Work From Hotel: what’s on offer? #WFHotel

What do you need, to work from a hotel comfortably during the day? Everyone has their own comfort needs and wishes.

Let’s take a look at how different brands chose to respond to that with their Work From Hotel offers.

This is a third article in the series of Work From Hotel and today we are looking at what’s on offer. What’s included? What do you need to be included?

Why we need to Work From Hotel

Let’s take a look at why and when we may need to #wfhotel before we look at the benefits offered by our 6 selected brands.

The reasons why you may need to hire a hotel room to work from during the day will vary depending on your demographic and work needs, but here are some reasons that may be:

• You need a quiet space to work from during an important workday.
• You need a break from home to focus on a project.
• You need a change of environment for focus or inspiration.
• You are meeting clients during the day and would prefer a personal space rather than a noisy coffee shop or lobby.
• Or other personal reasons like a need for a break from family, kids, spouses, or even neighbours.

What does one need when working from a hotel?

So now, what does any person that is renting space, specifically to get some work done, need?

Now, in my understanding, I have concluded that these are the 4 most critical needs:

1. Fast and reliable wifi
2. Quiet space
3. Good work station with ergonomic setup and accessible outlets
4. Access to snacks and beverages, coffee and water

(In a short survey of my audience here on LinkedIn, the first point was clearly reiterated.)

Do you expect all of these to be part of the Work From Hotel offer?

What the brands offer

In the previous article, I included 7 brands, including Hyatt’s offer, Work From Hyatt, in the WFH name game. However, I will be excluding their offer for this part of the analysis because it’s not for day-use.

Hyatt requires minimum overnight stays, as they are targeting families to get away on a “working holiday”. Which is a unique niche in comparison to everyone else, something to consider!

The selected brands in this case are:

• Marriott
• Hilton
• Accor
• Mandarin Oriental
• 25 hours
• Radisson

The benefits table:

Accor

Worth noting that the Accor landing page did not have a mention of any benefits other than the ability to earn loyalty points. It’s underwhelming and can be a dealbreaker for potential customers looking for specific needs.

Premium wifi

Every brand highlights in their communication that the wifi you get is not the usual hotel wifi, it is the premium wifi.

A clear necessity here, especially if you have numerous people on video meetings or streaming recordings of webinars. Let’s just hope it’s not just a promise, as poor wifi is a big pain point in hotels.

Workspace

Most of the brands do describe their workspaces as ergonomic in one way or another. It seems to be a given but worth checking with the hotel you’re interested in individually, just in case. Hotel rooms most often aren’t designed for a full day of work so make sure to ask that the chair in an office chair, not a design chair.

Amenities

I personally think that the minimum DIY coffee, tea, and drinking water should be 100% included in the offers. It is possible that it is included in the offers of Marriott, Accor and Mandarin Oriental and just not mentioned on their sites, but I would feel more reassured if it were included.

Time range

All offer a typical booking window for what you expect to replicate the working day, about 8–9 hours.

Hilton stands out with offering a 12 hours availability window, which makes for an appealing differentiator for them. Especially attractive for those working in global teams across the early mornings and late evenings.

Additional benefits:

All brands mention other benefits that they saw fit for the offer, so let’s take a look at them as well. Are they the deal-breakers or differentiators?

Facilities access

Most of the brands offer a type of access to hotel facilities, whether they are business and/or leisure. For big brands like Marriott and Hilton, there is also often an asterisk indicating that hotel-specific differences may apply when it comes to hotel facilities.

5-day offer

I found it very interesting that two brands explicitly proposed 5 day offers, Monday to Friday, for a discounted rate compared to daily rental. They seem to know that some of their guests may benefit more from an extended stay.

What makes them different

From the six branded offers compared, the following things stood out to me the most:

“Bring your pets, we have toilet paper!” from the 25 Hours gets gold stars from me. On brand, with humour and supportive of pet parents. (Which is super important to me as a new pet-parent!)

Radisson, interestingly, is the only brand with an upfront offer on these three things:

• Rent half day for less
• Provide a “Stationery toolbox”
• Secondary screens for conferencing

Now, I’m excited to look at a screen larger my 13’ laptop!

Those kinds of details win over those that are part of multiple loyalty programmes and are looking for the best offer to suit their needs. Unlike Accor, that doesn’t have any benefits listed at all.

Who’s got the best Work From Hotel Offer?

Or in other words, does the offer match with the needs of the guests? Well, it depends on who the guest is and where.

Global vs Local

The challenge with the big global offers is that they must be generic, overarching for all brands. They, therefore, struggle to incorporate room for localisation of guests needs or expectations.

This is the ultimate batter of global brand vs local nuance. Who wins?

Be different or just participate?

Brand positioning has always been about differentiation, about standing out from the competition. Unfortunately, Marriott, Hilton and Accor, and Mandarin Oriental offers do not do that. They look a lot like opportunistic “mee too’s”, that are (rightfully so) trying to catch an opportunity and drive revenue to their hotels.

Personally, 25 Hours offer stands out the most to me right now. Because of their absolutely unique personality and brand positioning maintained through the tone of voice of the offer (apart from the name).

However, if I were a corporate business employee, Radisson would win me over in a heartbeat. They’re providing a solution to my problem, without me thinking about it. Extra screens and no questions asked amenities provided (from stationary to coffee, to the gym) are a no brainer.

What do you think? Which offer stands out the most to you?

One cannot talk about offers without talking about price. What does it cost to rent a hotel room to work from? I’ll look into that in the next article.