Over the past six months, Make and Gleeds have been discussing the potential fusion of the hotel and office sectors in different forms – for example, hospitality lobbies in office buildings or co-working floors in hotels. The discussion culminated in a roundtable with industry experts from CO–RE, Google, Accor and more. The aim of the roundtable was to explore the ways workplace and hospitality can benefit one another.
We discussed changing approaches towards digital products in the workplace, as well as shifts in internal working practices since the normalisation of working from home. While the pandemic has accelerated some of these trends, it’s also given us a blank canvas to develop for future workspaces.
The roundtable kicked off with an inspiring presentation by creative strategist Philippa Wagner, who talked through the ample crossover opportunities between workplace and hospitality. During the discussions that followed, the biggest question to emerge was how we can use an unexpected global shake-up to take a step back and rebuild the way we work to suit everybody, at any time.
Following a disruption of this scale, now is the time to reconsider the world we’re creating. Is the typical nine-to-five still fit for purpose? Often it doesn’t take advantage of modern technology. Nor does corporate travel, which now seems outdated and unnecessary from both an environmental and practicality perspective. With the climate crisis at its peak, it was crucial for us to keep environmental protection at the core of our conversations.
Here are some of our findings, which we’ve divided into three categories: what workplaces can learn from hospitality venues, how the sectors can blend, and how generational shifts are shaping the workplaces of the future.