What Is Office Hoteling? 8 Benefits for Company Workspace

Now that companies realize how a flexible workplace can benefit them, they are starting to transition into these work arrangements. While there may be comfort in having a permanent seat in the office, data doesn’t always agree.

If your employees only occupy half of the office each day on average, it isn’t worth it to have them dispersed all over the workplace. They could be working where they want, and besides the coworkers they want. Many companies wonder if it is necessary to invest in more office space for their growing company, but it’s significantly unlikely.

With flexible workplace management such as office hoteling, you can make genuine use of your office space. It allows your employees to be more productive and to work more freely and comfortably. This article explains what a hoteling office space entails, eight benefits it can provide to your company, and the best ways to implement this flexible work arrangement.

What Is a Hoteling Office Space and Model?

A hoteling office model is a flexible work arrangement. In it, your company’s workspaces, such as desks, cubicles, offices, and meeting rooms, are available for your employees to claim or reserve before they come into the office and during the workday. It’s an alternate approach to the typical permanently assigned office seating.

With office hoteling solutions, you can give your employees the flexibility and freedom to work in the place they would like whenever they want.

Office Hoteling Vs Hot Desking – What Is the Difference?

Office hoteling and hot desking are terms that people often confuse with each other, and they are frequently and erroneously used interchangeably. The main difference between the two models involves the level of organization and control.

A hoteling office space design entails reserving and checking in to your company’s booking system to access a working space. It works similarly to an actual hotel. Even if the office is currently full of unoccupied desks and workstations, the person coming in has to check in with the system to access their reserved spot.

The system could be a concierge or sophisticated software specifically designed to manage workspaces. Regardless, the crucial aspect of this flexible workspace is that the process is the same for every employee and that there is a standardized record of every desk assignment.

On the other hand, hot desking is a significantly less restrained flexible workspace solution. It’s another alternate method of handling unassigned office seats, but it doesn’t involve reservations.

With this work arrangement, the employee chooses their workspace once they arrive at the office, rather than reserving it ahead of time. Occasionally, a hybrid desk booking system may still require the person to check in before coming into the office, but it is only done to manage its capacity.

It’s easy to see the similarities in their concepts, but their difference lies in how employees access their workspaces. Usually, companies that want better control over their office space opt for office hoteling solutions, while those who don’t worry about their office’s capacity and want a more casual environment take up hot desking.

Both office hoteling and hot desking are valid work arrangements that companies are now considering more than ever as part of their return-to-work strategies. They are efficient models that let employees who work from anywhere have an easier transition back into the office, and they might become the new norm in the future.

Why Should Your Company Adopt Office Hoteling?

Office hoteling practice brings numerous advantages to both employees and the company. If you want your organization to bring in and retain a talented workforce while staying ahead of its competition, adopting this flexible work arrangement might be of interest to you. Here are eight benefits that a hoteling office space design can offer to your company:

1. Improves and Supports the Remote Working Experience

A hoteling office space encourages employees who mainly work remotely to visit the office workplace every now and then. It manages to get them into the office, letting them socialize face-to-face with their coworkers and management while taking the proper measures. The employees can also spend time immersing themselves in their company’s environment.

On the other hand, for employees who primarily spend their time at the workplace, adopting this flexible work arrangement can make it easier for them to start working remotely. For these reasons, hoteling can be significantly advantageous for companies who already employed a hybrid workforce.

2. Encourages Teamwork and Collaboration

When the office’s space and resources are available to every employee as they need it, instead of being allocated based on rank, employees feel more willing to collaborate with their coworkers. It enables a natural team mentality to develop organically over time.

Not every employee needs to use the same workstation to reach their maximum productivity level. Some would prefer to work in a quiet and independent space, while others might perform best in a group setting or among the bustle and energy that an open office has.

Employees might even prefer to switch between the two based on the task they are doing at the moment. With office hoteling, a company can provide their workers with the freedom to choose.

3. Optimizes Your Office Space Management

It isn’t necessary to assign a permanent desk to an employee who works most of the time from home or on the road. Hoteling can remove unnecessary workspaces and enable the company to lower the square footage required to support its staff.

An organization can reconfigure its space to better support its workflow and collaboration of every employee on-site by getting down to the fundamentals. It does this while accommodating the needs of employees with a hybrid work schedule as they occasionally require to spend time in the office.

4. Increases Morale

Office hoteling solutions can provide an opportunity for a company’s employees to influence how their workplace’s open space is laid out. Their input can help improve the space to make it run best, making them feel that their contributions are significant and improving their morale.

Engaged employees can begin to foster loyalty towards a company if they believe they are working towards a unified goal, leading to a possible increase in productivity and team collaboration.

