Prod: Finding the perfect venue for a 3 week co-working retreat

How do you narrow down where to go when the world is truly your oyster? Planning a retreat often feels like starting from scratch each time, and it can be overwhelming if it falls on your shoulders. There are so many places to choose from – how do you know which one is the best for your team? Here are some steps that led us to the perfect venue for this non-profit!

1. Create a list of venues that fit the vibe you're looking for

Anne, President of Prod, created a list of 10 venues that they had already contacted for the event. They were looking for venues with high quality conference rooms and co-working spaces, that could fit 80 people for the month of January.

2. Ideate on your preferred cities and goals of the retreat

The goal of the retreat for Prod was to have team members bond but also to have a productive work setting. Anne was looking for a venue outside of the US, walking distance to a city center so that attendees could grab their own meals and work on their own schedules.

3. Use Nowadays to source for hotels that fit in several cities

Within days, Nowadays sourced dozens of quotes from cities around the globe, including Argentina, Rome, and Mexico City.

"These quotes from Nowadays are really great – exactly what I've been imagining for the group." — Anne, President of Prod

4. Chat with team and narrow down on location

Sometimes, it's difficult to really understand the team's preferences until everyone can see a list of options. It's always important to check-in with other decision makers and make sure everyone is on the same page. After bringing the team together, Prod decided to move forward with only venues in Rome.

5. Finalize with Nowadays by doing an in-depth search and negotiations

After a few rounds of negotiations, with concessions like waived meeting spaces, free room upgrades, and lowered food & beverage minimums, Prod chose to move forward with Hotel de la Ville.

Coordinating 80 students from MIT, Harvard, and Stanford is not an easy feat, but with an incredible team using the latest tech, anything is possible!

"The Nowadays team has one of the best discovery algorithms out there for the hotel search and was able to provide quotes at scale that would have otherwise taken our organization weeks of work to procure. It's truly impressive tech that substantially improved the quality of the entire event." — Anne, President of Prod

Our roots at Nowadays come from planning events during our time as Class Presidents at MIT and Johns Hopkins. If you're planning larger-scale events and are juggling many responsibilities, please feel free to contact us to see if Nowadays is a good fit!