire for a position: create a job description with the non-negotiables and "good to have ".

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Criteria for Selecting the Ideal Retreat Venue

A quick Google search for a "team retreat location in Europe" might be overwhelming, with more than 76,700,000 hits. Whatever you do, don't panic. Go back to the basics.  

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Keep Your Retreat Goal in Mind

Your "Why" should lead the way.

Are you going away to:

• Bring your people closer together and work on your team culture. 

• Host training away from day-to-day distractions.

• Challenge your team to work on resilience.

• Focus on sales.

• Align on strategy.

• Get leadership together to strategize.

• Create a networking opportunity between collaborators.

Each of these goals will call for a slightly different venue based on its focus and offering. 

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5 Non-Negotiables 

Remember the top five tips for selecting a venue:

• Accessibility and capacity
• Those are so simple they can be forgotten. You need enough space to accommodate your group, but not a space that is too big that it feels empty and awkward. The venue also needs to be relatively easily accessible by most attendees. 

• wifi and other essential amenities
• While you want to encourage face-to-face connections, online connectivity is essential to a productive retreat. Ensure you won't have to rely on hotspots during a critical call. 

• Nature & Woaa factor

What is the point of going away if you are not going to see or experience something out of the ordinary? 

• Fun and inclusive activities

After all, a venue without activities is not much more than a glorified office. 

• Great food

Never underestimate the power of food in building teams. 

Other criteria, such as budget or sustainability values, also play a big part. But this should help you narrow it down and write your "Job description" in more detail.

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Budgeting for your Retreat Venue 

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How Much Should You Put Aside for the Venue?

There are two main rules of thumb when it comes to budgeting for your venue: 

• Some favour the quarter rule that encourages you to split your budget equally between venue, transportation, catering and activities.
  
  
• Others prefer the 40% rule, which, as its name suggests, recommends spending 40% on the venue.
  

The reasons for choosing between the two vary a lot depending on the size of the team, the purpose of the retreat and, of course, the type of venue (all-inclusive, rural…)

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How to save some money?
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Most venues have high and low seasons, meaning their prices will differ. A few other factors impact the prices of a place.

If you are looking to save money on your retreat venue, try and organize your event:

• During low season (for your desired country) 
• Go midweek instead of over a weekend 
• Make sure not to go during a bank holiday or a big local/cultural event
• Maximize no to low-cost activities (morning run, hiking, picnic, boardgame night, DIY craft session, scavenger hunt, stargazing, campfire, volunteering, sunrise/sunset watch) 
• Opt for the shared room options.

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Beware of the hidden costs

Some expenses are easily unaccounted for because they are less noticeable when planning a team retreat budget. They are, however, important:

• Insurance. The cost of insurance for a company retreat abroad depends on factors like group size, destination, trip duration, and coverage type.
• Tips or service charges which can be added in different countries.
• Alcohol or special diet requirements for catering vendors.
• Shipping cost for company swag.
• Emergency/unexpected expenses such as last-minute purchases, snacks, and extra transportation - Adding 10 to 15% to your budget is usually advised for these unplanned costs.
  
  
  

Should You Delegate Finding the Right Venue?

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We know what you're thinking. Our opinion is bound to be biased since this is what we do (best). That is fair. But let us share some insights with you:

• Planning a team retreat is a big project that takes time and energy. It can be a stressful endeavour with significant responsibilities and tight deadlines. Getting the support of professional event planners helps relieve some (most) of that stress. It frees up time to focus on other things instead of taking away valuable time from core duties.  

• Professional retreat planners, by definition, are professionals. They will do those tasks much more efficiently and have vast industry knowledge of different group situations compared to the in-house experiences; they also know to think about all the little details employees can easily forget.
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• Experts have plenty of contacts and exclusive access to venues and vendors through their extended network. Relationships that allow them to negotiate better deals.
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• They are experts at immediate problem-solving rather than letting it disturb the retreat.

• Thanks to that vast network and experience, professional planners can find the venue that is exactly right for your team and the goal of your event.

Finding the right venue is essential, but it should not cost your sanity or 99% of your budget.

By keeping in mind your Why, and with a little help from experienced professionals, you will be able to find your Where!