Boutique Hotels are Reinventing Their Spaces for Coworking — 5 of Our Favorites in Amsterdam

Image source: theavantguardian.com

Hustle Amsterdam is now Hustle Global. 👉👉👉Join us at our new digital home.

Walk into the lobby of any hip urban hotel, and there will be more than a few people typing away on their laptops. Over at the lobby bar, someone may be conducting a conference call, while at the restaurant table there’s an impromptu business meeting. Boutique hotels are the new place for coworking.  

In today’s digitally-driven and globalized world, work is no longer confined to cubicles or 9-5 shifts. Hotels, coffee shops, restaurants, and other public spaces, have often found themselves serving as ad hoc offices for travelers and locals, and hospitality companies have recognized and started to embrace this shift. But will guests pay to use space that has been free until now? 

With this new trend, comes a new opportunity for hotels to stay afloat during a time when the travel industry is taking a huge hit. Hotels that reinvent their space for coworking are trying to offset revenues that I conclude have likely dropped as much as 50% since shutdowns began in March, due to the Coronavirus.

Traditionally, this isn’t something you would expect to find, but more and more hotels are ditching the traditional business model, as they evolve to accommodate a new wave of mobile workers. Not only do these spaces open up to new audiences and the local community, but when charged with a fee, they turn into revenue-generating spaces, and hotels capitalizing on existing unused spaces. By default, having someone working at the hotel for a half or full-day, additionally helps revenues filter to other areas such as restaurants, gift shops, and cafes.

With international travel currently on hold, and many of us barely allowed to leave our homes, many hotels have found themselves struggling to stay afloat, and tapped into the solo remote working trend by renting out guest rooms as private offices. In fact, according to a recent study by Fitch, European hotel occupancy will fall by 60% this year and won’t recover until 2023. 

Personally speaking, as an entrepreneur in the hospitality business that isn't tied to a coworking space (yet) and travels often, hotels have become a second home for me. I work, meet friends, take client meetings, and more from these trendy lounge-type lobbies. Plenty of times, I started my morning workday with breakfast, moved to the restaurant for lunch with a client — whom I unintentionally met while working in these spaces, and closed off the night at the bar, to grab a drink with friends. 

While coworking spaces in hotels may not be a one-size-fits-all, a sense of community is achieved through opening up communal areas and encouraging local residents to use facilities as a central meeting point, blending in with the overnight guests. Many workers had no choice but to adapt to working from home in recent months since offices shut down due to COVID-19. And for many, the lack of structure and boundaries is taking an emotional toll.

Boutique hotels are the first to adopt this new trend, but big chains are not too far behind embracing the idea. People are still trying to wrap their heads around the fact that businesses won't be able to go back to traditional office spaces for a while. The hotel industry, being one of the greatly affected by the pandemic, aside from serving the community, are also exposing themselves in other ways that will allow them to get people inside and some money in other ways, that doesn’t involve an overnight stay.

📧 Subscribe to our newsletter to get more content like this delivered straight to your inbox.

5 Boutique hotels in Amsterdam for your next coworking session

Stylish and relaxed environments with lively meeting places; a new generation of hotels has arrived offering coworking spaces as part of their facilities. Here are our top 5 spaces in Amsterdam worth checking out:

1. The Hoxton

Image source: @thehoxtonhotel

The Hoxton, a go-to for traveling professionals, has mastered the combination of hospitality roots with great amenities to keep people coming back.

Its Amsterdam location has plenty of seats in the lobby and mezzanine, occupied all day by creatives, freelancers, and business people. It’s event space, “The Apartment” has been transformed into coworking space. You can book a hot desk for €25 a day which includes unlimited filter coffee, tea, and 20% off on Lotti’s (its restaurant and bar).

The addition of coworking spaces also attracts the “digital nomads,” which represents the growing group of people who, thanks to the Internet, work remotely at any time anywhere in the world. With the number of coworking members expected to jump to 3.8 million in 2020, it is only natural for hotels to capitalize on this. Coworking spaces in hotels provide an area for hotel guests and locals to gather for work or leisure. The hotel room is no longer the primary product. The workplace is as important as the room, as it offers a central place where the guests have the opportunity to work alone or together.