5. Lowers Overhead

One of the primary benefits of a hoteling office space design is the financial savings it can provide. If a company reduces its square footage, it can lower its energy consumption, rent, and utility costs. The less money an organization spends on these costs, the more it can invest in growing its business.

When employees are neither tied to a single desk nor required to spend eight hours every day in the office, a company can also increase its headcount without investing in extra office space.

6. Ensures Equal Access to Office Resources

A hoteling office space levels every employee’s playing field and provides the managers and supervisors with more control over office equipment, workspaces, and other resources. It lets management ensure that every employee has fair access to the things they need when they need them.

For example, if a team needs to meet up the next day to plan out a project, they can reserve a meeting room or several workstations close to each other. With office hoteling, employees can’t pile up office equipment and supplies in their workspace, and every coworkers’ time is as valuable as the others.

7. Improves Guest Managing

Several technologies that enable office hoteling can create an excellent experience for guests, clients, and visiting consultants. As the managing system and office hoteling software or concierge has a standardized record of every desk assignment, it’s easy to guide visitors to the place they wish to go. Some systems with real-time location tracking can even allow guests to navigate an unfamiliar workplace by themselves.

8. Makes It Easier to Manage Satellite Offices

Large organizations with numerous global satellite offices and corporate campuses can find office hoteling solutions incredibly beneficial. This flexible work arrangement can give employees the ability to work worldwide, accessing any resource they require without being bound to a single city.

Traveling consultants and management team members require a consistent experience across offices as it lets them maintain high productivity thanks to the environment’s familiarity. A hoteling office space allows employees to book a desk or workstation in the office nearest to them, letting them make full use of their company’s premises.

Office Hoteling – Best Practices to Implement

While office hoteling best practices can provide numerous benefits to your company, it still requires a good approach. It would be best to consider several things before implementing this arrangement, such as your worker’s expectations and needed policy changes. Here are some of the best practices you can implement to get your company started on the right foot.

Ensure Employees Are Onboard

Change is always a challenging process, and implementing office hoteling isn’t any different. Before adopting this model, it’s essential to create a thorough game plan to ensure a swift transition to this new flexible work arrangement.

You can start by explaining to your employees how they can benefit from hoteling. Let them know that it gives them more flexibility, freedom, and an overall better experience that lets them be more productive and efficient at their job.

Remember to consider the expectations most of them may have and find agreeable employees who can advocate and spread hoteling information.

Set Communication Standards and Document the Policy

Don’t forget about communicating with your employees throughout the transition. It’s essential to let them know of every detail related to a hoteling office space design and the policies your company is implementing. Communication and information need to be clear and open.

Doing this ahead of time can ensure that your company can implement the change to office hoteling seamlessly. Setting good communication standards can also help you avoid a barrage of questions.

Offer a Variety of Workspaces

To create a good hoteling office space design, you need to have various workspaces that let each employee find the place that works best for them, either for a specific day or project.

Some employees might need a closed-door option to make important calls. Others might want a more engaging space to collaborate with their coworkers and spark their creativity and innovation. You can even create rooms where employees can relax for a bit and chat.

It’s also useful to create storage spaces to store employee belongings, as they don’t have permanent workspaces anymore. Using ergonomic furniture is also advisable because office standing desks and office ergonomic chairs can significantly improve every worker’s well-being and productivity.

Make It Easy to Clean Workspaces

It’s vital to have a clean desk policy to ensure your employees keep the workspaces clean and available for the next person. Remember that implementing office hoteling solutions is a significant change for most, so your employees might require reminding to prevent them from leaving their things behind.

Having a to-do list with tasks, such as throwing away trash, wipe down the desk, remembering to pick up your things, etc., and keeping cleaning supplies at hand can help keep workspaces clean by the end of the workday.

Use Cloud Storage

Making it easy for everyone to access documents from anyone and anywhere is one of the office hoteling best practices. With cloud storage, your team can keep working on the same project without being in the same room. It also makes it effortless for your employees to collaborate wherever they may be.

Implement a Reservation Software

Investing in desk reservation software and implementing it makes reserving a workspace a seamless process. Reservation software is generally intuitive and easy to use, and you can often integrate it with other widely used tools. Other crucial features like having a mobile version and analytics can be helpful to both your employees and yourself.

Improve Your Company with Hoteling

Office hoteling offers your employees significantly more flexibility and freedom while sparing them the frustration of rushing to find a workspace and creates a productive work environment. Workers can book an adequate room in advance and get every proper resource needed to perform their jobs efficiently. It’s an ideal workplace model for both a flexible and hybrid workforce.