Work, rest and play

Hotels are adapting to make the most of the remote working trend, providing flexible workspaces and setting up co-working venues to meet demand

- HANNAH BRANDLER

Laptops, tablets and scuffed notepads are dotted across a communal table, behind which people of various ages, professions and nationalities get on with their days work, some engaging in stimulating conversations with surrogate colleagues while others are laser-focused on the task at hand, their ear buds blocking out background noise. It's a scene remote workers will be familiar with the only difference is that you're sitting a couple metres from people checking in and out.

In recent years, hotel brands have capitalised on the growth in remote and hybrid working, redesigning public spaces to include shared workspaces, converting unoccupied rooms into offices that can be rented by the day (see Our guide to working from hotels, October 2020), or setting up standalone co-working venues. On a personal level, this has made my business travel life a lot easier. Hotel stays now come with comfortable workspaces on my temporary doorstep.

Product of the pandemic

Historically, public spaces in hotels have had little function other than to serve as a reception area. Buzzy in the morning and late afternoon, the lull in between calls for activity - preferably one that generates some revenue.

While savvy remote workers have long used such spaces for work, the recent growth in hybrid work lifestyles owing to the pandemic has undoubtedly increased interest and prompted redesigns of public areas.

"I don't know what's the chicken and the egg in this situation, but for me this trend is to stay. It just might fluctuate a bit," says Anna Spjuth, chief commercial officer of Nordic hotel group Scandic Hotels.