How to save money on your company retreat

Planning

Nov 1

Planning

How to save money on your company retreat

BoomPop Team · 11/1/2022

Saving money on company retreats is possible, but you need to know where to start. Keep your next offsite on track and under budget with these expert tips & tricks.

Team offsites are a major investment—one with plenty of benefits, of course—but not every company can dish out an oversized budget to treat their team to a high-end experience.

Even for bigger spenders, making the most of your money is still wise. Considering travel costs rising due to pent-up demand from the pandemic, global food and fuel inflation, and labor shortages, the per-attendee cost for business travel has increased by over 25% since 2019.

The good news? Saving money and still having an excellent offsite is more than possible. There are a ton of options to save money on your company retreat while still producing a quality experience. Let’s go over a few tips our offsite planners deploy daily to help our clients create impactful experiences within their budgets.

Start planning early – really early

We’re dealing with a unique global landscape right now when it comes to meetings and events. Demand is increasing tenfold due to remote teams gathering and postponed events from the pandemic, directly impacting pricing.

Looking ahead, some key markets are entirely booked for groups through 2023 and demand is rising back to pre-pandemic levels. What does that mean for organizers looking to host a company offsite in the next few months to a year? Higher costs when booking last minute.

Since few hotels, venues, and destinations are struggling for business right now, they’ll charge a premium for late and last-minute bookings. Planning in a pinch is more labor-intensive, and venues already know they’ve booked plenty of business. This leaves little to no room for negotiation.

Planning early leaves you more options, more negotiating power, and an overall better cost situation. But what does planning early really mean? Most businesses we work with only begin planning their events 2-4 months in advance. It’s more than possible to plan an event in that time, but it’s not ideal. 6 months or more, even up to a year in some cases, is the sweet spot that will help make sure you aren’t spending more than you need to.

Choose your destination wisely

Your destination can truly make or break your budget. Here are a few things to consider when making your shortlist of company offsite destinations:

Location

By default, some cities are more expensive than others. For example, the average hotel rate in NYC is $235, but the average rate in Chicago, an equally diverse and exciting city for a company offsite, is only $167. Those savings increase when you have larger offsites with 50+ team members traveling. You can also save on travel cost by hosting regional events with shorter travel distances, perhaps even driving distance.

Seasonality

You’ll also want to consider seasonality. For example, Miami in March is peak season with higher rates. However, you can consider a June-August company offsite in Miami, and while you may be doing a few more indoor coworking sessions during the height of the afternoon, your rates are going to be much lower since it’s off-season. Think of all the incredible evening team-building events you can enjoy outdoors! There’s always a diamond in the rough when it comes to activities in off-season destinations.

Citywide events

The other thing you want to look at when choosing a destination for your company offsite is citywide events. These could be large conferences or conventions, festivals, sports tournaments, marathons, or other race events, etc. that will saturate the city’s infrastructure. For example, while Philadelphia is typically a rather affordable city to host a company offsite, every November, they host the annual Philadelphia Marathon. During this weekend, every hotel sells out, and rates skyrocket to upwards of 4x their standard rack rates, even for groups.

Company connections

The other thing to consider is where your company headquarters are and where you have sponsors or clients who may provide connections or savings. If you have an office space, you can use in a certain city, that will save you on venue costs for coworking or meetings.

Align your budget with your priorities and preferences

We’ve talked about employee surveys before, but we’re not done yet. Why? Because they’re so incredibly valuable when it comes to cultivating a company offsite that provides impact and engagement for your organization.

Our tip is to take a look at those survey responses. What did your team want to see more of at your offsites? Collaborative coworking sessions? More team-building activities? Maybe more dining experiences offsite?

Whatever it was, allocate more of your budget to those essential aspects to plan a company retreat your team loves, and devote less of your time (and money) to the things they don’t.

Let’s get planning

If you’re stuck on how to create a company retreat budget, it may be time to enlist some help. Our BoomPop event planners are experts at designing a company offsite that’s not only engaging, but also on budget. Their wizardry is in full force when it comes to constructing agendas that fulfill your company’s unique requirements, with budget top of mind.