By Mohammed Rashad Hussain, Managing PartnerPublished 3 min read
Why is transport part of your duty of care at staff parties?
When the company hosts the evening, the company is the reason people are out late. The federal traffic law in force since 29 March 2025 lists driving under the influence among its violations. A guest who drives home after a party takes a serious legal risk.
The simplest answer is to take driving off the table: shuttles to the main residential areas and cars for everyone else. The broader duty-of-care checks are in our duty of care checklist.
Where do Dubai office parties happen?
The venue decides the transport plan.
- Hotel ballrooms in Downtown, Business Bay or Sheikh Zayed Road have a forecourt and a staffed drop-off, so coaches can queue in turn.
- JBR beach clubs have limited kerb space on the Walk side. Agree a pickup point on the Bluewaters or Marina side and send a map.
- Desert camps are a longer drive and have one road in and out, so all vehicles leave in a wave.
- Dubai Harbour venues sit between Palm Jumeirah and Marina, with a single approach road that jams at closing time.
The drop-off plan: residential hubs or door to door?
Collect home areas with the RSVPs, then group them. A typical split is Marina and JLT, Business Bay and Downtown, Al Barsha and the Greens, with a fourth route for Sharjah or Abu Dhabi guests if there are enough of them.
Hubs work for most of the room. Door to door works for leadership, guests with mobility needs and anyone going somewhere far from the hubs.
Vehicle mix and timings
| Guests | Shuttles | On-call cars |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | One 22-seat Coaster or 19-seat Sprinter | 1 |
| 100 | Three 35-seat coaches, or one 50-seat plus two 22-seat vehicles | 2 or 3 |
| 250 | Five 50-seat coaches | 4 to 6 |
For a coach, we go to our partners and check availability for your date. Our minibus and bus pages list the sizes, and the how many vehicles guide explains the sums. For cars with a driver for the senior team, see our limousine service.
For a party-bus style arrival with a stretch limo, read the party bus and stretch limo guide. If guests prefer a driver for their own car, see safe driver vs chauffeur.
How do you brief guests on pickup points and the last departure?
Send one message the day before: the pickup point as a pin, the departure times for each route, the last-shuttle time and one WhatsApp number. Put the same information on a sign at the venue exit.
Number the vehicles and tell guests their number when they leave the room. A dispatcher with a printed guest list at the door stops two coaches heading to the same hub while another stands empty.
Late guests and lost property
Keep one vehicle back for 30 to 45 minutes after the last departure. Guests who stay on for a final conversation then still have a ride. Drivers check the vehicle at the end of each run, and found items go to the dispatcher.
Organiser checklist
- Count guests and collect home areas with the RSVP.
- Confirm the venue’s closing time and where vehicles may stop.
- Book shuttles per hub and cars for senior guests.
- Send the pickup pin and last-departure time the day before.
- Put a dispatcher with a guest list at the exit.
- Keep one vehicle on standby after the last departure.
If the same company also runs an incentive trip, see the incentive trip plan. Companies that book regularly can ask about a corporate account, and the hub page for the whole topic is the corporate ground transport guide.
Photos in this guide
Dubai Marina at night from a high floor, with the lit promenade curving along the waterGfilip / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Burj Al Arab seen from the canals of Souk Madinat JumeirahRenek78 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Palm trees, palm-frond huts and clay pots along a sandy path at a desert camp in the dunes of DubaiBalou46 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
A white high-roof Mercedes-Benz Sprinter minibus with tinted passenger windowsEthan Llamas / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