Additionally, hotels are capitalizing on food & beverage revenues that arise from having these guests half or full days in the hotel. Consumption goes anywhere from a morning coffee to lunch, and sometimes dinner. In fact, some hotels have even created specially discounted menus for day guests, or even offer a flat fee for an all-day buffet-style setup. Hotels see the business case for doing so, by encouraging more traffic to currently defunct food & beverage outposts, while simultaneously encouraging brand awareness.

2. Zoku Amsterdam

Image source: @livezoku

Zoku Amsterdam opened in 2016 with an ambitious goal: to be a home-office hybrid that also incorporates the service of a hotel. Unlike typical workspaces you often find in hotels, its Private WorkLofts are your ideal home-office away from home. For €55 per day, you get free wifi, lunch and hot drinks available, plus plenty of office amenities.

If you’d prefer to stick with the more traditional coworking set up, try WorkZoku, its monthly coworking membership (€175). You’ll join a curated community of international like-minded people, get speedy Wi-Fi, access to the space seven days a week, and enjoy the perks of having a dedicated community manager who will keep you informed about events and other updates.

3. Werkplaats at Volkshotel

Image source: @werkplaats_amsterdam

Werkplaats at Volkshotel recently announced their coworking areas reopened. They target artists, entrepreneurs, and business suits. You are allowed to work in the communal areas and use their tables, chairs, and wifi complimentary. If you need a private space, they have work cabins for a daily fee. Rental periods are flexible, with no long-term commitments. If workers want to stay for the night, it would cost them an additional €75.

The industry has found a new way to advertise their functional and not always used spaces, such as unused rooms, business centers, patios, terraces and meeting spaces that if large enough, can be arranged as one big space with communal tables or set up as individual work stations with plenty of small round tables and chairs. 

📧 Subscribe to our newsletter to get more content like this delivered straight to your inbox.

4. TSH Collab

Image source: @tshcollab

TSH Collab is the friendly and focused coworking concept of The Student Hotel: a global community of ambitious creatives, entrepreneurs, and start-ups changing the world. The Student Hotel in Amsterdam is more than a hotel, it’s a hub for co-living and coworking where travelers, locals, and students get together to learn, stay, work and play. You can choose from flex and dedicated desks, your own office space or meeting rooms for more privacy. They merge student accommodations, hotel rooms, coworking, meetings and events, and an inspiring hospitality concept. All of their hotels are buzzing hubs where people from all walks of life rub shoulders and change ideas — from entrepreneurs, students to guests. 

5. Sir Adam at Sir Hotels 

Image source: @sirhotels

On the first eight floors of Amsterdam Noord’s A’DAM Toren building, sits Sir Adam. The creative locals and visitors are who make The Hub, one of Amsterdam’s favorite destinations. The Hub replaces the traditional lobby, a space for guests to mingle in a coworking concept. Directly below, is The Butcher Social Club, one of the city’s hotspot that also invites guests and locals to work in this cool unconventional space. According to Sir Hotels, boardrooms are bored. Having one of the best city views and plenty of natural light with floor to ceiling windows, you can plug for the day at The Studios or The Deck. 

Hotels as social hubs

The days of the vacant hotel lobby are long gone. Today’s travelers demand more than just a place to sleep, they look for a place to socialize, relax, grab a bite and comfortably work from. 

Modern travelers demand more from the hotel lobby; in fact, many spend more time in the lobby than in their rooms, and with a combination of  guests and locals, lobby’s feel more like a neighborhood coffee shop than an entry to the building. Spaces must be a vibrant, 24/7 revenue-generating space designed for a mix of different uses that can transition from day to night.

Hotel’s are the new public square. Gone are the times when hotels could afford empty lobbies; it now needs to be vibrant all the time.

📧 Subscribe to our newsletter to get more content like this delivered straight to your inbox.