Welcome to "your world"?
A good venue can substantively increase the parties' chances of getting - and keeping - a mediation on track.
But what if the host's welcome falls well short of the venue's facilities? Consigning one party to a 'room' which bears more than a passing resemblance to a broom cupboard is unlikely to put that party in an open frame of mind: and the temperature may plummet further, if the party sees a procession of trolleys laden with food being wheeled into every other room.
Where one party is hosting a mediation, remembering to 'put the kettle on' for all the parties goes with the territory.