Geo-arbitrage meetings

Where do you go for your business meetings? Where do you hang out with your friends for the weekend? 

For the second year running, the Rebel Business School has come to Poland for its annual team retreat and to plan the year.   Most of the team live in England, so why would we all get on a plane and come to Poland?

The Rebel Business School Team in Gdansk, Poland for the 2019 team retreat

The answer is fairly simple.  It is cheaper and so much cooler! Read on to see the maths and reasons and some ideas to inspire you to do more with your team meetings.....

Is it really cheaper to come to Poland?

The first year we did a team retreat we went to London, stayed in a nice hotel near Waterloo, and worked from the communal areas. There were only 4 of us at that one so it was easy to hang out in cafes and other areas.  The event was only 2 nights away, so it wasn't that bad.  It still cost £47 return on the train, £80 a night in the hotel, and then every meal was £80, so it soon mounted up!  But as there were only 4 of us it wasn't that bad!

Since then the number of people at Rebel has grown massively and we are now up to 12 of us!  We have done team retreats all over the place:

• Hotel in Latimer (no one knows where this is; not even us!)
• A hotel attached to Wimbledon's football stadium in Milton Keynes
• An 8-bed Airbnb in Oxfordshire
  
• 9-bed barn conversion in Cambridgeshire
  
• Warsaw!
• This year we are in Gdansk

Why do you care? Doing our team meetings like this is the complete opposite of most companies, and we find it gets us better results and we have a better time.  

Alan surrounded by Post-it notes in Poland

Rebel Business School team working on the company mission

A week versus a day.  In most companies they get together for an away day and have a normal meeting.  How much can you get done in a day?  How can you bond? We spend an entire week away together bonding as a team, planning and organising, and we make HUGE progress

Home country versus abroad.  Most companies go to the local city and hire a room for everyone and do presentations all day.  Leaving the country together, travelling to a new area, and experiencing new things has an incredibly positive effect on us all

Presentations versus working together.  Now don't get me wrong, Rebel Business School, and especially me, LOVE a good PowerPoint but most companies get it all wrong and just talk at their teams!  We spend a week working together on our biggest challenges, planning and organising. 

The economics of geo-arbitrage

Is coming to Poland actually better financially for the company?

The United Kingdom

• Travel: £47 to get the train to London from Basingstoke and more for other team members
• ​Team meal in London.  Minimum £20 a person a night and it could be more
• Hotel in the UK.  The UK is becoming increasingly expensive and finding cheap accommodation is difficult.  Minimum £75 a night and can be £100 plus. 
• Meeting room hire.  £250 a day at the least! Ridiculous! Doesn't even include coffee!

Poland

• Travel: £29 to get a flight to Gdansk from Stanstead London
  
• ​Team meal in Poland was £9 a person for drinks, food and everything!
  
• We are staying in a city centre hotel in the Old Town in Gdansk.  It is newly refurbished and awesome! The total is £42 a night per person. 
  
• Room hire is £100 including tea, coffee and unlimited biscuits! #dangerous

Old Town Gdansk where we stayed for the 2019 Rebel Business School Retreat

When you add all this up, it is substantially cheaper and COOLER to come to Poland!  We get looked after better here, the food is better, the whole experience is better.  

£100 a night minimum saving on food, £250 a night minimum saving on the hotel, £150 on the room hire!  We will have saved £3500 + by coming to Poland rather than staying in the UK! 

So when you are next planning your team meetings for your business or you are planning a weekend away with your friends, maybe you should think about getting out of the USA, or getting out of the UK, and exploring the world whilst saving money!

Geo-arbitrage is an AMAZING business tool when used right!  Get out and see the world!  

Where will you go for your next weekend away?  Where will you go for your next team meeting?  I would love to know how you have saved money by getting out or where you plan to go!

​Thanks for reading.  Alan

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