Whether you’re taking the whole team for an off-site meeting or just a handful of colleagues, it’s an expense that needs to be justified. Making sure you’re getting value for money is key when booking a London meeting room as the prices can vary hugely and no one can afford to waste their company, association or charity’s funds.
First of all, it’s important to decide what it is you want to achieve from your meeting. Once you have your goals in mind, compile a wish list of things your meeting room will need in order to help you make this happen. You can now start your search and begin to compare meeting room prices of like-for-like spaces.
The cost to rent a London meeting room depends largely on what type of venue you’re looking for. This list of venues includes purpose-built conference centres, restaurants, office space, academic buildings, privately-owned houses and sports arenas. Each type of venue comes with its own pros and cons. A few questions you can ask yourself when deciding which to choose are; do I need catering and can this venue supply it? Is the space quiet and private? Does the venue have the right AV facilities?
Some meeting rooms are hired by the hour, half day or whole day. Other venues will charge you per guest (this is often referred to as a Day Delegate Rate) and this includes meals and refreshments. Make sure you know how many people will be attending your meeting, how long you’ll need the space for and what your catering requirements are while you’re weighing up your options so you can make a fair comparison.
Every venue should be upfront and transparent about its meeting room hire costs, but it’s your responsibility to ask questions to make sure there are no nasty surprises when the bill hits your desk. Ask about AV equipment and support, catering, furniture, WiFi and parking. You can find dry hire venues at which you can bring your own catering and AV equipment, but usually you are required to use the on-site chefs and facilities at the venue.
If you’ve found somewhere that ticks all of your boxes but it’s coming out a little over budget, don’t be afraid to see if they can drop the price a bit. If you’re booking a meeting room mid-week at an off-peak time, the venue might be happy to give you a discount rather than see the space left empty and earning them nothing. It’s also worth thinking about a deal in which you could trade your company’s goods or services in exchange for a meeting room at a reduced rate or even for free.
You can hire a London meeting room space for anything between a few hundred pounds and thousands for a particularly prestigious venue. Day Delegate Rates can start as low as £28 per person and can go up to over £100 a day, again, dependent on the venue itself and the catering you require. Once you’ve narrowed down your search to a specific location within London and are clear about what you need for your event, you can begin to judge which of your short-listed option is the best value for money.
We’re proud of our affordable meeting rooms in West London. As a purpose-built conference facility we can offer high-end, integral AV equipment and facilities so you can concentrate on the content of your meeting and let us worry about all the technicalities. We also have catering on-site which can be scaled up or down depending on your requirements and our DDR begins at just £28 per person. If you want to talk to our events team about your next meeting or training session, just give us a ring on 020 3313 1606.