# Workgrounds - Full Site Content > Plain markdown dump of every Workgrounds page (marketing, stories, and blog posts) for LLM ingestion. Updated at build time. Generated: 2026-09-05T01:19:07.342Z Total pages: 35 --- ## https://workgrounds.com/ # Workgrounds - Hotel Room Block AI Agents The modern way to book, manage, and reconcile group hotel blocks. Workgrounds is an AI-powered group hotel booking platform for enterprises. We automate the most complex parts of corporate room blocks: sourcing hotels, comparing bids, negotiating group rates, and managing contracts. Customers save 20–30% on group travel accommodations versus retail. The platform is **free for customers** - hotels pay a placement fee from their marketing budget. No room rate markups. No selling your data. ## What we do - AI agents source 3+ star hotels worldwide and run RFPs in hours, not weeks - Bid comparison ranks every proposal by total cost (rate + resort fees + taxes) - Self-serve room claims let guests RSVP and pick their own room - Personal nights let guests extend stays on their own card while keeping the group rate - Consolidated billing produces one folio per room block for clean reconciliation - Contract parsing extracts attrition clauses, F&B minimums, and hidden fees ## Who uses Workgrounds Executive assistants, travel managers, finance teams, and employee experience leads at companies like Ramp, SeatGeek, Lithic, CivicActions, Yieldmo, RevenueCat, Calm, and Sidecar Health. ## Get started [Book a 15-minute onboarding](https://workgrounds.com/onboard) and go live in under an hour. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/platform # Platform AI agents that source, negotiate, and book group hotel rooms in days, not weeks. The Workgrounds platform handles every step of group hotel booking - from sourcing to reconciliation - so your team focuses on the trip, not the spreadsheets. ## AI hotel sourcing Tell Workgrounds your dates, city, group size, and budget. AI agents shortlist 3+ star hotels worldwide, send RFPs, and chase responses on your behalf. Hotels reply via email with PDFs and Excel attachments - our agents parse them into a normalized comparison matrix. ## Bid comparison Every bid is scored on true total cost: room rate, resort fees, taxes, F&B minimums, attrition risk. No commission-driven rankings. You see the full matrix and pick the winner. ## Contract management AI parses fine print so you don't miss attrition clauses, cancellation windows, or hidden fees. Approve in one click and we handle countersigning. ## Self-serve room claims Send one invitation. Guests RSVP and claim their own room with real-time availability. Organizers stop hand-assigning rooms over email. ## Personal nights Guests can extend their stay before or after the trip and pay personal nights on their own card - at the group rate. Finance gets clean separation; organizers stop being travel agents. ## Reconciliation One master folio per room block. Workgrounds matches charges, flags discrepancies, and exports straight to your expense system. ## Integrations HRIS for capacity prediction. SSO for security. Email-first hotel workflow so partner hotels never need to log into a portal. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/pricing # Pricing Free for customers. Hotels pay a placement fee. Workgrounds is **100% free** for companies booking group hotel rooms. There are no contracts, no per-user charges, and no hidden fees. ## How is this free? Workgrounds operates like a modern, AI-first travel agency. Hotels pay us a standard placement fee (typically 10%) for bringing them your bulk business. You get the full negotiated discount - no room rate markups, no selling of your data. | Line item | Amount | | --- | --- | | Hotel rate | $200 | | Your discount | -$40 | | You pay | $160 | The hotel pays Workgrounds a placement fee from their marketing budget - not from your pocket. ## What's included - Unlimited group hotel sourcing and bid comparison - Contract parsing and review - Self-serve room claims and personal nights - Consolidated billing and reconciliation - HRIS and SSO integrations - Email and chat support ## What counts as a room block? 20 room nights is the minimum. That's when hotels start treating you like a group with contracts, attrition policies, and negotiated rates. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/customers # Customer Stories How teams like Ramp, SeatGeek, Lithic, and CivicActions use Workgrounds. Workgrounds powers group travel for fast-growing fintech, entertainment, and enterprise teams. ## Featured customer stories - [Ramp](https://workgrounds.com/stories/ramp.md) - Scaled group travel to 800+ employees with self-serve room claims and personal nights - [SeatGeek](https://workgrounds.com/stories/seatgeek.md) - Captured 30% savings across 2,500+ room nights per year with 95% booking accuracy - [Spark Advisors](https://workgrounds.com/stories/spark-advisors.md) - Ran 5 events and 611 room nights with a team of one, even through an ownership transition - [Calm](https://workgrounds.com/stories/calm.md) - Replaced their booking agency with an always-on travel program, hosting 130 guests across 265 room nights - Lithic - Saved $18K on a single NYC offsite (28% savings with 1 hour of effort) - CivicActions - Sourced 70 hotels across 6 cities in 1 hour - Yieldmo, RevenueCat, Calm, Sidecar Health - and more ## Common patterns - 20–30% savings versus retail rates - 95%+ room block fill rates - Hours saved per trip on logistics and reconciliation - Cleaner finance handoff thanks to consolidated billing --- ## https://workgrounds.com/onboard # Get Started 15-minute onboarding to go live in under an hour. Book a 15-minute onboarding call. We'll set up your workspace, walk through your first room block, and get you live the same day. ## What to expect 1. Quick intro to confirm fit and use case 2. Workspace setup with SSO and HRIS connection (optional) 3. Walk through sourcing your first trip - typical first RFP goes out within an hour 4. Hand-off to your dedicated success contact There is no cost, no contract, and no commitment. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/hotels # For Hotels Join the Workgrounds hotel partner network. Hotels in the Workgrounds network receive qualified group travel leads from enterprise teams booking 9+ room blocks. ## How it works - Receive RFPs by email - no portal login required - Reply with your standard PDF or Excel proposal; our AI parses everything - Get matched against verified buyer demand - Pay a standard placement fee only when a booking is contracted ## Who books through Workgrounds Travel managers, executive assistants, finance teams, and employee experience leads at companies like Ramp, SeatGeek, Lithic, CivicActions, Yieldmo, and more. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/room-blocks # Room Blocks Source and manage group hotel room blocks at any 3+ star hotel worldwide. Workgrounds sources room blocks at any 3+ star hotel in the world. AI-powered negotiation gets you 20–30% below retail rates with a 24-hour bid turnaround. ## How sourcing works 1. Tell us city, dates, group size, and budget 2. AI agents shortlist hotels and send RFPs 3. Bids come back parsed and normalized in 24 hours 4. You compare on true total cost (rate + fees + taxes + F&B minimum) 5. Sign one contract; we handle the rest ## Why 9+ rooms 20 room nights is the threshold where hotels treat you as a group with contracted rates, attrition policies, and dedicated event terms. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/personal-nights # Personal Nights Let guests extend stays and pay personal nights on their own card. Personal nights let guests extend a group trip before or after the official dates - and pay for those nights on their own card - without breaking the group rate. ## What it solves Travel coordinators are constantly fielding ad-hoc extension requests. Hotels get one-off cards. Finance gets messy reconciliation. Personal nights remove all of that. ## How it works - Guests opt into personal nights at RSVP and pay with their own card - Group rate carries over to personal nights - Organizers approve all extensions in bulk - Finance gets clean separation between corporate and personal spend --- ## https://workgrounds.com/ai-search # AI Hotel Search Natural-language hotel search across 300,000+ properties. AI Hotel Search lets you describe a trip in plain English and get back the best matches - with the reasoning to back each pick. ## What you can do - Search 300,000+ properties using natural language - Get an AI-driven map view with filters - See the reasoning behind each recommendation (why a hotel matches your brief) - Drop straight into a sourcing flow once you find candidates ## Example queries - "Quiet boutique hotel in Lisbon with a rooftop bar for a 30-person executive offsite" - "Mid-budget conference hotel near LAX with 5,000 sq ft of meeting space" - "Walkable Austin hotels under $250/night with strong fitness amenities" --- ## https://workgrounds.com/guest-initiated-changes # Guest-Initiated Changes Self-serve guest portal for date, room, and attendee changes. Guests can request date, room, and attendee changes directly from their trip page. Organizers approve in one click and Workgrounds syncs the hotel automatically. ## What it solves Manual change requests over email are a top pain point for travel coordinators. With guest-initiated changes, the loop is automated end-to-end. ## How it works - Guest opens their trip page and submits a change - Organizer reviews and approves with a click - Workgrounds notifies the hotel and updates the rooming list - All change history is tracked for audit and reconciliation --- ## https://workgrounds.com/budget-tracking # Budget Tracking Live travel and event budget tracking across every offsite. Budget Tracking gives travel and ops teams a live view of spend across every meeting, offsite, and event - without the spreadsheets. ## What it solves Travel and event budgets typically live in disconnected sheets owned by whoever planned each trip. Folios trickle in for months and the "final" number keeps moving. Workgrounds replaces all of that with a single dashboard. ## How it works - Hotel folios, F&B, and incidentals roll in automatically as they post - One view across every event, filterable by team, region, or quarter - Spend categorized by rooms, meeting space, F&B, ground transport, AV, and more - Burn-rate and pacing visible against the approved budget at any time --- ## https://workgrounds.com/guest-pages # Guest Pages One shareable trip page per guest with dates, hotel, and agenda. Guest Pages give every attendee a single shareable URL with their dates, room, hotel, and agenda - personalized per guest and updated automatically. ## What it solves Travel coordinators end up as the human FAQ for every trip: hotel address, dress code, dinner time, ground transport. Guest Pages put all of that in one place that guests can pull up from their phone. ## How it works - One link per guest, sent at invite time - Personalized details: their room, their flights, their assignments - Full agenda with sessions, dinners, and logistics - Auto-updates whenever dates, rooms, or sessions change --- ## https://workgrounds.com/blog # Blog Insights, case studies, and practical guides on group travel and team gatherings. Practical guides and original research on group travel, company offsites, hotel sourcing, and team gathering ROI. Browse the [full archive](https://workgrounds.com/blog) or jump straight to a recent post: - [How Elite Event Planners Decode Unspoken Expectations & Create Successful Company Gatherings](https://workgrounds.com/blog/event-planner-expectations-successful-company-gatherings) ([markdown](https://workgrounds.com/blog/event-planner-expectations-successful-company-gatherings.md)) - Kelley Thompson’s DECODE framework helps event planners read the unspoken expectations behind every company gathering - so you align with the real stakeholders, find hidden success metrics, and design experiences with measurable impact. - [The Sweet Spot for Hotel RFPs: How Many Venues to Source for Room Blocks & Events](https://workgrounds.com/blog/hotel-rfp-tool-how-many-venues-to-source) ([markdown](https://workgrounds.com/blog/hotel-rfp-tool-how-many-venues-to-source.md)) - Too few hotel RFPs can leave you without viable options. Too many can create unnecessary complexity. Here’s how to find the right balance when sourcing room blocks and event spaces for your next company gathering. - [Planning a Work-Free Week: One Chief of Staff’s Unique Approach to Team Gatherings](https://workgrounds.com/blog/planning-work-free-week-chief-of-staff-team-gatherings) ([markdown](https://workgrounds.com/blog/planning-work-free-week-chief-of-staff-team-gatherings.md)) - storyarb Chief of Staff Lauren Layton planned a work-free week for the full team - with a secluded venue, on-site activities, and a budget under $75k for 16 people. Here’s how she did it. - [Food and Beverage Minimums: Everything You Need to Know About F&B When Booking Hotel Meeting Spaces and Room Blocks](https://workgrounds.com/blog/food-and-beverage-minimums-hotel-meeting-spaces-room-blocks) ([markdown](https://workgrounds.com/blog/food-and-beverage-minimums-hotel-meeting-spaces-room-blocks.md)) - Food and beverage (F&B) minimums are one of the most important (and often misunderstood) components of booking a company gathering at a hotel. Here’s everything organizers need to know. - [How Lithic Turns $1M+ in Company Gatherings Into Strategic Business Wins](https://workgrounds.com/blog/lithic-company-gatherings-strategic-business-wins) ([markdown](https://workgrounds.com/blog/lithic-company-gatherings-strategic-business-wins.md)) - Morgan Stanley, Lithic's Head of People, shares her 4-step process for turning $1M+ in company gatherings into strategic business wins with structured events, transparent budgeting, and intentional design. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/stories # Customer Stories Real results from real teams. Read how companies use Workgrounds to simplify group hotel bookings and save thousands. - [Ramp](https://workgrounds.com/stories/ramp.md) - How Ramp scaled group travel to 800+ employees - [SeatGeek](https://workgrounds.com/stories/seatgeek.md) - How SeatGeek leveraged scale to capture group travel savings - [Spark Advisors](https://workgrounds.com/stories/spark-advisors.md) - How Spark Advisors keeps group travel lean and transition-proof - [Calm](https://workgrounds.com/stories/calm.md) - How Calm's EA team saved time on logistics and leveled up their company gatherings --- ## https://workgrounds.com/stories/ramp # How Ramp Scaled Group Travel to 800+ Employees With New Tools for Large Group Bookings _Fintech · Feb 28, 2026 · 6 min read_ As a fast-growing fintech with hundreds of employees traveling to the same events, Ramp needed more than discounted hotel rates. They needed a system that could handle many unique use cases without adding overhead. ## At a glance - 800+ employees per trip - 100% self-serve booking - 50+ hours saved per event When Ramp began scaling its in-person gatherings, their travel challenges quickly outgrew traditional tools. Workgrounds became the system that scaled with them - and along the way we built new tools to help Ramp and other large teams book group travel at scale. Ramp regularly brings large groups together for offsites, planning sessions, and team events. These trips often involve hundreds of attendees, room blocks across multiple nights, and a mix of business and personal travel plans. Before Workgrounds, the logistical burden of these trips fell on a small number of people - travel managers, executive assistants, or HR leads - who became central points of coordination for everything from room assignments to last-minute changes. As Ramp grew, that model became unsustainable. ## Using product to scale large group travel When Ramp and Workgrounds began working together, we started seeing real-world use cases where new features would dramatically improve workflows. > "We kept seeing the same blockers come up. Ramp needed more flexibility for guests without creating more work for organizers. That's where product - not process - needed to do the work." - Nikhil Sethi, Co-founder, Workgrounds We assessed whether the new features would benefit other companies broadly, and where they would, we built. From initial conversations to live product, the turnaround was fast - two of the most important features were designed, built, and launched in roughly a month. ## Feature 1: Self-serve room claims One of the biggest friction points in large group travel is room assignments. Traditionally, organizers manually assigned rooms after collecting preferences over spreadsheets and email. With the feature we launched in October 2025, organizers can now send a single invitation to their entire group and let guests claim their own room directly when they RSVP. For Ramp, hundreds of attendees could be invited at once, claim rooms on their own time, and see real-time availability - without follow-up. > "Letting guests claim their own rooms genuinely saves our team hours on every trip, if not more. Booking our large, 800-person all-company offsite would have been a nightmare without this feature." - Gerard Visser, Head of Workplace, Ramp ## Feature 2: Personal nights