Where to Save & Where to Splurge on Your Next Company Offsite
Planning
Where to Save & Where to Splurge on Your Next Company Offsite
BoomPop Team · 7/9/2025Discover smart event budgeting swaps for your next corporate retreat.
We’ve known that corporate retreats and offsites are vital opportunities for teams to strategize, build relationships and re-energize away from daily distractions. And there’s been a lot of buzz right now about how in-person events are becoming a critical touchstone across society in an increasingly digital and AI-driven world.
Authentic experiences with people in the real world will only continue to become more valuable for individuals, teams, and companies everywhere. Delivering high-quality in-person event experiences is more important than ever. But with costs on the rise, event budgeting is even more challenging than ever, too.
You need to deliver a high-quality in-person event experience within your budget, so what’s the best way allocate your precious event dollars?
Smart event budgeting doesn’t mean you need to restrict your options. It’s about knowing where a little extra spend makes a big difference and where you can creatively save without sacrificing the outcome you want for your team. Like a personal vacation, the elements of your event that feel most important can vary greatly. You might want to invest more in activities and splurge on meals, while someone else may opt to save on expensive meals so they can splurge on a prime location.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of your key event budget elements and talk about where you might want to splurge and where you might need to save for your next offsite or retreat.
Event Budget Splurge: Retreat Location & Hotel
When it comes to your company offsite or retreat, the single most impactful area of your budget investment comes down to the hotel or venue you select. It’s not just a place to sleep; it's the very foundation of your event and often the place you’ll be hosting the majority of your event program, setting the mood and the stage for everything that follows. Your team will spend the majority of their time within these walls, from morning workshops and key strategic meetings to shared meals and evening social gatherings. Hotel and location selection are closely related, so it’s important to consider your retreat location and hotel options hand-in-hand when it comes to maximizing your budget.
A well-chosen hotel provides comfortable accommodations, functional meeting spaces, and amenities that enhance the overall experience. For example, prioritizing options with a relaxing spa, meeting spaces with natural light, and farm-to-table catering would heighten the wellness factor of your event agenda, while choosing a venue that offers activities and excursions could help pad out the experiential elements of your itinerary.
There are a lot of considerations when it comes to narrowing down the perfect retreat hotel, but ultimately, selecting a venue and setting where your team will feel welcomed, inspired, and productive is key. Getting this core element right ensures a smooth, engaging, and memorable experience that genuinely contributes to your event's goals.
Of course, some teams may choose not to splurge on location and hotel so they can put more of their budget into other areas. Like we said, it all depends! So let’s talk about tailoring key event budget elements for your team!
Spend or Splurge? Prioritizing Event Elements for Your Team
Once your venue is locked in, the rest of your event budget elements will start to unlock. The key to smart saving lies in prioritizing event elements that are most relevant to your specific team's interests and needs. Don't feel pressured to include every possibility on your retreat itinerary. Instead, think of choices in this bucket as those to calibrate tightly based on your team. Gather feedback through pre-event surveys to have your team participate in prioritizing these elements of your event. (Did you know you can easily survey your guests before or after your event with BoomPop?)
Align these event budget decisions with your event’s goal and team preferences so you can focus your resources on what will resonate most deeply for this particular offsite or retreat.
For the Foodies: If your team lives for unique culinary experiences, consider splurging on a special dinner at a highly-rated local restaurant, a hands-on cooking class, or a private chef experience rather than elaborate catering for every meal. Foodie experiences can double as both meals and activities, while also offering an opportunity for socializing, so this can be a great way to get more out of your budget.
For Productivity-Focused Events: If the majority of your event time will be in meetings or sessions, you may want to invest in enhancing the production quality for your meeting spaces—think top-tier AV, comfortable seating, and conducive breakout areas—even if it means scaling back on evening entertainment. The right production enhancements can add a much-needed wow-factor to your event.
For Adventure Seekers: If your team loves adventures or time in the great outdoors, allocate more budget to a memorable experiential activity like a hot air balloon ride, ATV tour, or even snorkeling or whale watching. You could also tie this budget element back to your location and hotel selection, opting for a site with easy access to trails, rivers, and other outdoor spaces that may offer low to no-cost opportunities to experience nature during your retreat.
For Entertainment Lovers: Splurging on a live band, a drone show, or a one-of-a-kind magic or comedy act can make a big impact on the memorability of your retreat. These experiences are also perfect for teams celebrating a big milestone or company win.
For Connection & Culture: If your goal is to strengthen team bonds and reinforce shared values, you may want to dedicate part of your event budget to engaging team-building workshops or facilitated group activities. Investing in a dynamic facilitator to work with your team can transform these sessions into powerful opportunities for collaboration and deeper connection.
Calibrating your event budget to focus more on certain key areas (and less on others!) based on your specific team is a great way to customize each company retreat.
Think of these types of expenditures as items on a menu, and feel empowered to invest only where it feels strategic. When you start with understanding your team's values, you can avoid allocating budget dollars to areas that won't make a significant difference to their experience - or your event's objectives.
Event Budgets & Swag: Think Premium or Experiential
One element some companies can often better calibrate their event budget is when it comes to swag. Most teams enjoy sporting their company logo with pride, but hitting the mark on swag can be hit or miss. So here’s a good rule of thumb when it comes to thinking about event swag, gifts, or takeaways - go premium or go experiential. Here’s what we mean:
Less is More: Instead of spending on lots of less expensive items that may end up unused or forgotten, consider investing in fewer items at a more premium tier. Swapping a swag bag full of run-of-the-mill company branded items for a high-quality item that gets used daily might help your swag budget pack more of a punch. But don’t take our word for it. Ask you team! Discover what items your guests are most interested in with a pre-event survey.
Make it Experiential: Another creative swap to consider is a gift or swag item that offers both an experience and a meaningful keepsake from your event. For example:
Host a local craft workshop where attendees create something unique to take home, like an embroidered denim jacket or screen printed t-shirt.
Organize a cooking class focused on regional cuisine, and provide guests with a recipe book or apron to take home.
Curate a small, high-quality local item from the area your team visits - localized items like artisan coffee, local honey, or a unique piece of art from a local maker can be big hits!
These experiential takeaways provide a lasting memory connected to the event itself and can also add an experience to the itinerary as well as a gift, so you can consolidate some of your event budget line items to invest elsewhere in your event!
Making Every Dollar of Your Event Budget Count
Ultimately, strategic event budgeting isn't about sacrificing quality; it's about intelligent allocation. And every event budget will be different! For offsites and retreats, prioritizing a stellar hotel and then thoughtfully prioritizing other event elements that truly resonate with your team's interests, can help you create a high-impact offsite or retreat that feels valuable, personalized, and truly memorable, all while staying within your budget.
Want help calculating your retreat budget? Try our free budget estimator.
Ready to plan your next corporate retreat without the budget guesswork? BoomPop can help you navigate these choices and connect you with the perfect venues and experiences to match your goals and your budget.
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