Ask ten colleagues what is a conference room and you’ll hear ten slightly different answers — a boardroom, the space with the big screen, the place you go for the quarterly review. A conference room is a private, enclosed space designed for group meetings, presentations and video calls, usually seating anywhere from six to thirty people. This guide explains what a conference room actually is, how it differs from a standard meeting room, what one costs to hire in the UK in 2026, and how to book one by the hour. For the full picture on hourly workspace, our complete guide to meeting rooms goes deeper still.
Wezoo is a booking platform, not an operator. We bring conference rooms from providers like Regus, Spaces, Orega and independent venues into one place, so you can compare and book by the hour with no membership and no lease. It sits alongside the rest of our flexible workspace guide for teams who don’t want a permanent office.
Conference room, defined
A conference room is a bookable, private room equipped for meetings and presentations — typically with a large table, screen or projector, video-conferencing hardware and space for a group. In the UK the term is used interchangeably with “meeting room” for smaller spaces, but “conference room” usually implies a larger, more formal setting.
Wezoo snapshot — UK conference rooms
- 480 conference and meeting rooms available on Wezoo across the UK
- Price range: £11 to £286 per hour
- Median: £46 per hour
- Top operators: Regus, Spaces, HQ, Orega
What is a conference room?
So, what is a conference room in practical terms? It’s a private, enclosed room set aside for group discussion — the kind you close the door on. Most have a central table, seating for six or more, a wall-mounted screen or projector, and a camera-and-microphone setup for joining remote colleagues. Good ones also have proper ventilation, fast wifi and a whiteboard. The point is focus: a space where a team can talk, decide and present without the noise and interruptions of an open-plan floor.
The word “conference” does the heavy lifting. A conference room is built for the meetings that matter more — the pitch, the board review, the interview panel, the strategy offsite. Book the room for the meeting. Pay only for the hours you use.
What is a conference room used for?
Teams book conference rooms for a short, predictable list of jobs: client presentations, board and investor meetings, interview panels, training sessions, workshops and team offsites. Increasingly they’re booked for hybrid calls, where a few people are in the room and the rest dial in — which is why camera position and audio quality now matter as much as the table.
For distributed teams, a conference room is often hired for a single day rather than kept as permanent space. Hybrid working has made this the norm: fewer fixed desks, more rooms booked when the whole team actually needs to be together.
Conference room vs meeting room vs boardroom: what’s the difference?
These terms overlap, and in everyday UK use people swap them freely. Here’s the practical distinction:
- Meeting room: smaller and more casual — two to eight people, often for internal catch-ups.
- Conference room: larger and better equipped — built for presentations, video conferencing and formal group meetings.
- Boardroom: a conference room’s formal cousin — one large table, executive chairs, designed for decision-making meetings.
On Wezoo these all sit under one booking flow, so you filter by capacity and equipment rather than getting stuck on the label.
What does a conference room cost in the UK?
Before booking, many people ask not only what is a conference room but what one should cost. Across the UK, Wezoo conference and meeting rooms run from about £11 to £286 per hour, with a median around £46 per hour. Price tracks three things: city, capacity and kit.
Expect to pay more in central London and for larger rooms with premium AV. Regional cities like Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham are noticeably cheaper for the same capacity. Booking by the hour means you pay for the meeting, not a month you won’t use — the cheapest room can still cost you the most if it makes a bad first impression, so match the space to the occasion.
6 conference rooms you can book across the UK
A quick tour of real conference rooms bookable on Wezoo right now, from the capital to Scotland — a sense of the range, the operators and the prices you’ll find.
1. Wogan House — London
A restored Art Deco landmark on Great Portland Street, a two-minute walk from Oxford Circus. The conference rooms here are bright, high-ceilinged and wired for hybrid calls, which makes Wogan House a favourite for client presentations that need to impress.
