{"id":1004314490,"date":"2019-04-08T06:23:20","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T14:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004314490"},"modified":"2019-04-09T10:44:40","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T18:44:40","slug":"coworking-checking-into-hotels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/coworking-checking-into-hotels\/","title":{"rendered":"Coworking Checks Into Hotels"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Sheraton showcased the brand\u2019s future vision for its public lobby spaces and “community table” concept at a pop-up display in New York.  Image courtesy of Marriott International <\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

What was once merely incidental\u2015people working with their laptops in hotel lobbies\u2015is increasingly becoming intentional as more and more hotel brands encourage non-guests to use the hotels\u2019 public spaces as work places.<\/p>\n

In other words, the hospitality industry could be starting to capture a minute slice of the burgeoning coworking business. It\u2019s a trend that in some ways still an experiment: deeper than a mere marketing ploy but not yet a significant revenue stream.<\/p>\n

Hotel companies, end-users and hospitality consultants agree that it\u2019s a neat idea, though the question of how\u2019s it going to be paid for remains largely unanswered for now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is generally still a very early-stage concept,\u201d said Lauro Ferroni, JLL\u2019s director of capital markets research. \u201cIt has the potential of becoming a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n

B<\/strong>eing together by yourself<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Moxy Hotels, Hoxton, Ace and Virgin are among the brands that are offering coworking services or spaces at their properties.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese lobbies are teeming with people working with their headphones on,\u201d said Stacey Nadolny, a managing director and senior partner with hospitality consulting company HVS. <\/p>\n

The working style, she added, embodies the generational culture of \u201cbeing together by yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Stacey Nadolny, Managing Director and Senior Partner, HVS.  Image courtesy of HVS<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Nadolny also reports that numerous other hotel developers are curious about coworking spaces and services.<\/p>\n

The target customer for hotel-based coworking, according to Ferroni, is someone with a need to work flexibly\u2015someone for whom a crowded noisy coffee shop is not ideal.<\/p>\n

Though hotels currently are targeting local independent workers, he said, JLL thinks there are broader opportunities to attract customers. Coworking spaces could be used, for example, for interviewing job candidates in a city distant from a company\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe target customer base can vary considerably,\u201d said Scott Homa, senior vice president and director of U.S. office research at JLL. \u201cSome hotels have open membership policies, while others have an application process and are more selective. For example, D.C.-based Eaton House\u2019s coworking center, Eaton Workshop, seeks creative professionals with a focus in arts and culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an indication of how much the topic is trending, Homa recently moderated a panel on coworking in hotels at the America\u2019s Lodging Investment Summit in Los Angeles in late January.<\/p>\n

Coworking space can also be an amenity encouraging guests to stay in the hotel to work, said Lionel Sussman, vice president of global design strategies for Marriott International. For example, after checking out, a guest could work at the hotel for a while rather than immediately heading to the airport and trying to work there.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in it for hotels?  <\/strong><\/h2>\n

So far, many hotels that encourage coworking seem to be satisfied with the incremental benefits, such as the extra energy it provides and a little extra revenue from food, beverage and parking. And, of course, Homa said, it builds \u201ca sense of goodwill in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coworking centers within hotels, he continued, \u201care actively trying to appeal to the local community, who will spend more time there and \u2026 encourage more overnight stays for folks visiting the coworking members.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, a steady, direct revenue stream from coworking would be welcome.<\/p>\n

Hotels have to have a lobby and it\u2019s advantageous to have \u201can activated lobby,\u201d Nadolny said. But, she added that hotels are expensive to build and maintain and, ultimately, they need an adequate return on their space.<\/p>\n

As a result Nadolny said \u201csome hotels are moving toward a paid model.\u201d Ferroni suggested that a membership model could be tied to a hotel\u2019s loyalty program.<\/p>\n

Marriott is currently working on a payment model for coworking. \u201cWe\u2019re still trying to figure that out,\u201d said Sussman. What is ultimately decided, he explained, could depend in part on the physical layout of the space and might be free for rewards members.<\/p>\n

Pros and cons for mobile workers <\/strong><\/h2>\n

But what does hotel coworking offer that typical coworking in an office building does not? How do the two compare?<\/p>\n

