Hospitality groups blur the lines between workspace and hotel
Hot-desking hots up as hospitality groups, from Soho House to The Hoxton, open dedicated spaces for the peripatetic creative
As professional life has, for many, been transformed into a precarious portfolio of short-term contracts and side-hustles, so the flocks of peripatetic keyboard-peckers - gathering in cafés, certain hotel lobbies and members' clubs - have grown larger. Even as properly kitted-out co-working spaces have appeared and multiplied (there is now an estimated 521 million sq ft of 'flexible workspace' around the world, valued at around $26bn) many of the long-established hotel screen guilds and members'-club laptop collectives have decided they are quite happy where they are. The hospitality giants are now moving to leverage that legacy and make revenue-generating moves into the co-working market.
The London-based global members' club chain Soho House has long been a de facto co-working spot. It first created a distinct business for 'digital nomads' in 2015, launching a 16,000 sq ft space below Shoreditch House in east London. In many ways, Soho Works raised the bar on co-working design, with retro phone booths and private offices. There was also a photo studio and post- production facility and even a tooled-up workshop, recognising that not all modern creatives did everything on a laptop. It has also, according to the group's founder and CEO Nick Jones, made money.