Like at most companies, Ramp employees often wanted to arrive early or stay late. Handling those one-off requests - extending rooms, securing group rates for personal nights, swapping credit cards - was wasting too much organizer time. We built personal nights into Workgrounds, allowing guests to add, pay for, and manage their personal nights within the group trip while benefiting from the group rate. Guests specify whether an additional night is personal or for work, pay personal nights on their own cards, and organizers approve in bulk. > "The ability to let guests book personal nights on their own was a game-changer. Our team gets more flexibility, finance gets clean separation, and our organizers are no longer inundated with ad-hoc requests. We don't have to create exceptions or new processes - it just works." - Gerard Visser, Head of Workplace, Ramp ## Enabling group travel anywhere in the world We also expanded Workgrounds to support group hotel sourcing at any 3+ star hotel around the world. This unlocked global inventory for room blocks and meeting spaces - critical for a distributed company like Ramp. Teams can now evaluate dozens of hotels in a single market, compare proposals, and optimize for both price and availability without additional time or cost. ## The results - Less time on logistics for organizers - More flexibility for guests - Clean financial separation between corporate and personal travel - Global inventory access for room blocks anywhere in the world Most importantly, Ramp didn't need to build out new processes or add headcount as their travel needs grew. The platform scaled with them. > "We're building for companies like Ramp. They help us see what's missing - not just for them, but for every customer operating at that level." - Nikhil Sethi, Co-founder, Workgrounds --- ## https://workgrounds.com/stories/seatgeek # How SeatGeek Leveraged Scale and Visibility to Capture Group Travel Savings Across 800 Employees _Entertainment · Mar 5, 2026 · 5 min read_ When you host an all-company NYC offsite each year, dozens of team gatherings in places like New Orleans, Salt Lake City, and Manchester, UK, and partner events at major moments like the Super Bowl and the US Open, travel is more than a line item - it's part of company culture. That's what travel means to SeatGeek, where gatherings bring together an 800-person remote team from all around the world. ## At a glance - 2,500+ room nights booked per year - 30% reduction in hotel costs - 95% booking accuracy As SeatGeek grew, it was outgrowing its travel workflow. Getting group rates for their biggest gatherings took dedicated staff and hours of manual work. Smaller team trips were coordinated ad-hoc by employees who weren't planning experts. And when plans changed late in the process, last-minute bookings drove up costs. SeatGeek's finance team routinely saw missed opportunities and unnecessary charges - but only after expenses were submitted and decisions were already locked in. ## Making group rates more accessible SeatGeek was partnering with a travel booker that worked well for individual travel. But large group travel - offsites, summits, partner events - required a separate, time-intensive process of manual RFPs, negotiations, and contract review. When teams booked trips independently, there was no consistent policy to guide them. > "Coordinating team travel was eating time and leaving money on the table. We needed a way to maximize group rates and roll that out across the company." - Teddy Collins, EVP of Finance, SeatGeek SeatGeek partnered with Workgrounds to make group travel simple and self-serve - something that doesn't require specialized knowledge or create new dependencies. Using Workgrounds' AI-powered platform, teams across the organization now source hotel room blocks through a guided workflow that automatically leverages the company's scale and buying power. As a result, SeatGeek has captured group rates across more than 2,500 room nights, captured over 30% savings on room rates, and turned what was once a high-effort win into a consistent, repeatable outcome. ## Cutting the busywork out of group travel Manual group bookings meant SeatGeek's team travel plans started from scratch every time: sending RFPs, chasing hotel responses, looping in legal for contract review, and coordinating confirmations, changes, and payments across teams. Workgrounds stripped this friction out. Hotel sourcing and bid comparisons now happen automatically, and payments are consolidated onto one card per room block, reducing folio accumulation and making T&E review and reconciliation significantly easier. Confirmations, rooming lists, and changes are managed in one system, so planners can handle inevitable last-minute updates without email chains or guesswork. > "By simplifying both the front end of booking and the back end of reconciliation, we cut the hours spent organizing group travel dramatically. What used to take weeks of coordination now largely runs itself." - Teddy Collins, EVP of Finance, SeatGeek ## Building visibility and control into bookings With managers, EAs, and employee experience teams planning group travel across the company, SeatGeek needed a process that didn't depend on travel or procurement expertise. That reality burdened employees and introduced real financial risk. Without early visibility into who was traveling or how many rooms were being committed, finance often didn't see the cost of a trip until bookings were already locked in. > "Visibility is what turns group travel into a predictable category for finance teams. One of the benefits of Workgrounds is that it gives these teams early insights and oversight throughout, so they can manage travel budgets without taking away the speed and autonomy of self-serve booking." - Nikhil Sethi, Co-founder and CEO, Workgrounds Workgrounds also brings visibility to the start of the planning process. Pre-planning tools like retail rate comparison, alternative date selector, flight estimator, and HRIS integrations make capacity prediction and projected spend clear before blocks are finalized. As a result, SeatGeek now fills room blocks at over 95% capacity, dramatically reducing exposure to attrition and minimizing wasted spend. ## The result Group travel is now predictable, manageable, and cost-efficient at SeatGeek. Finance can forecast spend and control exposure, planners keep the flexibility to book independently, and the company consistently captures the maximum value of every large gathering. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/stories/spark-advisors # How Spark Advisors Keeps Group Travel Lean and Transition-Proof with Workgrounds _Insurance Tech · Apr 2, 2026 · 6 min read_ Spark Advisors is a 120-person, fully remote company with co-working hubs in NYC and Denver and employees spread across the country. Being remote-first has allowed them to attract diverse, regional talent. And in-person gatherings are how they stay connected and get meaningful work done. ## At a glance - 5 events in 8 months - 611 room nights booked - 40% less time spent organizing travel - Insurance Tech | 120 employees | Fully remote with multiple in-person gatherings each year So with a lean headcount, team travel should be a cinch, right? Think again. Exec meetings, company retreats, team offsites – the challenge of coordinating distributed employees for multiple events each year rivals what a much larger centralized team might face. And at Spark, like at most lean, remote-first companies, there wasn’t a whole team dedicated to making it happen. Spark’s dedicated travel organizer was a hospitality pro, and she began every event with the painstaking work of sourcing venues, then moved into the equally detailed work of coordinating every employee’s stay individually. When big events were close to kickoff, it was standard practice to bring in a contractor for extra support. With a pro organizer already in place, more headcount or expertise wasn’t the answer for Spark. They needed a tool that could turn that pro into a powerhouse. Enter Workgrounds. Spark’s travel organizer onboarded the AI-powered platform quickly, ramping up to planning three events in Lake Tahoe, Fort Lauderdale, and Brooklyn. Together, she and Workgrounds cut roughly 40% of the time she spent on manual work, automated front-end planning, and replaced the constant stream of change requests with a self-serve flow. Events stayed a small operation with outsized impact. Then the real test came. When the original organizer eventually moved on and ownership of events transferred to Jamie Stevens, VP of People, the travel function kept running smoothly because the work was already living in Workgrounds. The first major event under Jamie's ownership, Spark's March 2026 all-hands in Savannah, was the smoothest event the company had ever run. ## Automating the Work Before the Work Starting with a search engine and a list of cities before implementing Workgrounds, Spark’s organizer would work through dozens of properties one at a time, spending hours on the phone and over email confirming availability, amenities, and rates. A shortlist took several weeks to put together. All of this work comes before the actual planning, and at Spark it was already eating roughly 40% of the organizer’s time on every event. > “I remember we spent so much time in the pending stage with hotels – just waiting on a sales contact to call or email back. Hours and hours spent just chasing people down for every trip.” Workgrounds' automated hotel sourcing gave them all that time back. With search and filtering built into the platform, and RFPs sent and proposals filtered automatically, the organizer could get to a shortlist of vetted hotel options in a fraction of the time – often just a day or two. But planning a 120-person company offsite is never a one-person decision. Finance wants budget visibility, execs want to weigh in on location and feel, team leads want to make sure there’s room for teambuilding and breakouts. When sourcing moved slowly at Spark, each event’s stakeholders ended up waiting on the organizer, who was waiting on vendors. With Workgrounds, the organizer can walk into a stakeholder meeting with real options, real numbers, and a real timeline, ensuring that buy-in is never a bottleneck. ## Change Requests Without the Middleman People who choose remote-first work want their travel to be as flexible as the rest of their lives. When the Spark team travels, it’s typical for employees to tack on a few personal nights to explore or add a couple of extra days for client visits. That flexibility used to come at a cost: the organizer's inbox. Every personal request and change to the rooming list flowed through one person via Slack DMs and email threads. When you multiply that across 120 individual attendees, the back-end management of the room block has suddenly morphed into its own full-time job. Workgrounds replaced that flow with self-serve. Now, rooming list management lives on the platform and attendees can adjust their own stays and handle the related charges directly, without looping in the organizer at all. This shift matters most in the days leading up to and during the event itself, when changes tend to spike and time is already short. Take Spark's March 2026 all-hands in Savannah, Georgia – exactly the kind of event where you'd expect a lot of guests to want to extend their stay. Instead of every change request or cancellation landing on the organizer’s desk, each guest could use their Workgrounds access to adjust their booking on their own. Unbothered by the usual cascade of Slack DMs, Jamie was free to focus on on-site needs and kicking off the all-hands agenda. > "Savannah was the smoothest event we've run. The difference was all the little stuff that just took care of itself with Workgrounds.” ## Continuity Through Ownership Changes On most lean teams, the institutional knowledge, vendor relationships, and hospitality expertise all live in one person's head. Their last day is also the day the next event starts to fall apart. At Spark, the entire event was captured and managed in Workgrounds, so the travel function didn't miss a beat when ownership shifted up to Jamie, the VP of People. A VP's calendar simply doesn't have room for the original organizer’s old, manual process of travel planning. That's the inherent value Workgrounds delivers: Sourcing the right accommodations and securing competitive group rates had previously required dedicated time and expertise – now it happens automatically. But some questions still don't automate, like how to push back on a contract clause, or knowing to ask for comped meeting space in exchange for a higher F&B minimum. When those situations come up, Jamie has a direct line to the team at Workgrounds for support. ## Keeping Group Travel a Lean Function Built to Last Since August 2025, Spark has run five events through Workgrounds, booked 611 room nights, and given all 120 employees the freedom to extend and claim their personal stays. Weeks of manual sourcing have been replaced by a process that delivers a hotel shortlist in days. Self-serve rooming list management keeps the constant change requests off the organizer's desk. And a real, human partnership with Workgrounds fills in what automation can't, from specific contract negotiations to on-site judgment calls. The result is an events function that runs lean and stays lean, even as the ownership role evolves. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/stories/calm # How Calm's EA Team Saved Time on Logistics and Leveled Up Their Company Gatherings _Health & Wellness · Jul 22, 2026 · 6 min read_ Executive Assistants are the connective tissue of any organization: managing calendars, coordinating between teams and partners, keeping leadership running smoothly, and generally serving as the keepers of institutional knowledge and culture. In high-growth tech environments especially, where the pace is relentless and the teams are distributed, EAs are usually the ones quietly holding everything together. ## At a glance - Travel across 5+ markets - 130 guests hosted through Workgrounds - 265 room nights booked - Health & wellness | 200+ employees | High-frequency team travel & offsites Case in point: At Calm, the Executive Assistant team plans company travel and gatherings in addition to dozens of other ownership roles. Previously they used a third-party agency as support to source hotels and book room blocks, but it just couldn't keep up with Calm's always-on tempo of high frequency smaller trips. When the EA team decided to look for a new solution, they worried that cutting out the agency would mean absorbing all the logistical burden themselves. Instead they chose Workgrounds' [AI-enabled platform](https://www.workgrounds.com/platform), which took on the logistical grind and gave the EAs back their most valuable resource: time. Time that they used to focus on shaping experiences, strengthening culture, and making every gathering feel intentional. ## The Challenge: High-Frequency Travel Breaks the Agency Model Agencies work by routing client needs through a network of contractors who manually hunt for the right hotel fit. It's a model built in a different era, and it has trouble stretching to the always-on travel programs that remote-first companies now run as a matter of course. Lisa Breiman, Executive Assistant to the CEO, Co-Founders, and President at Calm, puts it plainly: > "At the pace we move, we needed something we could just pick up and run with. When we worked with an agency for travel, we were always one step removed from the process, and that made it hard to move fast or get creative." - Lisa Breiman, Executive Assistant to the CEO, Co-Founders, and President, Calm One of the other options – taking the work in-house and manually sourcing room blocks – would have had major operational costs. It takes companies 100 emails on average to coordinate the RFP process and secure a hotel. Multiply that by the annual travel portfolio for a company like Calm (30 bids, in four markets, across 20 trips), and the number of emails grows exponentially. And that's just to secure the hotel contract. For a lean team already juggling dozens of other priorities, that overhead just did not compute. ## The Solution: Speed & Visibility Unlock Intentional Planning Calm's team of Executive Assistants needed to move faster and book more group travel without taking on more work. They found that solution in Workgrounds. From first demo to signed contract, the EA team onboarded the platform entirely on their own with zero IT or procurement hiccups. > "The whole thing just worked. We were running RFPs on our own within the first week, and nobody had to hold our hand. That's not something you expect from an enterprise platform." - Katharine Hynds, Executive Partner, Calm The starting point is the RFP generator; it asks for the same information the EAs would typically give an agency, but with more controls and zero room for missing details or misinterpretation. The new AI search functionality even lets you enter your search in natural language, looking for things like "artsy boutique hotels in Nashville for 20" or "hotels for 40 with a courtyard in the Garden District of New Orleans." From there, AI agents run in the background to surface the full landscape of bids. Each hotel room block option