What Type of Venue Is Best for a Company Away Day?
The best venue for a company away day depends on what you want the day to achieve.
Some away days are primarily about strategy and planning. Others are designed to bring teams together, reward employees or simply give people time away from their usual working environment. Many combine meetings during the day with activities, dinner and an overnight stay.
Before looking at individual venues, we would always start by asking what you want people to get out of the day. Once that is clear, choosing the right type of venue becomes much easier.
Country Houses and Rural Venues
If the aim is to get everyone away from the usual office environment, a country house or rural venue can work particularly well.
These venues often provide meeting rooms alongside gardens, grounds and outdoor spaces that can be used for team activities, informal discussions or simply a change of scene between sessions.
They are particularly suitable for away days combining business sessions with team building, dinner or an overnight stay.
The main consideration is transport. A beautiful rural venue may be less appealing if everyone has a complicated journey to get there, so we would always look at where the team is travelling from before recommending one.
Hotels
Hotels are a practical choice when an away day includes an overnight stay.
Having meeting rooms, catering, bedrooms and dinner in one place makes the event easier to organise and means the team does not need to travel between different locations.
Hotels can work especially well for two-day strategy meetings, management retreats and larger company away days.
The important thing is to choose a hotel with the right atmosphere. A standard conference hotel may be perfect for a business-focused event, while a country house hotel or more individual property could be better if the aim is to create a sense of escape from everyday work.
Dedicated Meeting and Training Venues
When the main purpose of the away day is strategy, planning, workshops or training, a dedicated meeting venue can be an excellent choice.
These venues are designed around business events and will usually have good AV, flexible room layouts and breakout rooms for smaller group discussions.
They can also offer straightforward delegate packages, which makes budgeting easier.
If most of the day will be spent working, we would usually prioritise comfortable meeting rooms, natural daylight, good catering and plenty of breakout space over impressive surroundings.
Unusual Venues
Sometimes the whole point of an away day is to do something different.
Museums, galleries, sporting venues, historic buildings and other unusual spaces can immediately change the feel of an event and help people step away from the normal working environment.
They can be particularly effective for creative sessions, company updates, brainstorming and events where engagement is important.
Unusual does not automatically mean suitable, however. We would still check the practical details carefully, including AV, catering, breakout space, accessibility and how the rooms will work for the planned activities.
Venues with Outdoor Space
For spring and summer away days, outdoor space can be a real advantage.
Country estates, hotels with grounds, sporting venues and dedicated team building locations can provide space for activities alongside indoor meeting facilities.
Even when team building is not part of the programme, having somewhere for people to step outside during breaks or lunch can make the day feel much less like another meeting.
Always have an indoor alternative. British weather is not something we would recommend building an entire event around!
City Centre Venues
An away day does not necessarily have to mean travelling to the countryside.
For teams coming from several different locations, a city centre venue close to a major railway station can sometimes be the best solution.
This is particularly useful for a one-day event where you want to minimise travel time. London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and other major cities all have meeting venues, hotels and unusual event spaces within easy reach of mainline stations.
A city location can also work well when the day ends with dinner, drinks or another social activity.
What Would We Choose?
There is no single type of venue that we would recommend for every company away day.
For a strategy day, we might choose a dedicated meeting venue with excellent breakout rooms. For a team that needs time together away from the office, we might look at a country house or rural retreat. If everyone is staying overnight, a hotel could make far more sense.
For an away day focused on creativity, engagement or rewarding the team, we might deliberately look for somewhere more unusual.
The most important question is not “Where should we hold our away day?” but “What do we want the team to get from it?”
Once we know that, we can find a venue that supports the purpose of the day rather than simply providing a room for everyone to meet.
Planning a Company Away Day?
Tell Function Fixers what you would like your away day to achieve, how many people will be attending, where they are travelling from and your approximate budget.
We can recommend the most suitable type of venue, find available options and obtain rates on your behalf.
Our independent venue finding service is completely free.
Send us your brief and we will help you find a venue that works for your team and your plans for the day.