Almost as fast as a Novak Djokovic serve or a Rafael Nadal passing shot. No sooner had Wojo announced a temporary coworking space à Roland GarrosDuring the qualifying rounds of the tournament, the venue was booked up in a matter of hours. In partnership with the competition organisers and the ALL loyalty programme - Accor is its co-owner with Bouygues Immobilier - Wojo converted the tables in the restaurant under the Suzanne-Lenglen court into a work-sharing space, while the Accor lodge was used as a meeting room with the Accor team. view of courts 7 and 9.
Freelancers attracted by this original working environment, professionals wishing to combining professional imperatives with a passion for tennisWith teams alternating between meetings and walks between the courts, the formula has proved popular. And this is not the first time the flexible working specialist has used its close links with All, sponsor of PSG, to set up a temporary coworking space in the Parc des Princes stands in September 2021. As for repeating this type of operation, Wojo is already thinking about it, whether at Roland Garros - " why not be there for the whole tournament".says its CEO, Stéphane Bensimon - or elsewhere.
With 15 sites in France and, more recently, in Barcelona, Spain, Wojo has established itself on the coworking scene since its creation in 2015, and plans to go even further. The evolution of new working habitsThe global economic crisis, accelerated by the pandemic, is set to fundamentally change the way companies approach office property. This opens up a host of opportunities for expanding Wojo's footprint, through its flexible solutions for breaking free from the constraints of 3-6-9 leases, its ability to make use of square metres of office space that are currently unoccupied, and its capacity to fit in with an existing building. a new generation of office buildings where the added value would be in animating the space.
However, in addition to the real estate aspect, business travellers have also noticed that the creation of Wojo areas in Accor hotelsWojo Spots and Wojo Corners are structured and designed to accommodate mobile professionals for a few hours, a whole day or even all year round. At the moment, 400 establishments in France and 150 in Latin America, where the coworking graft started to take hold at Accor before spreading to Europe. " I believed in it straight away when I was boss of the region. Then things started to happen in France.says Patrick Mendès, General Sales Manager of the French group.
" Today, more and more hotels are getting in on the act, transforming either meeting rooms or bedrooms into permanent workspaces leased to companies".says Stéphane Bensimon. While, with the pandemic, the conversion of rooms into offices could be seen as a stopgap measure to compensate for the complete absence of business travel, this solution is playing for time, while the corporate segment has not yet returned to cruising speed. Especially as, if the economic situation were to improve, there would be no difficulty in returning to the original function.
" It's starting to work wellsays Patrick Mendès. We know that it will be some time before we get back to 100% occupancy. "For hoteliers who would like to go one step further for a small investment, Wojo and Accor's design teams have come up with the creation of business cocoons inside a bedroom. " The question then arose: what should we do with the bathroom?says Stéphane Bensimon. The answer is simple: " We've turned it into a phone box! "
Wojo's offer contributes to the life of hotels
The entry into hotels of the working world, and no longer just business travellers, is part of a new trend in the hotel industry. the overall evolution of establishments into places to liveThese are busy places from morning until night, thanks in particular to the local clientele. "The hotel is part of an ecosystem that embraces both guests and neighbours, with attractive bars and restaurants, rooftops and gyms, and now coworking spaces.says Patrick Mendès, underlining the pioneering role played by his group, which made the concept of AccorLocal one of its hobbyhorses a few years ago.
Business travellers may be used to walking through the doors of hotels, but this reflex is not yet natural for everyone. " We're breaking codes".points out Accor's General Sales Manager. In this respect, the rise of teleworking offers a number of advantages a potential windfall of new converts. For example, those who don't want to stay at home and prefer to put their computers up in a hotel for more social life, but also all those "commuters" who find a hotel close to home a practical alternative to long journeys between home and the office. Another potential use: make the hotel an ideal meeting place. " When you're teleworking and you need to meet a customer or colleague, it would be incongruous to have them come to your home. On the other hand, it's perfectly possible to do so in a nearby hotel.says Stéphane Bensimon.
What if, in future, the coworking component was integrated directly into the genesis of hotel projects? In the same way that the trend is towards dual-brand hotel complexes, why not imagine a Wojo-Novotel combo in the future?Wojo-Ibis or Wojo-Pullman? This idea is gaining ground. " We have finalised a scheme with Accor's development teams on what we call mixed-use.says Wojo's CEO. The design of the building itself could very well be two-thirds of the offer in hotels and one-third in office and coworking spaces. "
A common entrance and shared services, teams who can look after teleworkers between the arrival and departure of customers: the formula makes economic sense. " Having very different things in the same hotel - bars and restaurants, coworking and coliving spaces - for very different clienteles, it's this diversity that interests us which makes Accor an innovative group".says Patrick Mendès. The art of moving the lines.