shows total cost transparency and clearly identifies matching or missing criteria. Plus, the team can easily play with trip parameters to re-run RFPs and see how the results change. While the automated RFP process is the biggest win, Workgrounds' suite of additional trip planning tools has become indispensable for Calm. A built-in [Flight Estimator](https://www.flight-estimator.workgrounds.com/) shows where attendees are coming from and surfaces the most cost-effective destinations. This has opened up a whole tier of markets that wouldn't have made it off the map previously. In fact, that's how some of the team's favorite gatherings happened in places like Philly and the Twin Cities. Once a destination is booked, organizers can customize the trip splash page with invite information, agendas, and trip details for each attendee. This gives the team full control over the narrative of every gathering while dramatically cutting down on inbound questions. And while any planner will tell you that trip logistics really start to spiral when individuals want to make changes after booking, the Calm team can fine-tune individual stays with a couple of clicks – or simply hand it off to guests to manage themselves. "When we planned our annual Sales Kickoff this year – 42 rooms in Newport Beach – Workgrounds helped us research hotels and book the full room block while essentially customizing each guest's stay. It gave us so much control with zero headaches," says Lisa. ## The Result: From Logistics Team to Culture Architects "We're seeing more EA teams driving travel programs at remote-first companies, and that makes a lot of sense," says Nikhil Sethi, CEO of Workgrounds. "They bring a level of care and cultural understanding that you just can't outsource. Our job is to give them a tool that keeps up." For Calm's EA team, that's exactly what happened. What started as a search for a faster way to book hotels became something bigger: the infrastructure for an always-on travel program built around culture, not logistics. The old process of coordinating every trip manually through an agency and contractors has been replaced by something the team can pick up and run with the moment a need arises. And it's helped them host 130 guests across 265 room nights in just one year of travel. But the most meaningful change is what the EA team does with the space Workgrounds created. They can pulse-check markets, explore destinations, and run RFPs as frequently as they want. They can build splash pages and agendas that make every trip feel intentional. They've recentered Calm's gathering program on culture rather than logistics – and that's exactly what Workgrounds was built to do. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/blog/event-planner-expectations-successful-company-gatherings # How Elite Event Planners Decode Unspoken Expectations & Create Successful Company Gatherings _By Garrett Ullom - June 10, 2026 · Playbook · 6 mins read_ > Kelley Thompson’s DECODE framework helps event planners read the unspoken expectations behind every company gathering - so you align with the real stakeholders, find hidden success metrics, and design experiences with measurable impact. Let’s talk about how to plan THE event. The one people keep on talking about years later. (And not because someone did something embarrassing, but because it hit all the must-dos and set the stage for some serious business growth.) Step 1 is to remember that events aren’t one-size-fits-all. You can’t treat them like it. To make each event successful, you need to plug into the event’s specific cultural, political, and psychological dynamics. Kelley Thompson, our head of growth, has created a strategic framework that helps you understand what stakeholders are *really* asking for, find hidden success metrics, and design experiences that go above and beyond. ## Perfect logistics, but the wrong direction People are all-in on having the best-laid logistics – but that ignores the human and cultural pieces of the puzzle, which actually drive business outcomes. > "What's the measurement of success for your event?" Kelley asks. "Is it that you get people together? Is it networking opportunities? Is it 10 sponsors?" Talk to 100 event planners, and you'll get 50 different answers. Sometimes, Kelley says, stakeholders have event expectations they can’t really explain. You have to mastermind what they’re really looking for and what they want to solve. Planners who just check off a list of requirements – headcount, budget, space – without considering business goals and cultural context are making functional decisions that miss the bigger picture. The result? Events that meet specs but don't hit business objectives. And when those hidden expectations surface, planners get slammed with last-minute changes and scope creep. ## The framework you need You can avoid missing the mark on expectations with Kelley’s DECODE framework. It transforms standard, rigid event prep into strategic planning that aligns every gathering with your organizational DNA and has measurable business outcomes. ### D - DECODE ORGANIZATIONAL DNA Basically: who really needs to be happy for this event to be considered successful? If you’re trying to make everyone happy, but really, the CEO’s experience matters the most, you’re dropping the ball. Success often relies on satisfying *one* person (or a few *select* people). Your goal should be to figure out the real stakeholders and influencers of the event, as well as the power structures and cultural values that need to drive your decision-making. ### E - EXCAVATE AUDIENCE NUANCES What tone and energy is right for these specific attendees? The name of the game is customization. Take time to look into the backgrounds, seniority levels, and expectations of your entire guest list. With that info in hand, you can think about how formal or informal the affair should be, and fill in any needs or preferences for different groups or even people from different regions. ### C - CALIBRATE THE VENUE TO CULTURE Your venue and atmosphere should fit your audience’s nuances and your organizational personality, not just generic "best practices." A tech bro gathering with Nerf guns would feel out of place at a Westin, for example. You want the location and venue choice to reflect who your organization is and support your goals. You should also think about how the location will make your attendees feel, and tie in business objectives to the atmosphere itself. ### O - OPERATIONALIZE EXPECTATION ALIGNMENT Get ahead of any issues by keeping communication early, honest, and clear. That’ll keep conflicts and misaligned expectations at bay. Part of that is pushing stakeholders to define vague expectations ("atmosphere," "vibe," "energy") and articulate what success looks like in specific, measurable terms. Iron out *everything*, from non-negotiables to nice-to-haves. And keep that list on hand as you plan. Kelley’s seen a lot of companies sign a hotel or venue contract only to realize, “Oh no! The CEO wants to be in the Financial District!” ### D - DRILL DOWN Find out what problem this gathering wants to solve. Don’t take an answer that’s too surface level OR too high level and just run with it. “Go 3 layers deep,” Kelley advises. “Ask, ‘What do you mean by that? Just explain it to me like I'm 10.’” Once you find out the real needs and constraints of the event, don’t be afraid to push back on what the event “should” look like. Assumptions can prevent you from hitting your goals. ### E - ENGINEER FOR CULTURAL COHESION Every element of your event should reinforce organizational culture and business goals. That means your experiences should be designed to do both. You can bring up company values through a game of mini golf, for example, and support business goals with a collaborative in-person project. With careful planning, you can build in moments that celebrate your company identity, whether that feels like a happy hour, a walking tour, or a boat ride. ## Strategic principles for excellent event planning **Master the art of strategic listening:** "You have to be really good at understanding somebody else's problem better than they do," Kelley says. That’s because sometimes the most important information is hiding behind what stakeholders *don't* say. You need to develop that skill, interpreting context clues and any dynamics or hierarchies. **Design for the decision maker first:** A small number of stakeholders can make or break event success – that’s who you need to be thinking about when you start planning. Then you can think about the attendees and balance their interests too. **Match venue personality to organizational culture:** Design for the decision maker, but consider the audience too! Messaging matters – your location should jive with your company culture and the event aims, not clash. **Make vague requirements actionable:** Keep asking, "What does that mean?” Don’t let higher-ups coast on adjectives like “vibey” – dig until you know how to hit that mark. That way, an abstract idea becomes an experience you can actually deliver on. **Build consensus before commitment:** Don’t sign anything until you’re sure that everyone’s on the same page. Block out time to align with the important stakeholders *early* so you don’t have to deal with expensive changes or any relationship breakdowns later. Successful event planning isn't about perfect logistics. It's about understanding the deeper organizational dynamics and cultural context at play. When you identify key stakeholders, look at audience nuances, and align every decision you make with your company culture and goals, you can move beyond checking boxes – you can create experiences with lasting impact and measurable outcomes. *For a step-by-step guide to sending the best hotel RFPs,* [*check out Kelley’s tactical guide*](/blog/perfect-hotel-rfps)*.* --- ## https://workgrounds.com/blog/hotel-rfp-tool-how-many-venues-to-source # The Sweet Spot for Hotel RFPs: How Many Venues to Source for Room Blocks & Events _By Sarah Maloy - June 10, 2026 · Guide · 6 mins read_ > Too few hotel RFPs can leave you without viable options. Too many can create unnecessary complexity. Here’s how to find the right balance when sourcing room blocks and event spaces for your next company gathering. When you’re sourcing hotels and/or meeting spaces for your next company event, you may be wondering, “How many hotels should I *actually* send RFPs to?” You don’t want to contact too few, but at the same time, too many can feel overwhelming. If you’re manually sourcing the hotels on your own, you’ll be limited by your own bandwidth. One person (or even a small team) can only do so much. Going back and forth with each hotel generally requires dozens of emails just to get to a proposal. Multiply that by each hotel – and then factor in all the time spent negotiating – and hotel sourcing can become a full-time job. Then there are the situations where you need to look at dozens of properties (for a complex event or large all-hands) or explore multiple markets before choosing the right one. In those cases, sourcing a handful of options isn’t enough – you need the ability to research and speak with dozens of hotels, but your bandwidth hasn’t changed. [Workgrounds](https://www.workgrounds.com) can help with that. Regardless of whether you’re looking at just a few properties or a few dozen, the Workgrounds [AI agents](https://www.workgrounds.com/platform) are available to source, book, and manage all of your hotel room blocks – saving you 20+ hours per trip and 30% off hotel costs on average. ## How many hotels to start with For standard company events, we recommend sending RFPs (requests for proposal) to 5-10 hotels to start. That usually gives you enough options to compare pricing, availability, meeting spaces, and food & beverage options without being overwhelmed by a mountain of similar options. If you’re only looking at one destination, 5-7 properties is usually enough. But if you’re considering multiple destinations, you’ll need to consider more hotels. In that case, we’d recommend starting with at least 3 destinations and getting RFPs from a minimum of 3 hotels in each market. That way you’ll have a strong set of options to compare, while still keeping the process manageable. But if you want to compare even more, Workgrounds makes that possible. You can compare as many properties as you’d like, across as many markets as you want to explore. If you’re deciding between multiple destinations, you can also use the [Flight Estimator](https://www.flight-estimator.workgrounds.com/) to compare. Just tell us where the guests are located and we’ll pull real flight data for multiple locations, letting you know the estimated cost for getting your team to each of your destinations (and recommending a few others you may not have considered). ![Flight Estimator](/blogpost14-image2.gif) It’s also important to make sure you are comparing. Don’t just evaluate one hotel at a time. Hotel inventory changes constantly, and availability can vary dramatically between nearby properties. One hotel may be sold out or have unusually high rates for their few remaining rooms, while another property a few blocks away has plenty of space and competitive pricing. Looking at multiple hotels within a market will help you determine whether the destination is a good choice for your group, and you can make sure you’re maximizing your budget by seeing what each hotel has to offer. ## Don’t overdo it if you’re sourcing on your own If you’re working with Workgrounds, we handle the hotel RFP process for you, contacting and negotiating with the hotels on your behalf and delivering you completed RFPs on an easy-to-use platform where you can compare and choose a winner. You’re free to source as many hotels as you’d like – it’s as easy as checking a box. But if you’re handling that process on your own, sending too many RFPs can backfire. Every additional property creates hours of manual work and hundreds of back-and-forth emails to follow up on and negotiate each proposal. If you meet any of the following criteria you will likely need to source a high number of hotels, which can be difficult to do manually: - **Large attendee counts**: A very large group, which sometimes means working with multiple properties - **Highly specialized venues**: Specific requirements for rooms, location, amenities, or unique meeting spaces - **International or multi-region**: You’re sourcing internationally or across many regions - **Tight date constraints**: Especially if your dates fall during an area’s busy season ## Make space for hotels to turn you down or not respond It’s important to remember that not every hotel will respond, and some hotels may turn your group down. We’ve found that, on average, 16% of hotels don’t respond to RFPs, and 33% respond that they’re unavailable. That’s why starting with several options matters. If you only source three hotels and one declines while another never replies, you may be left with very limited choices. You need to source enough quality options to confidently compare fit, availability, and pricing – without turning hotel selection into a full-time job. If you’re doing it all manually, you may have to RFP fewer hotels to make sure the process doesn’t get unwieldy. If you’re working with Workgrounds, we’ll help you manage that process so you can consider more options – without ever having to email the hotels or negotiate yourself. Plus it’s free to use and [only takes 15 minutes to get started](https://www.workgrounds.com/onboard). --- ## https://workgrounds.com/blog/planning-work-free-week-chief-of-staff-team-gatherings # Planning a Work-Free Week: One Chief of Staff’s Unique Approach to Team Gatherings _By Sarah Maloy - April 3, 2026 · Playbook · 6 mins read_ > storyarb Chief of Staff Lauren Layton planned a work-free week for the full team - with a secluded venue, on-site activities, and a budget under $75k for 16 people. Here’s how she did it. People spend plenty of time working. Remote employees are pretty much always online. But how much time do your employees get to spend *disconnected* from everything: their phones, their work, their usual responsibilities? When storyarb Chief of Staff Lauren Layton was planning the company’s [first full-team gathering](https://thestandard.storyarb.com/p/how-we-owned-the-internet), she wanted to create an environment that encouraged everyone to really get to know each other. Her planning included a secluded venue with on-site activities, manual control of major expenses, and natural opportunities for cross-departmental interaction – and she kept the budget under $75k for 16 people. Here’s how she put together a work-less event that brought workers closer together while minding the company budget. ## Connecting as a remote team > "It’s a big deal to ask a full team to disconnect for a week, and there are a lot of considerations that go into that in terms of coverage and planning and how that’s communicated to clients." Storyarb’s weekly deliverables had to be assigned earlier to ensure a work-free week, which did lead to some work overload ahead of time. But part of Layton’s job was to make sure no one’s workload got *too* heavy before or after the offsite. And that was only part of the planning. Layton also had to manually book around 50 flights (including connecting flights on both