What Is Office Hoteling and How Can It Help Your Business?

Office hoteling, also known as hot desking, is the practice of booking office space and services rather than allocating employees a regular workplace or office.

The idea came from EY’s Chicago headquarters and was made practical by breakthroughs in communication and technology. It has grown in prominence in business settings during the last two decades. Employees at EY who spend their working hours on the road or telecommuting from home would contact the ‘office concierge’ to reserve a workstation, office, or conference space as needed.

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This method of office space management has gained traction across several important businesses. Companies with substantial corporate campuses, such as IBM, Google, and Procter & Gamble, have been using this strategy for some years and have seen the following benefits:

Office Square Footage Cost Savings

One of the most significant advantages of office hoteling, according to EY, is the great potential for savings in real estate expenditures, with the group claiming yearly savings of more than $47 million.

Companies may allow for headcount expansion without investing in extra office space since employees are not confined to a particular workplace or expect to spend eight hours in the office every day.

More Office Resources for Everyone

When offices transition to hot desking, they also free up office resources. Sun Microsystems investigated employee attendance at its Santa Clara, California, workplace. They discovered that at least half of the employees were off-site or working from home the bulk of the time. This indicates that around half of the office resources could be accessible to the remainder of the workforce and visiting personnel after office hoteling.

Furthermore, you can reduce the general resource expenses in-office hoteling environments since you do not require administration personnel to spend as much on random things such as printer paper and stationery.

Employee Empowerment and Engagement Have Increased

Employees benefit from a flexible work environment and fewer travel expenditures, which increases their productivity and morale.

Simultaneously, including hoteling space into spaces where employees have designated workstations encourages employee engagement. According to Gartner’s research, increasing agility in the workplace leads to increased resiliency.

Productivity and collaboration have increased.

Another advantage of the flexibility of office hoteling is the development of space for enhanced cooperation. Employee cooperation is made simple by the availability of conference rooms and workstations for reservation depending on need. It also allows for individual work for employees who need silence and isolation to concentrate on their projects and responsibilities.

Management of Visitors

The technology that enables workplace hoteling may also provide visitors, visiting consultants, and clients with seamless experiences. Visitors can quickly traverse unfamiliar workplaces thanks to real-time positioning systems.

Indoor navigation technology built into your building allows everyone who uses the area to travel to the boardrooms effortlessly they’ve reserved through your concierge app, as well as swiftly identify bathroom facilities, lunch spaces, and other pertinent points of interest.

Control Mobility and Satellite Offices

For major firms with several corporate campuses and worldwide satellite offices. Office hoteling allows workers to work anywhere in the globe while still having access to the resources they require.

A coherent office experience is critical for traveling consultants and leadership team members to sustain productivity in familiar surroundings. In these cases, office hoteling allows employees to hire a desk or workstation in the closest office.

Capacity Management

One of the available technologies for tracking space usage is location-based sensors, which allow you to monitor the occupancy levels of an area or different seats and transmit availability to app users in real-time. For example,  Desjardins’ employees present the changing degrees of desk pod occupancy per floor straightforwardly and graphically so employees can view space available at a glance and choose where they will be working for the day. Users may also use the app to find out where their pals are in the building. While office hoteling, also known as hot desking, can significantly benefit a business, it may result in financial loss. Decreased productivity, and employee dissatisfaction if executed incorrectly. In this webinar with Desjardins. We look at how corporate mapping and wayfinding systems may boost employee cooperation and efficiency. While providing an enhanced sense of place, resulting in higher retention rates and employer branding.