How To Find Meeting Rooms On Demand

Scheduling meetings can be tough when meetings don’t happen according to schedule. Last-minute changes and new opportunities don’t always leave you with a lot of options. Even if your office has meeting rooms, they can fill up fast and last minute schedules can create conflict.

So how can you find a meeting room on demand?

Option 1: Coffee Shops

Coffee shops are all over the place. The friendly atmosphere, promise of wifi, and ready availability made them a popular last-minute meeting spot.

Coffee shop meetings were in-vogue about a decade ago. Low-budget, and accessible, they remain a great place to catch up with a friend. But it’s not the best place to conduct a professional business meeting.

While there is definitely some convenience and savings here, the cons outweigh the pros.

Pros:

Readily Available – In cities like Toronto, there’s a coffee shop on every corner.
Easy Access – Coffee shops offer long hours and street-level access. Since they are all over the place, you can pick a spot that everyone can access.

Cons:

Noisy – Coffee shops are loud. You can hear everyone, and everyone can hear you. That makes it a poor choice for discussing sensitive information. It’s also a distracting environment. It’s hard to focus on the topic at hand when it’s continually interrupted by people placing their orders.

No Guaranteed Space – There are no reservations at a coffee shop. There’s a reason that coffee shops keep popping up — they keep filling up. Depending on the location and time of day, you may have trouble finding a spot to sit.

Unprofessional – They aren’t laying out the red carpet at Tim Horton’s, no matter how many Timbits you buy. Meeting at a coffee shop is always going to feel more casual than professional. There’s certainly a place for these informal settings, but using them at the wrong time makes you look unprofessional.

Option 2: Hotels

Hotels have a long history of hosting meetings. Most 3+ star hotels have several meeting rooms available. These can serve a number of functions from out-of-town meetings to full-blown conferences.

Generally, hotel meeting rooms are geared towards large meetings. They want to use them to generate extra cash in the form of bedroom rentals, or food and beverage minimums. The rates are on the higher end up until you get a big enough group together.

These meeting rooms are typically geared towards groups of 50+ people. The larger your group, the more sense a hotel makes.

Pros:

Reservable – Unlike a coffee shop, you can reserve spots in a hotel. Bookings are available months in advance.
Can Host Large Groups – If you’re with a large group, especially if that group is staying at the hotel that night, hotel meeting rooms start to make a lot of sense. They have a lot of space, and the cost per person is lower the more people there are. Big corporations who are out of town for a convention will often opt for these locations.

Cons

Limited Sizes – If you’re hosting a group of 40 or less, you may be out of luck. The room sizes are a little too large to be comfortable and the per-person cost is a little too high. In some instances, they may not even rent a room to too small of a group, since they can make more money on catering with a large group.

Outdated – Booking a meeting at a hotel is even more outdated than a coffee shop. But it’s not just that it’s off-trend. Most of their rooms are out of date both aesthetically and technologically. They simply do not meet the needs of a modern business meeting.

Availability – Hotels and event centres may not have last-minute availability. These bookings often happen far in advance, so they are not always an option for on-demand meeting rentals.

Option 3: Coworking Space Meeting Room Rentals

Coworking spaces are the modern way of doing business. They’re also the new source for on-demand meeting room rentals. Top tier coworking offices offer a number of high-quality meeting room rentals.

These rooms offer the most convenience to companies working in the space. However, any company can benefit from renting meeting venues. With ready availability in the heart of the city, you can find meeting rooms on-demand that are available near you.

Convenient, versatile, and technologically up-to-date. Shared office meeting room rentals are the best option for small to medium-sized meetings.

Advantages:

Professional – With professional design and high-quality equipment, these meeting rooms offer a professional image.
Versatility – Coworking meeting rooms allow you to fit your room according to the size of your meeting. A range of different rooms can accommodate 2 to 40 people.

On-Demand Reservations – These rooms offer reservations to guarantee your spot. But you don’t need to book months in advance. Rooms are available when you need them most.

Technology – Coworking office meeting room rentals are equipped with all the tech a modern meeting demands. Conference calling, webcams, screens and more.

Book A Toronto Meeting Room Rental On-Demand

The Professional Centre is a coworking office in Toronto’s Financial District. We host a variety of professionally designed, high-quality meeting rooms that are suitable for any business. Our rooms are available per hour or per day.

Select your room and book a meeting today!