By Bond Collective Staff
Searching for a way to maximize your team’s productivity? Consider integrating hoteling into your workflow.
The popularity of hoteling has been on the rise lately as businesses of all types and sizes discover its many benefits.
But what exactly is hoteling? And how can your business take advantage of this unique trend?
We discuss those questions and everything else you need to know to make the right decision for your team and your business.
What Is Hoteling?
Hoteling is a seating arrangement wherein an employee reserves a specific desk for several days, weeks, or months. The employee then has exclusive access to that desk for the duration of their booking.
The hoteling seating arrangement gets its name from — and is very much like — the process of reserving a room in a hotel for your exclusive use.
In fact, hoteling and making a reservation in a hotel share many of the same processes and procedures.
For example, when you reserve a hotel room, you can customize the size of the room (single vs. suite), the number of people it will sleep (queen-size bed vs. king-size bed), and how long the room is yours.
The same applies to the hoteling arrangement in your business. Employees can request a single desk, a group of desks together, or even a suite of private offices for a specific period of time.
All of this — both the work seating arrangement and reserving a room in a hotel — is, of course, dependent on what is available when you need it.
If you need three desks two weeks from now and there are only two desks available at that time, you’ll have to decide whether to take what’s available, look somewhere else (in the case of coworking spaces), or try another time frame.
If you’re using this arrangement in your own office space, you’ll have to decide how to move things around to accommodate the needs of your team.
To understand hoteling better, it helps to compare it to other common business seating arrangements. We’ll do that in the next section.
Hoteling Vs. Hot Desking Vs. The Traditional Office Model
The traditional office model hit its stride in the latter half of the twentieth century and revolved around assigning each team member their own workspace (usually a cubicle or small desk) based on what was available on their first day.
Employees worked from these assigned desks until they moved to a different position or department, they left the company, or HR rearranged the furniture.
The shift from the traditional office model to the coworking office model in the early part of the 21st century introduced a new kind of workspace allocation: hot desking.
In hot desking, workspaces are occupied on a first-come, first-served basis. Desks, tables, and chairs have no permanent “owner,” and workers use whatever is available that fits their needs.
Hoteling takes the hot-desking (first-come, first-served) concept and makes it a bit more permanent.
While this may seem like somewhat of a return to the traditional office model, it’s actually very different.
The traditional office model allowed for little variation in an employee’s workspace — their first desk was usually where they remained (sometimes for years) until they were promoted or they left the business.
With hoteling (and hot desking), there is much more opportunity for team members to change places, get a new perspective, and be inspired by the office around them.
At the same time, hoteling offers a slightly more stable option than the open office concept embodied by hot desking.
Benefits Of Hoteling
1) Improved Collaboration
Hoteling allows members of the same team to reserve suitable workspaces in close proximity (often adjacent) to one another.
Working in the same vicinity facilitates teamwork and collaboration while, at the same time, forging bonds between coworkers that survive even after they switch to more distant desks.
This arrangement isn’t always the best option for large teams — a private office or suite would be better in that instance — but groups of two or three can usually set things up so that they can work together in a coworking environment.
2) Control Over Work Environment
One of the main benefits of hoteling is that your team members have more control over their work environment. It allows them to reserve a specific space for any length of time.
So, if they know that they’re going to need two weeks of intense focus to start a project on the right foot, they can reserve a quiet, out-of-the-way desk for that period of time.
They’ll gain a valuable sense of security and stability and not have to worry about where they’re going to sit when they arrive at the office. Their desk will be open and available regardless of the time of day or night they choose to work.
3) Support For Remote Team Members
Remote team members are often neglected when it comes to the office seating arrangement because they normally work from home, a satellite office, or another location.
The lack of an adequate place to set their laptop may deter them from ever coming into the office to work with their team face-to-face. That can harm team unity.
Hoteling allows off-site and distributed team members the opportunity to reserve a desk of their choice when they know they’ll be in the office and makes them feel more like a part of the group.
4) Lower Costs
Modern office spaces require a lot of capital to maintain. Furniture, decor, technology, repairs and maintenance, cleaning — these costs add up quickly and can put a serious dent in your bottom line.
But when you set up hoteling in a coworking space such as Bond Collective, all of the infrastructure and overhead is taken care of for you.
Your team can walk in, find their reserved desks, focus on their work, and then leave for the day.
They don’t have to worry about changing the toner in the copy machine or restocking the snacks in the refrigerator — all for a low monthly fee that is considerably less than you would pay if you maintained your own office.
5) Enhanced Productivity
Productivity is, in large part, about motivation. And motivation can change for better or worse without warning.
Hoteling, whether in a collaborative workspace or your own office building, helps maintain a more positive atmosphere that lends itself well to enhancing your team’s motivation.
Positive atmosphere and motivation of this type can inject new life into your team’s productivity and help them maintain it at high levels for longer.
6) Flexible Workspace
Flexibility — in all aspects — is an essential characteristic of a successful business. That’s especially true when it comes to your team’s workspace.
One month your business is humming along with 14 employees, and the next you suddenly need double that. Then, a few months later, your business could handle even more team members (or it may need to go back to 14).
One of the many nice things about hoteling is the ease with which you can expand or contract your workspace footprint.
Start with 14 in September, expand to space for 28 in November, then continue to expand or contract as necessary from then on.
Hoteling makes upsizing or downsizing easier than ever.
How To Set Up Hoteling For Your Team
The simplest and most cost-effective way to set up hoteling for your team is to partner with a coworking space in your area.
Bond Collective, for example, offers hot desking, hoteling (dedicated desks), conference rooms, and even private offices (or suites) in all of their beautifully decorated work environments.
With Bond Collective, your business will have the space to take on any job, large or small.
Bond Collective also offers industry-leading amenities you can’t get anywhere else, including:
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Lightning-fast WiFi
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Photo and sound studio (Gowanus only)
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Guest reception and greeting
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Regular on-site cleaning
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Mail service
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Complimentary beer, coffee, tea, water, and fresh fruit
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Other food and beverages for sale
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Office showers with towel service
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Bike storage
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Rooftop lounge area
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Mothers’ rooms
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Pet-friendly environments
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Curated and networking events
Whether you’re a solopreneur, an entrepreneur, a digital nomad, a startup, a small business, or a team of 100 or more, Bond Collective can accommodate all your hoteling needs.
Visit any one of Bond Collective’s many locations in the United States, including workspaces in New York, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Illinois, Tennessee, California, and Texas. Or call us today to find out more about everything we have to offer.
And while you’re at it, schedule a tour to experience first-hand how the boutique work environments at Bond Collective can benefit your business.