Hotels Capitalizing On Demand For Premium Coworking

New research by Colliers International, APAC Flexible Workspace Outlook Report for 2019, suggests that hotel operators are capitalizing on greater demand for large, high-end workspaces.

Businesses looking for workplaces that provide specific amenities such as lounge areas, event space, meeting rooms, wellness facilities and cafe areas — which smaller independent operators cannot fulfill — is creating an opening for “disrupters” from the hotel and hospitality sector.

“This trend could see operators disrupted as providers of these services, as we observe that few can deliver a full range of amenities at this stage. This leaves an opportunity for hotel/hospitality operators to step in to fill the market opportunity given the model is essentially akin to transferring hotel concierge services into commercial real estate,” the report says.

The report notes increasing demand across the Asia Pacific region for “premium” flexible workspace and coworking with a high level of amenities.

According to Brad Krauskopf of Hub Australia, coworking brands are already pitching their services as a hospitality offering in order to differentiate themselves from market entrants, and each other.

“Coworking has evolved to become a hospitality industry and we’re all offering different levels of service, servicing different businesses and different industries, and priced differently,” he said.