sides) for team members, dream up ways that different departments could interact naturally, manage per-person costs without sacrificing experiences, and offer up a number of different activities for different preferences. In doing this, she aimed to create a “summer camp for adults.” > "I liked the idea of almost having a summer camp theme where it’s a little bit nostalgic. It feels like you’re coming to camp and meeting your bunkmates." Sticking to that theme, she chose a secluded property that had a lot of on-site activities for everyone to connect around. She also chose venues that are “nice, but not stuffy” in order to avoid dress codes and any potential barriers between people. ## Putting together a budget-friendly, people-first gathering Layton shares her approach for bringing all of storyarb to camp, from the timeline to the brass tacks. #### Step 1: Venue selection and budget allocation (3-4 months before) “I knew right away that I wanted to find a venue, because I knew they’d book up super quickly,” says Layton. She researched and compared different properties that offered the seclusion and breadth of on-site activities she was looking for. Once that list was compiled, she [compared the distance of those locations from major airports](https://www.flight-estimator.workgrounds.com/) and looked for direct flight availability. She of course made sure the properties in question had some “mass appeal” across all the employees. Then, Layton picked the best-fitting venue with all the costs clearly marked. #### Step 2: Flight coordination and booking (2-3 months before) Once she had the venue location confirmed, Layton mapped out all of her team members’ departure cities and the best arrival times. She created spreadsheets comparing connecting flight options using Google Flights, and made sure to control arrival/departure times so she could set up a shuttle for team members to use. Then she “manually booked over 50 flights.” > "It was definitely not efficient. I just didn’t know of a better way to do that." But now she does! In the future, storyarb can use the Workgrounds [flight estimator](https://www.flight-estimator.workgrounds.com/) to streamline this process – no spreadsheets or manual work needed. #### Step 3: Program development and activity planning (1-2 months before) In the event planning stage, Layton met with every single team member for 15 minutes to answer any questions and to hear if there were any ideas they had or things they’d like to see at the team gathering – even something as simple as s’mores. In order to satisfy some of the different suggestions she heard (and make sure there was something for everyone), Layton offered a number of different possible activities on the same day. #### Step 4: Communication and on-site execution (2 weeks before through event) An itinerary is both great and necessary, but Layton advises to include plenty of time for flexibility. And let team members know that if they need a moment to recharge, do their own thing, or take advantage of another activity, they’re encouraged to. She also made sure to sit with other departments during meals and activities, leading by example so that other team members followed suit. Afterward, she sent out a post-event survey to get feedback on everything from travel to activities to execution. ## Post-event reflections **Team satisfaction:** “80% said it exceeded their expectations and that it was a super smooth experience,” Layton says. **Cultural impact:** Teams have continued to reflect in Slack on the time they spent together, plus ideas from a brief pitch competition have been incorporated into Q4 planning. **Operational insights:** Layton found the ground transportation to remote activity spots to be the toughest part to coordinate, and she also realized the important trade-off between direct flights and remote locations. She learned that the spread of activity preferences were wide too, validating the varied itinerary. With thoughtful planning and a focus on genuine connection over corporate polish, Layton created a team retreat that brought storyarb’s remote workers together without breaking the bank. The week-long experience felt less like a work obligation and more like the kind of summer camp experience that keeps people talking long after they’ve returned home. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/blog/food-and-beverage-minimums-hotel-meeting-spaces-room-blocks # Food and Beverage Minimums: Everything You Need to Know About F&B When Booking Hotel Meeting Spaces and Room Blocks _By Sarah Maloy - March 11, 2026 · Guide · 8 mins read_ > Food and beverage (F&B) minimums are one of the most important (and often misunderstood) components of booking a company gathering at a hotel. Here’s everything organizers need to know. Food and beverage (F&B) minimums are one of the most important (and often misunderstood) components of booking a company gathering at a hotel. Whether you’re booking a small room block with a single meeting space or hosting a large conference, understanding how F&B minimums work can make or break your budget. Here’s everything organizers need to know. ## What is an F&B minimum? A food and beverage minimum is a contractual commitment to spend a set dollar amount on catering, meals, snacks, drinks, etc. when booking a venue’s event space. It’s not a fee on top of other charges, but if your actual spending falls short, you’re typically required to up your spend, pay the difference, or pay a fee. For example, if you agree to a $5,000 F&B minimum and only spend $4,000 on food and drinks, you still owe the venue the additional $1,000. Sometimes this can be paid outright and other times additional F&B spending will be required – so always make sure the minimum aligns with what your group is actually able to spend. ## Why hotels use F&B minimums Hotels often bundle meeting rooms and event spaces with F&B minimums as an alternative to charging a room rental fee. This helps them guarantee revenue for server labor, kitchen costs, and other operational expenses. ## F&B minimums versus room rental fees There are two ways that hotels typically charge for their meeting spaces: 1) a flat rental fee, either per day or for the full period of use, or 2) an F&B minimum. Hotels love the room rental fee because it goes straight to their bottom line, but from an organizer’s perspective, it can feel like a waste of money. If your group is open to eating at the hotel for some meals and/or snacks, the F&B minimum is usually the route you’ll want to take, since you’ll get something in exchange for your spend (food for the group) rather than just paying a fee for the space alone. If you think you’ll fall short on your F&B minimum, here are some things to consider before deciding on a room rental fee: - Ask if you’ll be able to pay the difference if your actual spend falls short of the minimum - Ask if you can apply other costs, like A/V, to your F&B minimum - Upgrade your selections to include higher quality meals or more frequent refreshments – at least that way the extra spend is enhancing the guest experience There are also a few cases where paying the room rental could make more sense for your group. Some of those situations are: - It’s a low, fair flat price (the math could work out in its favor) - You know for sure you don’t need or want food (maybe you already have meals planned or contracted and paid for somewhere outside of the hotel) - You have a large number of rooms booked and because of that the hotel is asking for too high an F&B minimum that you won’t be able to easily reach - You need a lot of breakout rooms or a meeting space that’s particularly large for your group and the F&B minimum the hotel’s asking for is too high for your number of attendees The best way to figure out what you need is to calculate your all-in costs, look at what all you would get if you chose the F&B minimum, and decide which makes the most sense for your group. Don’t forget to factor in taxes and fees, and be sure to negotiate! (More on that below.) ## What counts toward the F&B minimum This is where contracts can get confusing. Typically only items from the banquet menu count toward the minimum and things like breakfast at the hotel restaurant, for example, would not count (unless specifically contracted). Depending on the venue, the following may count: - **Plated Meals & Buffets**: Plated meals, buffet service, and hors d’oeuvres - **Coffee & Refreshments**: Coffee breaks and refreshment stations - **Bar & Beverages**: Hosted bar packages and beverage services However, not all charges count toward the minimum. Taxes, service charges, gratuities, and audiovisual equipment rarely (or almost never) apply unless explicitly spelled out in the contract. It’s always important to clarify what will count and make sure the contract includes all the details before signing. ## How to calculate your F&B costs A good rule of thumb for F&B costs is to estimate $150 (or $130 in smaller markets) per occupied room night for each day you’re using a meeting space. For example, if you have 10 rooms for two nights and need a meeting space for two days, you would calculate $150 x 2 nights x 10 rooms = a $3,000 F&B minimum. That estimate gives you a realistic baseline. From there, adjust by market. A property in New York City will likely command higher minimums than one in Denver. Luxury hotels will also charge higher rates than budget properties. ## Tips to manage and negotiate F&B minimums ### 1. Use banquet menus to estimate your costs. Sticker shock is real – a $55 (plus tax and gratuity) continental breakfast on a banquet menu feels very different than what you’d expect to pay grabbing coffee and pastries individually. Before agreeing to a minimum, request the full banquet menu and calculate what you’d realistically spend per attendee. Start with your agenda and list out every meal (including snack breaks, drinks, etc.) that you’ll need. Then select hypothetical menu items for each of those meals to start to estimate your cost. This allows you to gut check with a few questions, such as: - Is this property aligned with my budget? - Can my group realistically hit the minimum? - Are we overcommitting? Pro tip: If you partner with Workgrounds, we have a tool to help you easily calculate these costs. ### 2. Negotiate where possible. Knowledge is leverage. With real menu pricing in hand, you can negotiate more effectively. In most cases, you should be able to negotiate for a 10-20% reduction in either the F&B minimum, the menu and per-person pricing, or both. The key is to approach negotiations collaboratively. Hotels don’t want to see attrition issues on rooms or F&B spend any more than organizers do. Framing conversations around creating a win-win outcome can go a long way. If you’re confident your actual spend won’t meet the minimum, ask if unused minimum dollars can be applied to A/V, decor, or additional services. Some hotels will also lower the minimum on off-peak dates or in exchange for flexibility in space usage. ### 3. Clarify what’s included. Always confirm what counts toward the F&B minimum (Is it just banquet menus or does the hotel restaurant count too? Is coffee service included? What about alcohol? Breakfast too?), whether taxes and service fees are part of the total, and what the tax rate is on both F&B and on the service charge. If your contract lacks clarity, ask for it. Otherwise it can lead to unexpected surprises. ### 4. Make sure to factor in taxes and service charges. Organizers frequently forget about taxes and service charges until late in the game, so keep in mind that most hotels will add a 25% service charge to all food and beverage. That service charge typically does not count toward your F&B minimum, so it’s important to factor it into your budget from the beginning. It’s also taxed, which often adds another 10% or so on top of the bill. Your out-of-pocket total typically ends up being 30% more than the initial F&B minimum you’re quoted. And sometimes it’s even more. This means a $3,000 F&B minimum will actually cost $4,000+ in most cases once service charges and tax are applied. ## The bottom line Food and beverage minimums aren’t just numbers in a contract, they’re strategic levers that can be used to negotiate your overall package with the hotel and strengthen your guest experience. Do the math early (to calculate the true F&B cost after gratuities and taxes), study the banquet menus (to see the full, inclusive cost of the meals), evaluate your rooms-to-space ratio, and negotiate thoughtfully. When managed well, F&B minimums can shift from a budgeting headache to an opportunity to enhance the guest experience – without overspending. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/blog/lithic-company-gatherings-strategic-business-wins # How Lithic Turns $1M+ in Company Gatherings Into Strategic Business Wins _By Sarah Maloy - March 11, 2026 · Playbook · 6 mins read_ > Morgan Stanley, Lithic's Head of People, shares her 4-step process for turning $1M+ in company gatherings into strategic business wins with structured events, transparent budgeting, and intentional design. [Lithic](https://hubs.li/Q046ng_Y0) started 11 years ago as [Privacy](http://privacy.com), with just a handful of people working in one room. Now they number 170, with employees across the globe. Having a distributed workforce (some hybrid, some remote) works for them – but they also believe in-person moments are extremely important for company culture, growth, and momentum. Morgan Stanley, Lithic’s Head of People, knew that gathering their hybrid and remote teammates across 26 states and 7 countries would be a costly challenge. And they needed to make sure the cost and effort paid off – people-wise and pocketbook-wise. When you’re designing and hosting big team events, you need to justify the costs, get team members on the same page, and be able to point to better business outcomes. Here, Stanley shares her 4-step process for getting a distributed company together (and aligned on business goals) with structured in-person events, budgeting, and intentional event design. ![](/blogpost11-1.gif) ## Bridging Geography Gaps with Real Connections Lithic, the leading card issuer processing platform powering next-generation financial experiences, has 170 employees across the world. More than 120 are fully remote, and roughly 40 work from their NYC office three days per week. So how could they get cohesive across the board? Bring everyone together. > "We’re really lucky to have a leadership team who understands the value of in-person time and the value of remote work – and how they play together," Stanley says. It’s not just about strategic alignment – they also wanted to make sure that remote employees felt connected to the company culture. A generic trip wouldn’t cut it. Lithic needed a systematic approach to make sure relationships got deeper, and work did too. An approach that drives business outcomes and justifies a $1M+ annual investment. When an in-person meetup is strategic and well-budgeted, it can drive even more value than it costs. > "Any person who’s working in a startup knows how fast you’re moving and how important every single person that works at your company is to that mission," Stanley says. "Getting folks together as often as feasible is important." That’s not a nice-to-have. That’s essential business infrastructure. (With a bit of happy hour mixed in.) ## Stanley’s 4 Steps ![](/blogpost11-2.png) ### Step 1: Give People Clear Planning Roles On the People team, Stanley says, “we try to support managers from a logistics planning perspective so the manager can really focus on the content, why they’re getting together, and what their goal is.” That way, unrelated questions – like “Where are they staying? Where are they eating?” – don’t get in managers’ way. It’s all about assigning specific responsibilities. For example, People Ops can cover logistics (flights, hotels, A/V, F&B, venues) and managers work on the agenda, objectives, and post-event goals. ### Step 2: Build Transparent, Repeatable Budget Models “It’s north of a million dollars a year that we’re spending on in-person time, which is a huge investment to make,” Stanley says, “but it’s really important to us.” One way they standardize budgets: by making employee location tags and auto-calculating costs. For example, their math: - $350 domestic flights / $1,000 international - $450 × 3 nights hotels - $79/day per-diem - $100 ground transport That equals a $2,300 per-person cost for team events. And with that number in hand (which will, of course, differ by company and locations), you can build a reliable budget. ### Step 3: Design Different Gatherings for Specific Outcomes With money worries out of the way, it’s time to make the event. Lithic’s approach is to have three different types of events: ![](/blogpost11-3.png) ### Step 4: Make a System for Execution and Iteration Stanley’s background is not just in people ops but also in event planning, which trained her to understand the value of a great venue setup. For the all-hands retreat, her team creates minute-by-minute run-of-show sheets, crafts the perfect soundtrack and walk-up music for speakers, and even uses lighting cues to direct participant attention. They also make sure that the sessions are live-streamed and recorded to include those who couldn’t attend. > "The annual retreat is my team’s Super Bowl. We spend at least 9 months preparing for it each year and we want these events to be insanely memorable and impactful. We want them to be well worth the almost half a million dollars we’re spending." For events, she creates repeatable checklists, making what could be complex into a clear process. That might mean a tech stack of Notion playbooks, single-use Ramp virtual cards for logistics, dedicated Slack channels for coordination, or Google sheets for gap coverage. Whatever keeps you the most organized is the right tool – and key for repeated success. ## Building Better Events With Stanley’s process, you can keep your eye on finances and strategic goals. Here’s what you’ll see: **The C-Suite Setting the Stage:** Lithic always kicks off their retreat with their CEO setting the stage. It’s important to think about where you came from and how far you’ve come – but it’s even more important to hear from your C-Suite about what’s next and why they’re personally excited about the future. One of the biggest returns you can get from high-production value retreats is getting your teams excited and hyped. That energy fuels innovation. **Enhanced Strategic Decision-Making:** In Lithic’s Fireside Chat sessions, they bring key customers on stage for strategic input, feedback, and conversation. Those events – as well as the executive retreats – make long-term planning possible. **Justified Financial Investment:** No more questioned invoices. With a flexible (but defined!) budget approach, companies can tackle directional accuracy and keep to their projections – which supports the investment in events as essential to business, not just fun. By implementing Stanley’s systematic 4-step approach – clear role assignment, transparent budgeting, outcome-specific event design, and repeatable execution processes – distributed companies can transform expensive gatherings into strategic business investments that drive real results. They won’t just justify their budgets; they’ll become essential infrastructure to build up company culture and success. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/blog/pebblepost-problem-solving-work-company-gatherings # How PebblePost Completed 2 Months of Problem-Solving Work in 2 Hours _By Garrett Ullom - February 10, 2026 · Playbook · 6 mins read_ > Discover how PebblePost's annual team meeting drives results throughout the year with strategic planning, collaboration, and actionable outcomes. When it comes to a company meetup, no one wants to zombie-walk from session to session. But if there's no schedule at all, nothing gets done. It's all about finding a happy medium. John Germinario, the Head of People at PebblePost, knows from his 15+ years in HR that the right company event empowers your staff as workers and as people. Today, John shares how PebblePost gets that done. ### How In-Person Co-Working Benefits Companies According to John, remote workers tend to drift apart from each other about 4-6 months after the last time they got together. That drift is the road to misunderstandings and less productive teams. An Atlassian study [found that](https://theboxsf.com/blogs/articles/the-importance-of-in-person-meetings-in-a-remote-world) an in-person team event gives workers, on average, a 27% increase in feelings of connection. They also learned that 98% of executives agree that location of teams doesn't matter – it's how that team works together. John wanted a way to foster strong connections when he gets everyone together, which is why he implemented an approach to team gatherings that he calls "running the business." Picture: a massive ballroom where coworkers just do their work as usual in the same room. He thinks that when you gather everyone together, you should be simulating a high-energy coworking environment instead of shuttling everyone into meetings. It's a method that sits in the middle between expensive quarterly off-sites and virtual team-building. ## Building Your Annual Gathering Here's how he puts together a gathering that's just structured enough to keep everyone moving, but not so structured that it gets in the way of relationship-building. The process takes about 8 months (in this example, John works from September to April, but you can work this backward from your event). ![](/blogpost10-playbook.png) #### Step 1: Lock Down Logistics 8 Months Out "We start that planning in September," John says. "My goal is to always have a location, a budget, and a date locked in before Thanksgiving." That budget factors in each person, including their hotel, flight, per diem, and ground transportation. Travel criteria is important too. Consider factors like whether you're looking for an airport within 45 minutes of your event or if you need to aim for direct flights. #### Step 2: Design the Hybrid Schedule Structure "Give people a morning or afternoon of all-company content," John suggests. Then, for the time that isn't devoted to company presentations, "Let them do their day jobs. Let them meet with teams they don't normally meet with." For example: Schedule all-hands content from 9:30am-12:30pm, then set aside 1:30pm-5pm as "run the business" time. John also builds in 90-minute gaps between work and evening events to let people rest and recalibrate, so they're not going into a relationship-building dinner with their work brains turned on. #### Step 3: Collaborate on Content with the C-Suite As a one-person HR team who's building an in-person meeting schedule, John needs to stay close to all the leaders for event topics. That way, the meetings are full of the most important information, delivered well. Sessions should focus on vision, product roadmap, and market positioning – that's how you get everyone aligned. Also consider the value that can come from an expert outside perspective. When John brought in external speakers who spoke on topics tied to the company's goals, for example, he saw a 95% approval rating from employees. #### Step 4: Take Care of Your Employees' Happiness With all the logistics sorted out, it's time to plan a great experience. John's suggestion? Make sure you have great food. It's one of the most important things. He suggests 90-minute breakfast windows with full hot options, plus free-flowing coffee and snacks during sessions. He'll also bring a peer-voted award ceremony to the final dinner so workers get some recognition after their work. What this boils down to is treating your employees like adults, not children. Give them room to breathe, and let them feel like they're navigating their own day instead of being pushed through mandatory hoops. ## What Effective Events Can Do For You How did John's approach help PebblePost? During the event, John noted, "We did 2 months' worth of work in 2 hours." That's not a typo. When they brought cross-functional teams together, their problem-solving skyrocketed. Afterward, John turned toward the workers to hear how they could improve for the next meeting, asking about every session. Out of the feedback, there were some great signs: - 98% of attendees rated the event 4 or 5 out of 5 - 91% responded to the survey (and responses weren't required) When you bring teams together for a mixture of company sessions and in-person coworking, the next few months can look like a busier, louder Slack; fewer meetings now that async goes smoother; and higher retention. Successful company meetups strike the perfect balance between structured all-hands content and unstructured "run the business" collaboration time – and that means getting work done and building relationships too. The right event can strengthen remote teams and improve their output for months after. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/blog/how-to-get-real-roi-from-your-next-team-gathering # How to Get Real ROI From Your Next Team Gathering _By Garrett Ullom - January 27, 2026 · Playbook · 4 mins read_ > You have two goals when planning in-person gatherings: strengthen team culture and have real ROI attached. Learn the PAPER Framework for transforming events from expensive costs to revenue AND culture-driving investments. You have two goals when you're planning in-person gatherings: 1) to strengthen team culture and 2) to have real ROI attached. And there's a way to get both done at the same time. You can bring together distributed, remote, or even in-office teams in real, tangible ways that actually help your business. Susannah Banks has spent years planning team gatherings and user conferences, and she's created a strategic framework for transforming big events from expensive costs to revenue AND culture-driving investments. ## Don't Treat In-Person Gatherings Like Generic Social Events The way things are done now, companies think of gatherings as social moments, not business investments. That mindset is a missed opportunity. When you get everyone together, you can get high-impact work done. Banks, the Chief of Staff at RevenueCat, said that all companies need intentional, thoughtful in-person events. That includes thinking carefully about the venue and what makes sense for your organization. > "RevenueCat is not a company that wants to go to your standard hotel or resort," Banks said. "We really try to be rooted in nature." She knows that many companies default to chain hotels or standard conference centers – which is OK if that's what makes sense for them. But if that's not the best fit, she cautions against prioritizing logistics over experience. When you get too deep in the planning weeds, she said, your events aren't aligned with your company culture, your experiences don't have a deep impact, and strategic opportunities are all but forgotten. But she knows the fix. ## Introducing the PAPER Framework Banks developed this framework to make sure in-person gatherings benefit both employees and the entire company: ### P - Purpose-Driven Planning Do more than check a "plan gathering" box. Instead, tie your planning to your organizational identity and choose a venue that fits your group's brand. The environment that you put everyone in shapes the narrative of your company culture. It's about more than a convenient meeting space. What you do today gets talked about tomorrow. When you make experiences breathe, they turn from a necessary evil to part of your organizational mythology. You're designing gatherings that employees will talk about for years. That's culture-building AND something that sets your company apart. ### A - Adaptation Throughout Unplanned moments drive connectivity and new ideas. Think "water cooler moments" or Aaron Sorkin's "walk and talks." Some of the best business moments aren't line items on an agenda. Think about the importance of real-time, in-person communication, and use that as a guide. Your planning shouldn't be rigid; it should be responsive. ### P - Prioritizing Your People Remember: gatherings can be strategic talent investments. Forget about travel logistics and focus on what you're facilitating: smart, hands-on, all-in collaboration. Team gathering budgets that go the furthest for you are the ones that promote human connection, not the ones that are hyper-focused on minimizing costs. ### E - Emergent Collaboration If you create opportunities for teams that are usually siloed to work together, they can unlock all new kinds of collaborative ideas. There's always a common goal – business success – and when you put different heads together, you can get a completely unexpected solution. ### R - Resonant Mission Alignment When everyone's in one place, it's a great time (and way) to remind them about the organization's biggest goals. It's about more than just the mission statements – it's actual, tangible objectives. When they tackle big-picture tasks together, instead of just talking about the issues, their alignment reaches new heights. ## The PAPER Framework in Action Sometimes, real life can disrupt all your plans. Banks recalled the Epic v. Apple ruling in May, where Apple was restricted from charging 30% fees on in-app purchases made through the App Store. The news came in during a team meetup. "We had a feature that we'd been working on for two and a half years, and we were just ready to launch it while we were at the offsite," Banks said. Because they were dialed into the PAPER framework, they weren't bound by a fixed schedule: they could be responsive (Adaptation Throughout). The entire event agenda got wiped away to fit this goal. > "We have a mission at RevenueCat, and it's to help developers make more money. In that moment, everybody was working to help developers make more money, and that is what a true offsite is about." Their flexibility made sure the gathering wasn't a simple meeting – it was a heads-down embodiment of the company mission. ## Making Sure Your Gathering Has the Best Possible ROI **Don't Panic, Pivot:** When unexpected opportunities arise, adapt with intention instead of freezing up. Build flexibility into your systems so you can leap into action instead of muddling through. **Sweat Every Detail:** Nearly every planning choice should reflect your organizational values: venue, activities, everything. When company values are woven throughout an event, employees experience culture instead of just hearing about it. **Make Lasting Memories:** Shared experiences build culture. Plan moments that are specific to your organization's journey, showing staff what they're capable of when they come together. **Focus on Business Impact:** Design time around advancing company goals through real work. When teams collaborate on ongoing business challenges, they strengthen relationships and move the company forward, all at the same time. *For Banks's step-by-step process to planning company gatherings,* [*read her playbook*](/blog/how-to-plan-multi-stakeholder-conferences-without-the-chaos)*.* --- ## https://workgrounds.com/blog/how-to-plan-multi-stakeholder-conferences-without-the-chaos # How to Plan Multi-Stakeholder Conferences Without the Chaos _By Nikhil Sethi - November 20, 2025 · Playbook · 5 mins read_ > When you're planning a user conference, it can feel like you're trying to be a mind reader, logistics coordinator, and brand ambassador all at once. Learn how to run smooth user conferences that keep everyone happy. When you're planning a user conference, it can feel like you're trying to be a mind reader, logistics coordinator, and brand ambassador all at once. Your VIPs expect special treatment, your speakers have very specific riders, your internal team members bring their own quirks, and the prospects you're trying to impress have their eyes wide open. The challenge isn't just managing different people's needs (though that's hard enough). It's doing that _while_ you're creating an event that feels cohesive and professional. And when things go sideways - flights get canceled, speakers get sick, or your venue's WiFi decides to take a break - you need systems that keep you sane. Susannah Banks, Chief of Staff at RevenueCat, has figured out how to run smooth user conferences that keep everyone (including her) happy. Her method? Stop trying to manually manage every detail, and start thinking systematically about how different attendees actually need to be treated. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/689e6365c10e0c2a608a9b91_blogpost9-1.png) ## Why One-Size-Fits-All Event Planning Doesn't Work Event planning isn't one-size-fits-all (even if your branded hats are!) When you're putting together a user conference, you're juggling internal teams, VIP customers, speakers, and prospects - and they all need different levels of service. User conferences can be trickier than internal team gatherings, adding complexity to the mix - especially if those outside participants have different needs and goals. You have to deal, too, with coordinating logistics for them (international attendees are even tougher), handling any planning crises that come up, and making sure the company ROI checks out. Otherwise, the conference might just be a bust. What's tough isn't meeting everyone's different needs. It's meeting everyone's needs AND having a cohesive event that delivers fresh, relevant content for all those different people. Part of proving your company's investment in the event was worthwhile comes from getting the logistics right. When you do, attendees can focus on what matters: the content, making connections, and your brand. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/689e6384dc9007ef3c5b8f54_blogpost9-cover.png) ## A Step-by-Step Process for Creating Multi-Stakeholder Events So how do you coordinate all your attendees' needs and create distinct workstreams for every different type of guest? Banks breaks it down: ### Step 1: Establish Clear Event Goals and Timeline "I love to start with a date and work backwards," Banks said. Whether an event has many stakeholders or is just for your team, her suggestion is to work backward from the event date in 6-week increments to schedule your major planning milestones. _18 weeks out:_ Develop the branding and messaging themes that are core to all your comms _12 weeks out:_ Finalize your workshop leaders, session scheduling, and room arrangements _6 weeks out:_ Finalize your guest list and secure the major logistics ### Step 2: Build Venue and Location Selection Criteria Now it's time to take a look at your checklist. What are the non-negotiable requirements for your venue? Will this venue reflect your brand values? And can it accommodate any changes you might need? Banks's pro tip is to add a 20% buffer to your current attendance numbers to account for later-stage growth. For multi-stakeholder events, also think strategically about differentiation. At one conference, Banks realized they needed a hotel block for teammates as well as "a little bit nicer, more upscale hotel for our guests and VIPs." Different tiers = different accommodations. Don't forget about _getting_ to the venue too: make sure it's close enough to international airports, and that transportation is reliable and scalable. External stakeholders might not be super familiar with the area - taking these measures ahead of time can help. ### Step 3: Segment Your Attendees and Define Service Levels If you want your conference to work, you need a clear separation of service levels, logistics, and communication plans for your different attendees. Some attendees book their rooms, and others get theirs booked _for_ them. VIPs get the VIP treatment. Banks and her team set up distinct tracks for different attendees from the very first welcome email. "We'll share details for the event, a courtesy hotel block, and then we'll have a track for speakers where RevenueCat's taking care of all of their logistics," she says. Take a moment to define the attendee segments for the event based on their relationship with your company (e.g., regular attendees, speakers, VIPs, prospects, team members). Each segment should have specific services attached, like self-booking vs. company-managed travel. But manual coordination won't cut it. You need systematic approaches. Banks uses [Workgrounds](https://www.workgrounds.com/) to centralize all of RevenueCat's travel booking, regardless of attendee type - it's allowed her to be consistent across all attendees and still carve out provisions for each different level of service. ### Step 4: Create Streamlined Travel Management Systems When you're dealing with a lot of people, you need a way to, well, _not deal_ with each of their individual quirks all of the time. Banks uses a centralized platform to simplify travel booking for all attendees - and to make it easy for guests to tweak their hotel plans without going through her. With 60 or 70 attendees, that saves her a lot of time. Especially in a crisis. "We used Workgrounds to book all of our flights when we did an internal event in Italy last year, and people had to go in, they had to update their flights. Some flights were canceled. Some flights were delayed," Banks said. And she knew about those issues _before_ anyone contacted her about it. Once they did, she was ahead of the game: she could say that everything was already covered. Workgrounds took care of the mess, and saved her 100s of panicked Slacks, too. Communication streams that are proactive, not reactive, about travel? A sigh of relief for everyone. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/689e63749980c6f6b3255410_blogpost9-2.png) ## What This Systematic Approach Actually Gets You **The Automation Advantage:** When she doesn't have to fuss with flight changes, hotel room swaps, and other details (which add up fast), she can focus on high-value tasks instead. Systems that track and alert you about travel changes automatically keep you proactive, and keep everyone on time. > "I cannot begin to explain all the time-saving moments that I've experienced with Workgrounds," Banks said. **Improved Crisis Management:** You truly never know what's going to happen when an event's underway. Even in those last six weeks pre-conference, Banks has seen all kinds of last-minute issues take center stage. When they come up, you need to "stay calm under pressure, and always, always, always have an alternative," Banks said. With automated systems taking over routine tasks, you can free up your mental bandwidth to tackle the unexpected - but inevitable - challenges. **Better Attendee Experience:** You want your attendees to feel taken care of. And when they're not stressed about their travel or their hotel, they will. That means they get to focus on the conference itself and what happens there: content and networking more than logistics. When they have a better experience, they think more highly of your brand. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/689e63cd3806123679b51129_blogpost9-3.png) The real event-planner magic happens when you're not constantly putting out fires. When your travel booking runs itself and people can actually reach you about the important stuff (instead of "Can you change my hotel room?"), you can focus on making the event awesome and memorable. Nobody remembers a conference because the hotel booking was smooth - but they definitely remember when it wasn't. When you take care of all the behind-the-scenes stuff, attendees can come away with confidence in your brand, deeper connections with other stakeholders, and actionable ideas to further your partnerships. With just a little automation, conferences are worth the investment. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/blog/the-match-framework # The MATCH Framework: Turning Team Events Into Revenue Drivers _By Garrett Ullom - August 19, 2025 · Playbook · 4 mins read_ > When your teams are spread out, the bottom line can look better. At first, at least. Learn the MATCH framework for turning team gatherings into strategic business tools. - **Name:** [Meagan Soszynski](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mbreensos/) - **Role:** Chief People Officer - **Company:** CPOHQ - A platform offering strategic HR leadership for growing companies - **Experience:** 10-15 years overseeing HR for growth-stage companies, with extensive experience planning team gatherings in both pre and post-pandemic work environments When your teams are spread out, the bottom line can look better. At first, at least. People think that remote, hybrid, or even distributed teams cost less and work more. But what they don't realize is that productivity is slipping through the cracks. And it doesn't have to be that way. If you're a leader who wants to make sure work is effective, efficient, and productive, CPOHQ Chief People Officer Meagan Soszynski has developed a strategic framework where you solve issues through in-person events and enhance business performance as a result. Here's her approach. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/68912d0059afa346739ced13_blogpost8-3.png) ## The Real Economics of Distributed Work When you're cutting back on real estate costs, the CFO is bound to get excited. But that's not all you're cutting back on. When teams head out of the office, or come in less, or even just get a little overwhelmed, companies might not realize the hit that productivity takes. Meagan noticed one situation where onboarding time increased by three months after a workforce went fully remote. Collaboration processes can take a hit, too. "All of a sudden people have hard stops on their calendars," Meagan says. It's not the same as sitting in a room face-to-face, chatting until the problem's solved. When you're asynchronous, suddenly a conversation can turn into a two-day back-and-forth. Don't get nervous - this doesn't mean that you need to bring your entire team back into the office, or invest in more real estate either. It just means that getting the team together for a few thoughtful in-person events should be part of your annual plan. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/68912d0d7d5d0434be38433e_blogpost8-2.png) ## Using the MATCH Framework So how do you shift the vibe from "social team gathering" to "productive team gathering"? Meagan's MATCH framework helps you design events that result in real, measurable outcomes - making sure that when you pull people away from their daily work, it's truly worth it. **M - Measure Your Team's Current Productivity** Before planning any gathering, establish your baseline. Track how your team performs day-to-day and see where productivity gaps exist. Pay special attention to cross-team collaboration challenges, onboarding bottlenecks, and problem-solving delays across departments and locations. This data's basically your North Star for figuring out what a productive gathering should get done. **A - Align Gatherings with Strategic Business Impact** Not every team needs to meet the same amount - prioritize based on their overall impact on the business. Revenue-generating teams like sales and product development should meet more frequently (with larger budgets); support functions should meet less often (but still meaningfully). A tiered approach makes sure your investment matches each team's contribution to growth. **T - Time Events to Business Milestones** Strategic gatherings should happen when your business needs them most, not when the timing's convenient. Does your company have seasonal peaks? Major product launches? Quarterly pushes? Schedule events to build momentum beforehand so teams are prepared and aligned on what needs to happen. **C - Craft Purposeful Gathering Experiences** You can structure focused work sessions with laptop-free deep thinking time, but make sure to build in breaks for people to handle urgent work. Your agendas should move initiatives forward but also allow for the relationship-building that makes remote collaboration more effective. **H - Hold Teams Accountable for Outcomes** Gathering outputs can have real business results when you make sure there's post-event accountability. Teams should be required to present their collaborative work and action plans to stakeholders - that will put pressure on them to generate real solutions _during_ the event, and follow through afterward. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/68912d1e64d1a013c698b6fd_blogpost8-3-1.png) ## From Social Events to Strategic Business Tools Post-pandemic, workplaces are different. Team gatherings are different, too. They used to be just about getting together, hanging out, and having a happy hour - and that's still part of it! - but now companies are realizing that they can be great for heads-down, focused problem-solving. You can tell when you look at a company calendar that's on a productivity-first approach: They don't go with the usual event-booking flow. They're carving out time based on what the whole year's strategy looks like, not convenience or season or even deals. Because here's the reality: even if the hotel costs more, a well-timed gathering delivers killer ROI. When you pull one of your best people away from their daily work, you need to make sure they're spending that time away on important work that makes a real difference. In-person collaboration is so valuable that you can't waste it - some simple face-to-face, planned-out conversations can make your business thrive. *Dive into* [*Meagan's steps for a successful team gathering*](/blog/hidden-cost-of-unstrategic-team-gatherings)*.* --- ## https://workgrounds.com/blog/hidden-cost-of-unstrategic-team-gatherings # The Hidden Cost of Unstrategic Team Gatherings (And How to Fix It) _By Garrett Ullom - July 1, 2025 · Playbook · 3 mins read_ > Most companies plan team gatherings completely backwards. They start with 'Wouldn't it be nice if everyone got together?' instead of 'What specific business problem are we trying to solve?' CPOHQ Chief People Officer Meagan Soszynski has spent around 15 years planning team gatherings. And in that time, she's seen companies blow serious cash on events that might be _fun,_ but don't move the needle for business. Here's the thing: the problem isn't that team gatherings cost money. It's that most companies plan them completely backwards. They start with "Wouldn't it be nice if everyone got together?" instead of "What specific business problem are we trying to solve?" If you can't explain why your event exists in business terms, good luck getting the budget approved next year. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/6853524730aa26b8abf2b3ff_blogpost6-2.png) ## 4 Steps to Strategic Event Planning That Actually Works Here's Soszynski's step-by-step approach to flip the script from "fun" to "business" - making gatherings that actually drive ROI while optimizing every dollar spent. **Step 1: Match your event schedules to business priorities (and teams with their budgets)** Build your calendar around revenue cycles and milestones, not arbitrary "team bonding" schedules. Soszynski suggests a three-tier system: revenue generators like product, sales, and GTM teams should meet up the most, and get the largest budget because of that; executive teams should check in quarterly for strategic alignment; support teams should get together at least once a year. Why this works: Your biggest collaboration dollars go to the teams that have the highest impact on your revenue. That makes the ROI case pretty obvious when you're pitching that flight to Paris (or Houston). **Step 2: Make sure each event solves a specific problem** Sure, you want people to have fun, chat, maybe even hit the pool. But keep your "focusing" hat on: Every event _needs_ to tackle a real business challenge or hit a truly measurable goal. When you lead with strategy, you can justify the spend - and the happy hour afterward. Ask yourself: What specific problem do you have that would be helped by people working together face-to-face? What's going to be different about your business after they solve it? The clearer your objectives are, the easier it'll get to optimize costs around achieving them. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/68535255fda77484a6af8b69_blogpost6-3.png) **Step 3: Use data to optimize location and impact** Run the numbers on where people actually live before picking a location. Sometimes the "obvious" choice - looking at you, expensive coastal cities - costs way more and doesn't deliver better outcomes. Other times, the obvious choice actually _is_ the best move you can make. Now it's time to make smart, thoughtful decisions about who really needs to attend (not just who's a fun hang!), what kind of venue you actually need (not just your first choice), and where to allocate resources (not just on picking up an entire team and bringing them somewhere else). **Step 4: Measure business impact, not just vibes** Don't ask, "Did everyone have a good time?" You can, but that's not the point. Ask, "Did we achieve our strategic objectives?" Track productivity metrics, goal completion, and the long-term impact of decisions made or strategies that came out during the event. Soszynski's pro tip: schedule follow-up presentations where teams share what they learned and created. That sort of accountability makes sure that the magic keeps on moving. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/685352632930080c5e7dd256_blogpost6-3-1.png) ## What Happens When You Get Strategic The results of strategy-based event planning speak for themselves. **Refined resources:** Instead of giving every team an equal budget, you'll dole out money based on the business impact they (and their meetings) have. Revenue-driving teams get more resources because their collaboration directly affects the company's bottom line. **Clear-cut costs:** Specific objectives help you spend smarter. When you can justify every single team member who makes it onto the event list, pick the most cost-effective spots for gatherings that serve your goals, and cut expenses that don't support your objectives, it's a win for everyone. **Better business alignment:** When gatherings have clear goals and accountability measures, they generate measurable ROI, not just fuzzy feelings. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/68535275bc7317b6b277e11d_blogpost6-3-2.png) The shift from "let's bring everyone together" to "let's solve this specific business challenge together" transforms team gatherings from expensive perks (like a fancy party) into strategic business tools (like heads-down problem-solving sessions). And with this change, your leadership will see the value of events: not a cost to minimize, but an investment in collaboration and growth. Having distributed or remote teams doesn't mean you can't collaborate - it means you need to be intentional about when, how, and why your teams get together. Start with strategy, optimize for impact, and watch those "nice-to-have" expenses become "must-have" business investments. That's how you can make sure you plan the best team gathering possible. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/blog/perfect-hotel-rfps # Perfect Hotel RFPs: Insight from Both Sides of the Negotiation Table _By Nikhil Sethi - June 16, 2025 · Playbook · 4 mins read_ > There's a huge breakdown in comms between corporate planners and hotels. Learn the insider approach to getting better rates and making hidden fees disappear. Don't waste days on masterminding, negotiating, and booking team travel. Kelley Thompson, Head of Growth at Workgrounds, knows the insider approach: which means you can get that time back to focus not on _getting_ to the event, but ways to make it great when everyone's there. The problem right now? There's a huge breakdown in comms between corporate planners and hotels: it's tough to get on the same page. That means you're frustrated, budgets get thrown out or ignored, and the employee experience suffers too (because you're a little too busy sitting on hold and fighting for a good rate to lock in on anything else). But Thompson knows the solution. Read on to see exactly how she gets better rates, makes hidden fees disappear, and changes a contentious hotel-HR relationship into a collaborative dream. