Best Practices for Hotel Sourcing
Best Practices for Hotel Sourcing
BoomPop Team · 8/28/2024
When planning an offsite, choosing the right hotel in the right location is crucial to ensuring a successful and memorable team retreat. The hotel you select not only provides a place to stay but also sets the tone for your entire guest experience. Your hotel is the stage upon which your offsite is set, so you’ll want to make it great.
Hotel research is one of the first steps in the retreat planning process and it is also the most important and time-consuming. Research can feel endless if you don’t have a clear direction. Pair that with waiting for hotel responses and you’ll find yourself in a holding pattern before moving on to the next stages of planning.
To help you make the most of your hotel search and save yourself time in the process, let’s explore best practices to aid you on your research travels:
Know your Budget
When first researching, understand what your total budget is for the offsite. You can easily get lost looking at high-ticket hotels and melting in their beauty only to have a harsh reality check that you just can’t swing it with your current budget. Be sure to check our budget estimator to help you fine-tune your budget.
2. Begin Early
The earlier you begin your hotel search the better the rates you’ll find. As you get closer to your retreat time, you may find that hotel prices go up - or, even worse, they’ll be at full capacity. So start early so you aren’t sent back to the drawing board.
3. Tap into Your Network
Have you planned a retreat before? Did you like the hotel you stayed at? If there is a hotel you have worked with in the past, consider reaching out to them again. When you work with vetted locations and business contacts, you save yourself so much time in the research phase. You know the location well, and what to expect, and you can more easily negotiate rates. Hotels like to see repeat guests, it makes it easier for everyone from the planning phase to the contracting phase.
4. Find Savings at New Hotels
If you are looking to try a new place and save on budget, consider booking with a newly opened hotel. A hotel that has recently opened its doors is more likely to offer lower rates to attract new guests. They want people in the door so they can begin to build momentum.
5. Choose a Location that Minimizes Travel
Where are your guests traveling from and what are the travel costs associated with each location? Is the hotel easily accessible from major airports? Quantifying the answers to these questions will help you understand how a certain location and hotel will impact your budget.
So before researching, make sure you understand where your guests are located and what their flights and travel costs will be for each location you are considering.
6. Don’t Forget Meeting Space
As you narrow down hotels, consider if your guests need space to work or meet. Choose hotels that can have meeting spaces with the required AV equipment.
Larger hotels typically offer banquet and meeting rooms that can be configured to suit your needs. However, smaller hotels might not advertise dedicated meeting spaces on their websites but could offer creative alternatives within their existing areas.
If you find a hotel you love but it lacks meeting facilities, consider nearby coworking spaces. This way, you can enjoy the hotel you’re excited about while still having a suitable venue for your team’s work sessions.
We Are Here to Help!
Ready to begin planning your offsite but still find the hotel search intimidating?
Well, you’ve come to the right place. We recently launched our newest offering, Pro Sourcing & Platform. We handle your hotel research, booking, and negotiation. Plus, you get full access to the BoomPop event management platform.
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