Is the sharing of office and hotel spaces the latest ‘it’ thing in commercial real estate? 

Recently, this trend has been gaining momentum within the CRE world as these two unlikely sectors are coming together and creating something new. The marriage of office and hotels is definitely something for CRE pros to keep their eyes on. 

What’s Driving the Trend 

Commercial real estate has been undergoing constant adaptations to keep up with the changing global business arena. 

New trends are rising to the surface and fueling massive evolutions within the industry. Never before seen strategies are guiding the new approach to CRE, and it’s sparking the interest of professionals in the field who are looking to get ahead in 2020. 

One such example is the marriage of office and hotel spaces. These two commercial sectors aren’t as different as they were previously thought to be, and they’re coming together to create a module full of potential for world-wide CRE.

In 2019, the office and hotel sectors underwent their own transformations to attain modernity, market appeal, and greater success. The conventional workspace and hospitality setups broadened to achieve a holistic and integrated solution to the intensifying pressures weighing down on CRE as a whole. 

Thanks to innovations in communication and transportation technologies, the world isn’t what it used to be. Today’s workforce is more mobilzied than ever before, with data experts anticipating the mobile workforce population to grow to a whopping 104.5 million by the end of this year. 

This means that less business is taking place behind a desk and more work is happening out in the world. And, as business moves towards a globalized platform, traveling for the job is the new norm - making hotels a prime spot for getting work done.

Resultantly, the professional scene is extending into hotel areas such as restaurants, lounges, and lobbies - and their presence wasn’t ignored. Savvy CRE professionals saw the opportunity to create greater workspace infrastructures on hotel properties. 

Analyzing the Duo: Why the Hotel-Office Merge Works 

The collaboration of office and hotel spaces not only makes sense, but it’s fulfilling a previously unmet need in the contemporary market. It’s taking the co-working and flex-space module to an entirely new level of accessibility, diversity, and opportunity.

In addition, the rising lifestyle-office trend revolves around amenities, and what commercial space offers building users more amenities than a hotel? Modern hotels are also hubs for tech innovations and connectivity. 5G, IoT, and Smart Technologies are sought-after workplace features that hotels are already abundant in. 

Not only do hotels offer workspaces the tools they need to succeed, but they also provide luxury atmospheric areas fit for every aspect of the job - including recreation. Everyone needs to wind down after a long day’s work, so team members and mobile workers can seamlessly transition from task-to-task within this new hospitality-office environment. 

Keep up with the latest in office-hotel integrations. Here are 3 more things to watch: 

• Keep an eye out for big metros that are hubs for business, technology, and lifestyle perks. 
• Amenities are everything, so look out for untapped property features that can elevate your development. 
• When working with office or hotel clients looking to get an edge on the market, consider talking to them about office-hotel merging. 

For more on the evolving CRE industry, explore the RealNex blog.