Rating: 4.9/5 · Managed by Elementa · Price: from £99/hour
2. Radisson Blu Hotel Manchester Airport — Manchester
Linked to the terminal by covered walkway, this is the room to book when half your team is flying in. Full conference facilities, on-site parking and catering on tap make it a practical pick for regional all-hands and interview days.
Rating: 4.8/5 · Managed by Radisson · Price: from £30/hour
Book Radisson Blu Hotel Manchester Airport on Wezoo →
3. Birmingham – Ingenuity House — Birmingham
A modern floorplate near Birmingham Airport and the NEC, with fast rail links to the city centre. Orega runs it as a managed space, so front-of-house, wifi and screens are sorted before you arrive.
Rating: 4.8/5 · Managed by Orega · Price: from £40/hour
Book Birmingham – Ingenuity House on Wezoo →
4. Leeds – Broad Gate — Leeds
Right on The Headrow in the heart of Leeds, steps from the train station. The larger rooms seat a full board comfortably and come with proper conferencing kit rather than a wobbly TV on a trolley.
Rating: 4.85/5 · Managed by Orega · Price: from £66/hour
Book Leeds – Broad Gate on Wezoo →
5. Leonardo Hotel Edinburgh Haymarket — Edinburgh
Beside Haymarket station, this is one of the most affordable conference options in the capital. Handy when you want a neutral, well-connected venue for a workshop without a city-centre price tag.
Rating: 4.6/5 · Managed by Leonardo Hotels · Price: from £11/hour
Book Leonardo Hotel Edinburgh Haymarket on Wezoo →
6. Temple Meads — Bristol
A short walk from Bristol Temple Meads, run by Runway East with the relaxed, design-led feel their sites are known for. Good natural light and breakout space for the coffee-and-flipchart part of the day.
Rating: 4.75/5 · Managed by Runway East · Price: from £39/hour
How far in advance should you book a conference room?
For a standard weekday booking, a day or two ahead is usually enough. For larger rooms in central London, month-end dates, or anything with catering, give it a week. Instant booking on Wezoo confirms the room immediately, so you’re not waiting on an operator to reply — useful when a client meeting lands in your calendar at short notice.
What are conference rooms best for?
That’s the real answer to what is a conference room: the room you choose when the result matters. They’re best for occasions where the space itself does part of the work — landing a pitch, running a clear-headed workshop, or giving a candidate a professional first impression of your company. For casual internal chats, a smaller meeting room is cheaper and just as good.
If your team needs space more than once a week, it’s worth reading around the wider meeting room options and comparing a per-hour room against a day office. And for teams still figuring out their setup, guides to specific cities — from meeting rooms in Taunton to meeting rooms in Wigan — show what’s available locally.
Ready to book your conference room in the UK?
Frequently asked questions
What is a conference room, in simple terms?
A conference room is a private, enclosed space you book for group meetings, presentations and video calls. It typically has a large table, a screen or projector, and video-conferencing equipment, and seats anywhere from six to thirty people.
What is a conference room versus a meeting room?
The two overlap, but a conference room is generally larger and more formally equipped for presentations and video conferencing, while a meeting room is smaller and used for informal internal catch-ups. In the UK the words are often used interchangeably for mid-sized rooms.
How much does it cost to hire a conference room in the UK?
On Wezoo, UK conference and meeting rooms range from around £11 to £286 per hour, with a median of about £46 per hour. Central London and larger, better-equipped rooms sit at the higher end.
Do I need a membership to book a conference room?
No. Wezoo is a booking platform with no membership and no subscription. You book a conference room by the hour and pay only for the time you use, with free cancellation on most spaces.
What equipment should a good conference room have?
Look for a large screen or projector, a decent camera and microphone for hybrid calls, reliable wifi, a whiteboard, and comfortable seating for your group. Ventilation and natural light make a longer session far more bearable.
Can I book a conference room for just one hour?
Yes. Most conference rooms on Wezoo are priced per hour with a minimum booking of one hour, so you can hire a room for a single meeting without committing to a day or a lease.
Sources on UK workplace trends: Office for National Statistics and the British Council for Offices.