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/68476ccac79f63b15f5f58b0_blogpost5-5.png) ## Knock Down the Wall Between You and Hotels Thompson doesn't think the RFP process should be a fight, or a tug-of-war, or a concession. After all, if you're looking to book travel once, there's a chance you'll do it again. Why not build a great relationship with a hotel? You can do that and still make sure you're getting a good deal. Thompson said that a good hotel sales team will create better offers when RFPs are more detailed, and include deal-breakers and all important info. (For example: If you need a meeting room for 200, but only need hotel rooms for 75.) And travel managers who create good RFPs make ones that show they understand the hotel business, and show hotels what they really care about. Because Thompson's been on both sides of the negotiation table, she knows that transparency isn't just the right thing to do - it's also a strategic choice. If you get how hotels evaluate _you_, you can send them curated info. Meaning better proposals, better compromises, and a partner instead of an enemy. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/68476cb8ef9705908a973dca_blogpost5-4.png) ## How to Craft a Perfect Hotel RFP Here's Thompson's 4-step checklist for putting together a great proposal request. ### Step 1: Be Brutally Honest When you're sending out an RFP, think of it like giving a presentation about yourself. Be clear about what your events have looked like before, and what you think this new one might look like too. To communicate your business and event history to a hotel (new or returning), you can approach an RFP like so: "I can tell you, 'Hey, I brought this meeting to Chicago the last 3 years," Thompson said. "This is what our pickup was every year. This is why I'm asking for this block, because we just acquired a company and our head count is growing.'" You want to be honest because it's essential that hotels trust the numbers you give them. If they don't, they'll pad their proposals. That means: Be upfront about issues and how you're addressing them now. It's better for everyone, and best for your relationship. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/68476ca116e73cbb34c007b2_blogpost5-3.png) ### Step 2: Map the Experience Think bigger than four walls - what's the experience you want to create inside them? When you figure that out, you can tell hotels how your guests might move through their space. It also helps both sides identify needs: a boardroom, for example, or a team breakfast. It's also an opportunity for you to tell them about sticky or strange particulars, weird requests, or odd ratios (like the earlier example of needing a meeting space for 200 but only needing 75 rooms). ### Step 3: Eliminate the No's and Save Your Time Here's the truth: not every hotel is right for you. And some will try to be, and pretend to be, and waste your time. Thompson recalled one space that made staff go far afield between meetings and lunch. Get rid of the hotels you _don't want_ right away by putting non-negotiables in your RFP, as well as any deal-breakers for your CEO or staffers. Also take a moment to flag anything that matters about location. Whether you want to be near the airport or close to the late-night laser tag bonding event, the hotel should be in the know (and be able to check that box). ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/68476ce153d552063193832a_blogpost5-2.png) ### Step 4: Structure your RFP like a Pro "The hoteliers, they just throw spaghetti at the wall, and they offer you a bunch of concessions that you really don't care about, or they're not meaningful," Thompson said. That's why you need to cover all the essentials in your RFP. Here's what Thompson would include. **Dates & Flexibility.** Start with your ideal dates, but show your flexibility. Hotels love options - it helps them work around their busy periods. And more flexibility usually = better deals. **Meeting Space Specifics.** Don't just say, "We need a conference room." Map out exactly how your team will use the space. Also be sure to mention any discrepancies between your room block and meeting space needs, as well as meal space requirements. **Hot Buttons & Deal-Breakers.** Every company has non-negotiables. Thompson's seen everything from "vibey hotels only" to "all meeting spaces must be on one floor." Flag what your decision-makers care most about, including location requirements. **Concessions That Count.** Be specific, not generic. List what you care about (like room upgrades, Wi-Fi, staff rooms, meeting space discounts) and clearly outline budget parameters. (Be sure to pad that by 15-20% for surprise costs.) **Search Parameters.** Hotels want to know if they're likely to win your business. A broad 10-city search gets you different treatment than a locked-in location. **Event History.** If you're hosting a recurring event, give hotels the full picture. Thompson recommends sharing what the event used to look like, and how it's changing. Use our example RFP template to get started: [**RFP Template**](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aCb7YUvF68Sl38v0UIE5agfV9a0X6XF8TmxVcQ788bw/edit?usp=sharing) **Or save yourself hours and give Workgrounds a try. We send the RFPs so you don't have to, saving you money (30% on average) and time (save 20+ hours per trip).** [**Get started in 15 minutes or less →**](/onboard) --- ## https://workgrounds.com/blog/sidecar-health-team-gathering # How Sidecar Health Transformed Their SKO Team Gathering Experience _By Nikhil Sethi - May 14, 2025 · Playbook · 4 mins read_ > When Sidecar Health CMO Kevin Knight needed to bring his sales and marketing team together, he faced the classic team travel paradox: these gatherings are absolutely essential, but organizing them is painfully inefficient. When Sidecar Health CMO Kevin Knight needed to bring his sales and marketing team together, he faced the classic team travel paradox: these gatherings are absolutely essential, but the process of organizing them is painfully inefficient. "The reality is that planning events is not a core strategic competency of the business, but it is a core strategic necessity of team building," Knight explains, hitting on the fundamental tension that companies of all sizes face. For teams like Knight's at Sidecar Health, the traditional approach to planning gatherings creates a series of interconnected problems that drain time, money, and energy from the organization. "The more time you have to spend on the logistics of planning the event itself, the less time you have to spend on the agenda and the details that matter most," Knight points out. Let's be honest about what's really happening in most companies: - **Your options are severely limited.** HR team (or whoever has been tasked with organizing) without specialized training default to checking just 2-3 hotels because nobody has time for more - **Your best people are doing the wrong work.** Top talent gets pulled away from strategic priorities to handle basic travel logistics - **You're probably overpaying.** Without proper RFP processes, competitive rates remain undiscovered - **The details that matter get missed.** Room configurations, meeting spaces, and other critical elements fall through the cracks - **Last-minute bookings cost you extra.** Slow approval chains mean higher rates and fewer options For a company of Sidecar Health's size, these inefficiencies don't just waste time-they directly impact the bottom line across multiple team events every year. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/681e79c6f93ba77891315ccd_blogpost-image2.png) ## The Breakthrough Approach Knight realized something fundamental: what if the solution wasn't hiring more people or accepting the inefficiency, but using technology to transform the entire process? By partnering with Workgrounds, he could "achieve the results of gathering people in person without having to invest in building a team that is focused on events." This insight allowed Sidecar Health to: - Keep their team laser-focused on their actual business - Deliver high-impact team gatherings that strengthen culture - Dramatically reduce both the time and cost of planning - Free HR from tasks that weren't driving strategic value ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/681e7a10d14cda91e52fbcc9_blogpost-image3.png) ## How It Works: The Four-Step Process Knight's playbook to get his team together followed a clear process that a team of any size can replicate. Here are the steps he took: ### Step 1: Get Smarter About Team Locations The first move is to leverage data you already have: where your people actually are. This seems simple, but it's something most companies completely miss. "The number of times I have been to in-person events where it was super convenient for a few people, while the others have to trek across the country with a series of convoluted layovers, only to miss key parts of the gathering-that's terrible," reflected Knight. How Sidecar Health did it with Workgrounds: - Quickly imported team location data - Specified exactly what they needed the gathering to accomplish - Let the platform identify truly optimal meeting spots based on actual travel time and convenience "The ability to plug in the location of the attendees is completely game-changing," Knight emphasizes. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/681e89337736a3e5d56c1270_blogpost-image9.png) ### Step 2: Break Out of Venue Defaults The traditional approach to venue selection is basically "where did we go last time?" or "where are our offices?" But this misses massive opportunities. Knight discovered something counterintuitive: "Even though we have an office in LA, it is cheaper to mix it up and go someplace new and novel for an executive retreat rather than to go to the same old, same old. And everyone loves that." What this unlocked for Sidecar Health: - Fresh environments that sparked new thinking - Cost savings by exploring less obvious locations - Higher team engagement through novel experiences - Stronger cultural connections outside the everyday office setting ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/681e7b27305b9a3631b63ec2_blogpost-image6.png) ### Step 3: Let Hotels Compete (Without You in the Middle) Here's where technology creates the most dramatic efficiency gains. Rather than manually reaching out to a handful of venues, the entire RFP process can be automated. Knight was able to get valuable data that would have taken weeks in a matter of minutes: - Instant RFPs to dozens of suitable venues - Hotels actively competing to win Sidecar Health's business - Zero back-and-forth emails or phone calls - Comprehensive analysis of all costs, not just the headline room rate - Standardized responses that made comparison actually possible "If you can outsource the logistical details of travel and RFPs, contracts, and all that back-and-forth, you can spend that energy where it is much, much better spent," Knight explains. ### Step 4: Design for Connection, Not Just Convenience With the logistics handled, Knight could focus on what actually matters: creating an environment where meaningful work happens. "Do you want to have a classroom style, or circular tables, or a U shape?" Knight considered. "If we're going to do working sessions, we either need a separate working space or the ability to have the room set up for that." Sidecar Health's new focus included: - Thoughtfully designed spaces that supported their specific objectives - Activities engineered for meaningful team connection - Environments that facilitated both structured and spontaneous interaction - Details that reinforced their culture and values ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/681e8a13ea06b8287c4327c4_blogpost-image10.png) ## The Real-World Impact For Sidecar Health, this approach didn't just feel better-it delivered measurable results: **Hours Back in Your Week:** The planning process that used to consume Knight's team now happened largely in the background, giving everyone back time for their actual jobs. **Real Money Saved:** Automated comparison shopping and earlier bookings meant Sidecar Health secured rates they never would have found manually. Knight could see the complete financial picture, including how flight costs balanced against hotel rates. **Gatherings That Actually Work:** With the logistics handled, Knight could focus entirely on the experience: "With logistics tucked away, the people came into focus again: the experience we wanted them to have, and what we wanted them to come away from the event with." **No Need to Hire Event Staff:** Sidecar Health delivered professional-quality gatherings without expanding headcount or diverting existing team members. "By outsourcing this to Workgrounds, nobody had to take time away from their day job to plan an event," Knight explains. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/681e8a4256cd9338c50aac4e_blogpost-image7.png) ## Five Principles You Can Apply Now Knight's experience revealed five core principles that any organization can implement immediately: 1. **Your team should focus on your business, not booking hotels.** If event planning isn't your core competency, stop pretending it is. 2. **Data beats gut feelings every time.** Using geographic analysis of your team's locations will reveal optimal meeting spots you'd never have considered. 3. **Automation isn't just faster-it gets better results.** AI can analyze options and scenarios in ways that manual processes simply can't match. 4. **The experience is what people remember.** The venue, room setup, and overall environment directly impact whether your gathering achieves its objectives. 5. **Flexibility creates better experiences.** When you can easily adjust bookings on the fly, you can adapt to changing needs without the typical stress and cost. By following these principles and implementing the approach that worked for Sidecar Health, your team can turn team gatherings from logistical nightmares into genuine strategic advantages-bringing people together efficiently while saving both time and money. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/blog/why-in-person-events-matter # Connection is Everything: The Case for Intentional In-Person Events _By Garrett Ullom - June 4, 2025 · Playbook · 4 mins read_ > You know when you're stuck on a problem, shooting emails and Slacks back and forth all day, and then you grab coffee with a coworker and suddenly figure it out? That's what happens when people talk face-to-face. You know when you're stuck on a problem, shooting emails and Slacks back and forth all day, and then - boom - you grab coffee with a coworker and suddenly figure it out in the elevator? That's not magic. It's not even luck. That's what happens when people talk face-to-face. Sidecar Health's CMO Kevin Knight knows that in-person collaboration is key. His simple philosophy: the more intentional you are about your team events, the better their outcomes will be. It's just good business to get the team together, whether they work across the world from each other or across the hall. Either way, any team program you have in mind deserves **attention** and **intention**. But how do you make sure your planning has a real impact on your business? ## Planning the Right Event For Your Team When Sidecar Health's wanted to get their team together for their SKO, CMO Kevin Knight wasn't just thinking about logistics - he was thinking about ROI. Not the kind you usually think about: the kind that shows up in Slack conversations months later, in how quickly problems get solved, and in whether your best people stick around. With thoughtful planning and strategic intention, Knight says "you can really change the energy" of staff events. These gatherings are incredible opportunities to build connections across the entire workforce. Knight knows you can make them powerhouse moments for both your company's performance and culture. Here's the thing. It doesn't matter if leaders go with a more convenient route - a hotel near headquarters, continental breakfast, conference rooms - or an innovative location. The point is making the event that's right for your company and goals. "If it's been too long since a team got together in person, that team _needs_ to get together in person," Knight says. "I honestly believe that in those instances, sometimes the agenda actually matters less to the outcome than the mere fact that you got people together in an inspiring location to do something that facilitates organic connection." But here's where most companies mess up - they treat these gatherings like one-and-done events. Knight knows better: "You're going to have to continue to invest in in-person interaction, and I think you can get away with doing it less often if you follow culture-building best practices." ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/681d724b074e278afa5b09e3_blogpost4-image1.png) ## Enter Knight's Binary: When In-Person Events Matter In-person gatherings? Mission-critical. But only for specific reasons. Here are the two reasons you might want to get everyone together. 