\u201cCoworking is very expensive\u201d in its usual settings, Nadolny said, and perhaps hotel coworking offers a way around that, at least for some users. Potential downsides to working in hotels, she added, include no guaranteed access to a work space, less access to printers and no secured spaces (such as lockers) for temporary storage of valuables.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Lionel Sussman, Vice President of Global Design Strategies, Marriott International. Image courtesy of Marriott International<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI used to work out of the Ace Hotel lobby in Manhattan, as it was essentially de facto coworking space,\u201d said Patrice Poltzer, owner of a video creative agency in New York.<\/p>\n

For Poltzer, the pros included the fact that it was free, the access to food and drink, adequate furniture and lighting, and great people watching. The cons were that it was pricey to eat and drink there every day, there weren\u2019t enough outlets, and it could get crowded at times. \u201c(And) you started to feel weird that you were in a hotel lobby all day.,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n

The evolution of Poltzer\u2019s own work situation hints at the fluidity behind mobile working. She has since joined Dumbo House, which touts itself as \u201ca members\u2019 club for Brooklyn\u2019s creative community\u201d and is part of the international Soho House organization founded in London in 1995 for people in the film, media and creative industries.<\/p>\n

The design side <\/strong><\/h2>\n

If hotels are going to embrace coworking, especially under some kind of paid model, how will that affect the design of those spaces?<\/p>\n

A Hoxton spokesperson told CPE<\/em> that the company will be opening coworking spaces in their Chicago and Southwark (London) properties later this year but was unable to provide details.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Lauro Ferroni, Director of Capital Markets Research, JLL.  Image courtesy of JLL<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

It will be important to strike a balance between \u201clively\u201d and too noisy, Ferroni said, but he added that hospitality companies have decades of practice in creating those experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe communal public space in the Moxy lobbies are broken up by zones\u2015from very active at the bar to a more calm library area\u2015giving travelers a choice for work or play,\u201d says Toni Stoeckl, global brand leader for Moxy Hotels.<\/p>\n

Marriott acquired Starwood about three years ago, and Sussman explains that the effort to reposition Sheraton includes coworking. The goal there, he says, is to create spaces that users would reserve and possibly pay for.<\/p>\n

To that end, he continues, \u201cWe are creating spaces that are more fluid and layered.\u201d<\/p>\n

One component is the \u201ccommunity table\u201d seating six or eight, or perhaps larger, with lockable drawers for laptops. Under current plans, nearby would be a phone booth with a seat (but nothing too comfortable, lest someone monopolize the space).<\/p>\n

Adjacent to the table would be a \u201cstudio:\u201d a small meeting room that could be subdivided and would feature screens and wi-fi. Given a \u201cresidential look and feel,\u201d Sussman explained, it could also be used as a private dining room.<\/p>\n

In parallel with the physical layout would be a new food and beverage philosophy of \u201cwork food.\u201d This approach, Sussman said, involves premium items, nothing too casual, and definitely not bar food.<\/p>\n

Despite all this effort, Sussman cautions, attracting locals through coworking opportunities remains a very secondary priority, especially in smaller markets. \u201cWe\u2019re designing our hotel lobbies for our hotel guests,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not trying to be WeWork.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most hotels, Nadolny noted, don\u2019t have much in the way of unused space that could be dedicated to coworking.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see some experiments out there,\u201d Ferroni said. \u201cTime will tell.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Multiple hospitality brands are exploring how shared work spaces might strengthen community ties and bring in additional revenue. Why not? Many lobbies are already de facto offices. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":882,"featured_media":1004314493,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21808,21751,23891],"tags":[34816,44006,32802,45119],"class_list":["post-1004314490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-hotel","category-national","tag-hvs-global-hospitality-services","tag-jll-capital-markets","tag-marriott-international","tag-moxy-hotels"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCoworking Checks Into Hotels - Commercial Property Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/coworking-checking-into-hotels\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Coworking Checks Into Hotels\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Multiple hospitality brands are exploring how shared work spaces might strengthen community ties and bring in additional revenue. 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