Coworking and hotels: a third way between home and office...

Return to the office or stay at home? Between these two options, some choose... not to choose. That's where all those third places which have flourished in recent years with the rise of the coworking. After all, teleworking does not mean home officeAnd a number of players in the business travel and meetings sector are planning to take full advantage. "An employee will be much safer in a place where that's the job, whether it's a WeWork, a Wojo or a Deskeo. But employees don't always have the right chair or lighting at home... Teleworking from home is physically damaging. The stakes are human"The idea is simple: offer employees a suitable infrastructure with reduced commuting times. The idea is simple: to offer employees a suitable infrastructure with reduced commuting times.

This is also what Regus offers with its Stop & Work package, for example. Objective: " be an alternative to working from home, with third-party sites set up not in business districts, but in residential towns such as Fontainebleau, Bourg-La-Reine or Maisons-Laffitte, to enable people to work as close to home as possible" as the recently summed up Christophe Burckart, Managing Director France of IWG.

Coworking companies are not the only ones targeting this clientele. The hotels for several years now have been designed as places to live and work, welcoming not only frequent travellers but also the local population. And the spread of teleworking should accelerate this trend. The fall in occupancy rates during the health crisis has also prompted many establishments to convert their bedrooms into offices. And the territorial coverage of the major hotel groups meets the need for proximity expected of third-party venues.

"Teleworking is a godsend for us"even Sébastien Bazin last January on Europe 1. At the time, the head of the Accor group explained: "The hotel rooms, lobbies, bars and meeting rooms will allow us to finally welcome tens of millions of people around the world, many of whom come back to headquarters two or three times a week, but save the 90-minute journey for the rest of the week, and yet don't want to stay at home. We're finally going to be able to do something I love: welcome people who are close to our hotels. People who need to work ten, fifteen minutes away on foot or by bike can come to one of the Accor group brands and benefit from all the facilities, wifi, etc. That's what we're all about. That's what we do: whether we're welcoming a foreign guest, or someone from another city, or someone from the next street, they're just as welcome as someone from a very long way away.".

Like Accor with Wojo or Mama Worksthe hotel industry didn't wait for the crisis to strike before to assert its ambitions in the coworking. But recent upheavals have prompted the major groups to step up the pace of diversification, and rethink their offering so that they can welcome professionals within their walls. At the height of the crisis Work from Anywhere packages from Marriottthe brand my WO at Best Western have illustrated the ability - and the need - for hoteliers to open up to new horizons, going beyond just providing accommodation for travellers. More recently, Hilton has also entered the fray with the launch of WorkSpaces in Europe. Surfing on the wave of digital nomadism, this trend has even been tinged with bleisure with players such as Barrierwith "teleworking escapades in Deauville, La Baule and Dinard, or the new "The Great Relocate" recently unveiled by Hyatt for holidays combining teleworking and a change of scenery over a period of one month, or more if you feel like it...