A rendering of the renovated lobby area of the Sheraton Denver West Hotel .
DESIGN
Remote
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AS WORK-FROM- ANYWHERE ENTERS A NEW SPASM OF EVOLUTION , HOTELS ARE BECOMING BONA FIDE CENTERS OF BUSINESS .
Contributed by DEREK HERSCOVICI
When future generations look back at the era of traditional workplace culture , they may look at it in the same way we now view factories at the onset of the Industrial Revolution : changed or obsolete .
Long , inflexible hours spent hunched over stationary desks , possibly in windowless cubicles . Commuting twice a day in code-mandated business attire . A single communal coffeepot . The accursed fluorescent lighting .
At the dawn of the remote work era , “ co-working spaces ,” such as those operated by WeWork , promised a different kind of office experience . But the fatal flaw of these shared-office models — one only exacerbated by the pandemic — was that , if given the opportunity to work anywhere , at any time , most would not choose another office space .
This was already true of WeWork even before the pandemic , which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year after overspending on leasing .
What now ? Where are hybrid or remote workers choosing to do business ? Increasingly , it ’ s a place with dynamic architecture and lighting , fine dining and drinking available on-demand . Comfortable furniture . It might even have a golf course or a pool . They ’ re going to hotels , and as a result , hotels are reconfiguring their public spaces to accommodate this new entry of business .
For Lisa Haude , SVP and director
86 hotelsmag . com May / June 2024