By John Arenas | May 12, 2015

Trends in Hospitality: Revving Up Workplace Services

Photo: https://www.lot-ek.com/SPACIOUS-co-working-hotel | LOT-EK Image

The need to satisfy the demands of smaller business groups has prompted leading hotel brands to capitalize on the coworking trend by creating more purpose-built workplace and meeting spaces.

A recent study from New York University’s Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management states that business travelers are looking for something more than the ability to work from their rooms, and that they are also lukewarm to the idea of working from a small, low-impact business center (which is usually full anyway). Several leading hotel brands are taking this idea one step further, by creating more purpose-built workplace and meeting space offerings. Enter coworking. Offering coworking also solves another challenge for hotels: delivering exceptional small meetings. Large business hotels are great at ballroom-sized events, however, they have a tough time delivering much more than sweaty water pitchers and skirted tables to groups of under 25 attendees.   A move toward satisfying the needs of smaller business groups has prompted hospitality brands to offer co-working style amenities, such as media-enabled studios and work-lounges.  More are sure to follow as business travelers increasingly choose to stay at hotels based on the need to maintain momentum while on the road.

Call it “The Next Generation of Office Space,” or “Office 2.0.”  It is the evolving concept of the contemporary office – where some people arrive, work, and leave on a schedule – while others work remotely, and it is changing the traditional work/life paradigm. Put simply, the office is no longer a stagnant destination, but a mobile information environment that travels with the worker and enables full productivity integrated with all aspects of one’s lifestyle.
“Office 2.0” will have an impact that will extend beyond mere work, and weave itself into the fabric of everyday life.

Which hotel has the best workspace?

Coworking as a fully integrated service within hotels is still on its way to market…Asking about favorite hotel workspaces is like asking whether I prefer using a Blackberry or a Treo.  So far, most hotels are still offering the “flip-phones” of workspace, limited features and awkward designs.    But workplaces delivered as a true hospitality service, designed with the sensitivity and style of an iPhone are certainly coming soon. Coworking amenities are the future of the hospitality industry as customer expectations increase.