Hotels look to capture ‘Work from Home’ segment

Chennai hotels are offering packages for professionals who require a space to work in, with a number of offers

August 31, 2020 01:08 pm | Updated 01:08 pm IST - CHENNAI

Opened door of hotel room with key in the lock

Opened door of hotel room with key in the lock

With board room space, rooms, laptops and desktops, workspace and internet availability, hotels in the city are looking to capture the ‘Work From Home’ (WFH) segment.

“Companies, start-ups and even individuals are looking at this option, especially since they don’t need to invest in any infrastructure to start an office. If it is in a hotel, they can utilise the phones, front office space and need not put in any deposit. There is no maintenance cost either,” said Shabin Sarvotham of the GRT Group that has offered the ‘work from hotel’ option at its several locations.

An industry expert said that hotels had to try something new and innovative in order to survive in a scenario where everything has changed. “Hotels have people and infrastructure, and want to utilise that. They also are providing customisation according to the needs of the customers,” he said.

The prices range between ₹3,000 to ₹5,000 per day, depending on the hotel. Hotels including ITC Grand Chola, Ibis and Turya are some of those offering this facility to customers.

At hotel ITC Grand Chola, guests can sign into a room for 12 hours and work using their complimentary wi-fi. They also get to use the hotel’s boardroom. “Many times, people are used to working at a proper desk. There are also people who need to put in a certain number of hours at work. Such people, who need a quiet environment to work, can use this option,” said a spokesperson for ITC.

Guests, who want to work from Turya on Rajiv Gandhi Salai can do so with a flexible check in/out arrangement. Tea/coffee and two meals can be ordered as part of the package.

After the government permitted companies to function, several companies in Oragadam, Sriperumbudur and Cheyyar had taken space in hotels for their executives to work comfortably. “I stayed at the GRT hotel in Vellore and they followed all safety protocols. I was not very comfortable working from home since there are too many distractions. Here we could coordinate with colleagues easily,” said a company representative, who did not want to be named.

Ibis, recently launched their co-working offering -- Work@ibis, which is available across all 19 Ibis hotels in 13 cities in India. The co-working space at the hotel features ready-to-move-in workspaces, meeting and conference rooms and office lounges.

Sylvain Laroche, Director of Operations, Ibis and Ibis Styles India, said, “With Work@ibis, we have taken one step further to cater to the needs of our guests and customers. The offering focuses on providing the flexibility of a co-working space as well as access to all the services and amenities in a hotel that adds to your comfort. The team at ibis Chennai City Centre has started receiving queries from consultants, top MNC executives while the other two hotels in Chennai – ibis Chennai SIPCOT and ibis Chennai OMR, are also receiving positive response from companies that are looking for flexible workspaces for their teams.”

The concept of co-working is not new in hospitality, and it is common to see hotel lobbies integrating work corners and semi-isolated spaces in their design structure.

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