Corporate bookings fail on different things from private ones. The room is rarely the problem. Connectivity, daylight and the finance process usually are.
Away days, meetings and company parties
North London Venue Guide Away days, meetings and company parties
A company booking has requirements a party does not: an invoice that will pass a finance team, a cancellation position someone will ask about, insurance certificates, and a room that people can concentrate in for six hours.
Daytime events
For an away day or an offsite, the specification that matters is unglamorous.
Daylight. A windowless room is tolerable for two hours and grim for six. Ask which way the room faces and whether the blinds work, because a south-facing room with a projector and no blinds is its own problem.
Power and connectivity. Sockets where the tables will actually be, not around the perimeter. Ask about wifi and ask what it is really for: a venue that describes it as suitable for guest browsing is telling you it will not carry a video call for twenty people.
Screen and sound. Whether a screen and projector are included or hired, what the connection is, and whether anyone on site can help when it does not work. Bring your own adapters regardless.
Break-out space. Somewhere for smaller groups, even if it is a corner of a bar. Away days that stay in one room all day do not work.
Catering and its timing. Lunch that arrives at a fixed time constrains the agenda. Ask whether it can be flexible by half an hour, because it usually can if asked in advance. See catering and corkage.
Heating and ventilation, which nobody asks about and everybody notices.
Christmas and summer parties
A different booking, made much further ahead. December weekend dates in north London go early, and by September the good rooms are gone.
Establish the finish time and the dispersal arrangements before you commit, because a party that ends at eleven in a residential street ends at eleven. See noise and curfews.
Establish the bar arrangement precisely: a tab with a limit, a token system, or a cash bar. A tab with no stated limit is how a party costs half again what was budgeted, and the person who has to explain that is you.
Think about how people get home. See access and parking.
The finance side
This is where corporate bookings actually come unstuck.
Ask for a proper invoice with company details, a purchase order reference if your organisation uses them, and payment terms. Small venues frequently want payment in advance, which is fine but needs to be known before the date, not the week of.
Ask whether the deposit is refundable and on what notice, because someone will ask you. See hire agreements.
Ask for the venue's public liability certificate. Many companies require it on file and it is a slow thing to obtain in the last week.
Check whether your own organisation requires a risk assessment for offsite events. If it does, the venue can usually supply most of the content. See capacity and safety.
Accessibility and inclusion
For a work event, the anticipatory duty is not just the venue's problem, it is your organisation's. Establish level access, an accessible toilet on the same floor and a quiet space before you book, and ask about requirements when you send the invitation rather than waiting to be told. See accessibility.
Consider what a bar-centred evening event asks of colleagues who do not drink, and whether there is anything to do other than stand and drink. A venue with a separate seated area solves most of this at no cost.
The one that gets forgotten
Who is the named contact on the day, from the venue, with a mobile number. Not the sales contact who took the booking. The person who will actually be in the building when the projector fails at nine in the morning.
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