1. **You need to lock yourselves in a room with a whiteboard to figure out a problem.** Sometimes, the deep focus - everyone, together, at the same time - is just what you need for a breakthrough. It helps you get rid of distractions. You're all there to get work done. And communication is obviously easier than ever (it even keeps going on breaks!). 2. **You want to build company culture.** Actually free "free time" creates those water-cooler opps that some workers don't have. And Knight believes you _really_ get to know your coworkers during unstructured time. Teams don't always get those mini, unplanned interactions over Zoom or even on different floors of an office building. Some of the best conversations happen while you're waiting in line for food or walking to a meeting. Once you've identified the reason for having the event, the next question becomes: how do you maximize the return on that investment? How do you make sure your team event is good for the entire company? ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/681d72842ff391909ea2f0a2_gathering-1.png) ## How Better Getaways = Better Work Knight says events directly affect attrition - happy, cared-for, and included employees stick around (and you know how expensive and time-consuming it is to replace the ones who don't). They become champions of the company, promoting it to friends and their networks. Events are also great for teamwork, even after everyone's headed home. The creative, collaborative juices are flowing. "I have been amazed at how much better a remote team is at coming together to solve a problem in the weeks immediately following an in-person gathering," Knight posits. Fundamentally change your group planning to focus on employee experiences: No matter what's on the itinerary, prioritizing thoughtful team travel means you're making a strategic investment in team cohesion, idea-building, and employee retention. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/681d72a29fec35886a944010_blogpost4-image7.png) ## Take Your Gatherings Sky-High Knight declares that it's downright irresponsible to not invest in team meetings. "If you want to solve real problems in your business, you have to have real relationships," Knight says. "You can't expect people who don't have real relationships to have the type of patience, shorthand directness of communication, common sense of purpose and mission if they have not been able to get to know one another at an individual level." And don't forget to take a step back from the business part - think about the _people_ part of it all. Those connections make people respond to Slacks with kindness instead of malice; give them opportunities to create and share new ideas; build on familiarity. Staff who know, understand, and even like each other(!) work together best, freshly aligned on what your company wants to do most. *Want to see how he brought everyone together? Check out his playbook:* [*How Sidecar Health Transformed Their SKO team gathering experience*](/blog/sidecar-health-team-gathering) --- ## https://workgrounds.com/blog/how-to-bring-people-together # The Power of In-Person Collaboration - and How To Bring People Together _By Nikhil Sethi - April 21, 2025 · Playbook · 6 mins read_ > Planning a trip is way less fun than being on one. And planning a work trip is way more work than it should be. Learn how to bring your team together without the logistical nightmares. Planning a trip is way less fun than being on one. And planning a work trip is way more work than it should be. It usually involves sending desperate RFPs to whatever hotels you can find, playing endless email ping-pong with 50 colleagues who all need "just one small change" to their booking, and sweating the logistical nightmares of getting everyone from airport to hotel to meeting space without losing half your budget on Ubers. A travel manager shouldn't spend 50+ hours of their life hunting down room blocks when they could be focusing on what actually matters – making the gathering meaningful. It's exhausting admin work, and not the best use of valuable time. Whether staff is in-person, hybrid, or fully remote, planning group travel is a huge pain. And that's a bummer, because the headache gets in the way of the good part: bringing people together. "We always just found that there was so much value in this [in-person] connection between our teams," says Workgrounds co-founder and CEO Nikhil Sethi. "And we always try to figure out what's the right format to do it. How do we do it best?" Spoiler alert: The best format isn't "torture your team lead with endless phone calls and spreadsheets." ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/6801830d5b2b9a6a4c632f61_Group%20484786.png) But that's exactly what's happening. Manual booking is a messy system that only gets you halfway to what you want. When you're working hard, trying to do the best you can, you'll probably end up with one of these compromises: - **Every person for themself:** You let team members book their own travel, which is flexible but uncoordinated, and cuts into any group savings - **Invest in the best:** You only flex your group chops for the biggest events, leaving the smaller ones in the dust - **Bring on a travel team:** You hire people whose whole job is making your events happen, which adds a _lot_ to your overhead While all are decent ideas, each has issues-and none of them are a real solution. ## Taking team planning out of the stone age Sethi has seen how much gruntwork goes into a great work event. "It was mind-numbing how much energy we'd spend to make sure these things were really good." It was like he'd been thrust into a time "before the Digital Age, an almost prehistoric way of figuring out how to put these events together." It's not exactly cave drawings, but in 2025, most manual travel booking systems do feel pretty out of date. And when an employee is sending RFPs by hand, that means they're losing 50+ hours per logistics meeting and 8+ hours _per booking._ They're wading through all the usual business gunk: multiple approvals, no view into the total travel spend. It's a shot in the dark with a healthy pile of paperwork. Future-looking orgs know that team gatherings are strategic investments that deserve the full power of smart tech. They're making moves to: - Use transparent, adjustable systems, with all the info in one place - Cut back on repetitive to-dos (RFPs, for example) - Cast a wider net without creating more work for leaders The travel industry's moved pretty fast to bump up prices, but it's not moving as fast to fix up, well, much of anything. Ever been on a more-expensive flight on a super-old plane? A pricey hotel room with a questionable stain on the carpet? It's definitely not hustling to make booking systems more in line with _this century._ That's why companies are taking up the mantle themselves. ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/680184537395f7e15992827e_Group%20484788.png) ## AI, racing to the finish line "We bet on the fact that there will be a solution to this problem - a more efficient way to get both aspects of the equation," Sethi says, "meaning maximum flexibility for people, but also super-coordinated, economically-viable super leverage on the buy side." Companies save 28% on average when they book group events with automated systems. And, with automation, the 3-5 days it _can_ take to book a group event comes down to minutes. What does the ideal automated platform include? ### 1. An info hub and outreach system with no middleman No more lost confirmation numbers. No more scrolling through Outlook, begging the search function to actually work for once and show you what you're looking for. Just one spot, with everything you need. That includes: - An overview of [team locations and travel patterns](https://www.workgrounds.com/enterprise) - The ability to change single reservations on the fly - A way to chat with hotels without, well, having to talk to them at all ### 2. A wider search (no extra work required) "Most people who do these plans, who are looking for a meeting hotel space, end up reaching out to three, maybe four places tops," Sethi says. "Sometimes they default to the same one over and over again because it just seems good enough, and it seems easy." But that's not a great way to operate. You don't know if it's the best option, even. Plus, it still takes plenty of time to set up your usual place. So why not spend less time for more results? The best possible venue sourcing lets you select multiple hotels with a single click, specify room needs and dates (no call required), and [send RFPs to 50+ options at once](https://www.workgrounds.com/feature-rfp). And above all, it gives you your time back - negotiating on your behalf and getting those best rates lined up - so you can focus on the work you do best. ### 3. Easier ways to handle events When you have more options, you need a good way to figure out which option comes out on top. And once you're happy with the logistics and planning, you need to package it up with a bow on top to get the final budget approved. How automation can help you do that: - Give everyone access so they can be involved without missing a beat - Compare venue proposals - Keep a clear ledger of everything that you (or someone else) has done - Track the dollars and cents - both for now and for next time - Handle last-minute flakes/changes ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/68006723c43f5ba050c034ce_blog1-content-image.png) All clicks, no calls - sounds like a perfect WFH situation. ### 4. Get the team excited! With everything booked and ready (!) it's time to show the team what you've been working on. A splash or event page lets employees communicate directly with the organizer, and lets the organizer lay out a detailed itinerary for the event. It also lets them send updates to everyone if event times and locations change, or if there's anything new for people to know. Once you're all booked, [you can still make tweaks to your plans](https://www.workgrounds.com/room-block-management), too. After all - there's no group event without _some_ hitch. An automated platform can smooth out the unavoidable road bumps by making last-minute fixes easier, like "decoupling" (no, we're not talking about those will-they/won't-they coworkers). If something changes, you can switch up plans: go with just rooms and no workspaces, or add workspaces on. ## What life looks like when you get your time back Usually, companies that don't use automation leave **30-40% of savings** on the table - no small amount of missed opportunity. And it's why AI RFPs are designed to maximize savings, with time savings as a huge bonus. Some examples: - Team leaders stopped spending **50+ hours** on calls and being-on-hold, which let them focus on strategy and the _reason for meeting_ instead - [Get 70 hotel group booking offers across 6 cities to find the perfect location](https://www.workgrounds.com/case-studies/70-hotels-in-6-cities-casestudy) (in just an hour of searching) - Companies that looked at more venues **saved 28%** on average - Plans got made faster, down from weeks **to just days** - With less friction, everyone's happier (always a bonus!) ![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66a9874a7688a8ec9cf57ab1/68016b79617baecaace862ba_image%20681.png) ## Fine-tune your travel for 2025 (and on) When companies use AI for team bookings, they see more savings (money AND time). There just isn't enough time in the day to wrangle as many properties as automated systems can - or you shouldn't have to spend that time, anyway. It's important to focus on: 1. The value of bringing everyone together 2. How your coordination looks now, and how it can be better 3. See how the team feels about planning and about the event itself 4. Getting all your info in one place, and make it easy to tweak When companies reimagine how their teams get together, they can focus on the _why_ of the team meeting, which is what really matters. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/blog/workgrounds-preseed-launch # Repeat Founder Duo Raises $2.6M and Launches Workgrounds _By Nikhil Sethi - November 1, 2024 · Launch · 2 mins read_ > Nikhil Sethi & Garrett Ullom have raised $2.6M for Workgrounds, solving hotel room block management for group bookings with AI automation. NEW YORK, NY -- November 1, 2024 - Nikhil Sethi & Garrett Ullom have raised $2.6M for their next startup, Workgrounds, solving hotel room block management for group bookings. Workgrounds already has clientele including fast growing companies like SeatGeek, RevenueCat, and Yieldmo, as demand for the product soars. This is the second time the founders are building together, after the successful 2018 acquisition by Accenture of their first startup [Adaptly](https://www.wsj.com/articles/accenture-interactive-to-acquire-ad-tech-firm-adaptly-11544632623). Founded while the two were in college, Adaptly is an advertising technology platform they eventually grew to 200+ people. Now the duo is at it again, tackling another B2B startup idea in the corporate space, but with similarities: a huge market dominated by a few large platform players, and archaic processes that can be automated on the user-side to simplify the experience of a vast customer base. > "We were shocked to discover how manual the entire end-to-end process was for sourcing, negotiating, and managing hotel room blocks for corporate groups - a process that is repeated millions of times a year," said Nikhil Sethi, co-founder, Workgrounds. "We wanted to apply AI and other automation to 100x the experience for companies to [easily manage hundreds of room blocks](https://www.workgrounds.com/) in parallel and all through software, a simple user interface, and without the need for hotels to change anything in their well-established processes." [Workgrounds](https://www.workgrounds.com/) is building an end-to-end stack to automate the many manual processes that enable corporate group travel. The first version of the Workgrounds platform allows organizations to input their team's locations or connect via their HRIS systems and in one-click, [automatically request proposals using AI from all hotel suppliers](https://www.workgrounds.com/) in a target market to get the best proposals possible. Given the economies of scale organizations can see by booking as a group, there are upwards of 31% savings being left on the table by not allowing machines and automation to do the hard work. Workgrounds allows teams to cast a wide net and automatically parse those proposals to give planners immediate high quality results without having to run a manual, time-consuming process. In addition the AI agents handle change orders and negotiation to truly deliver the best possible experience. "We re-imagined the user experience from the perspective of travel planners, the finance teams and their guests. We created a modern, simple experience, packed with functionality to really enable organizations to manage room blocks for hundreds of teams representing thousands of travelers with ease." said Sethi. > "Working with Workgrounds has been a huge time and money saver for SeatGeek. Our ability to secure room blocks for our teams and partners has gone from a multi-week process to just a matter of days, making the platform a no-brainer for our teams. We can now spend more time focused on creating memorable experiences for our meetings and events and less time managing the core logistics of bringing our teams together," said Gerard Visser, Director of Workplace Services, SeatGeek. The shift to more distributed workforces and flexible work is only accelerating adoption and travel spend. While running Adaptly, the team had already observed the massive shift to new ways of flexible working, and Covid greatly accelerated that across the world. Yet the major travel implications these choices had were ripe with opportunity to provide greater degrees of control and automation, especially as organizations with hundreds of team members traveling together are constantly facing new operational and cost saving challenges. "We built Workgrounds to be the solution we would've wanted at Adaptly and then at Accenture," said Garrett Ullom, co-founder, Workgrounds. "We wanted something that brought all the pieces together in a seamless way. Starting with room blocks, we see a big opportunity to help solve corporate travel scaling issues for teams." Today, Workgrounds is launching backed by a pre-seed fundraise of $2.6M from [Oceans Ventures](https://oceans.ventures/), [Hannah Grey](https://www.hannahgrey.com/), [Volo Ventures](https://voloventures.co/), and [deftly.vc](https://deftly.vc/). Learn more at [www.workgrounds.com](http://www.workgrounds.com/) --- ## https://workgrounds.com/privacy # Privacy Policy This page describes how Workgrounds collects, uses, and protects personal information. View the full policy at [https://workgrounds.com/privacy](https://workgrounds.com/privacy). The HTML version is the canonical source of legal terms. --- ## https://workgrounds.com/terms # Terms of Service This page describes the Workgrounds terms of service governing use of our platform and services. View the full terms at [https://workgrounds.com/terms](https://workgrounds.com/terms). The HTML version is the canonical source of legal terms.