Hotels Are Attracting Pandemic Remote Workers With Daytime Rates

Supply demand: empty hotel rooms, stir crazy workers from home. JL

 Esther Fung reports in the Wall Street Journal:

With the coronavirus pandemic relentlessly pounding the travel industry, major hotel operators such as Marriott International Inc., Hilton Worldwide and Hyatt Hotels  are dipping their toes into the personal-office business. With many people growing bored of working in isolation at home but unable or reluctant to return to their workplace, hotel rooms offer a change of scenery, a quiet setting and regularly sanitized public spaces. Some hotels are promoting day passes at reduced rates while others offer longer-term packages for seven days or more

Francis Meynard and his wife recently checked into a Hyatt Regency in Huntington Beach, Calif. The oceanfront property features a beach bonfire and poolside cabanas. But the real-estate executive checked in to work.

“It was very efficient,” Mr. Meynard said, noting that he saved more than an hour a day commuting. He would start work at 8 a.m., finish by 5 p.m., breaking for a 45-minute gym session at lunchtime.

He enjoyed this routine so much, he added, “you don’t really feel guilty about working in a resort.”

With the coronavirus pandemic relentlessly pounding the travel industry, major hotel operators such as Marriott International Inc., Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. and Hyatt Hotels Corp. are dipping their toes into the personal-office business. With many people growing bored of working in isolation at home but unable or reluctant to return to their workplace, hotel rooms offer a change of scenery, a quiet setting and regularly sanitized public spaces.

Some hotels are promoting day passes at reduced rates while others offer longer-term packages for seven days or more that waive resort fees or include a complimentary second room for guests’ children.

“The long-term trend of how we fill hotels will likely shift,” said Peggy Fang Roe, global officer of customer experience at Marriott. “We’re seeing increasing leisure travelers, but it’s not 365 days and it’s not going to fill all of our hotels.”

Some smaller hotels and inns overseas, from Germany to Australia, are also pitching their rooms as temporary workspaces.

Makeshift offices are the latest way that hotel owners are trying to boost revenue during their most difficult period in memory, when the collapse in corporate travel has left hotel rooms mostly empty during the week. A number of owners nationwide have already looked at more drastic changes, such as converting their properties to apartments or renting them out as homeless shelters.

Marriott last week launched its new program, allowing loyalty-program members to check in and out between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., with no overnight stay included. This caters to business professionals who are looking for alternatives to working from home but still want to be in their own place at night. The company also reached out to its corporate partners, including those in the technology and consulting industries, to offer this as an amenity to their staff.

After months of working at home with children, pets or loud roommates, some white-collar workers say they are eager for quieter spaces, especially if they have a deadline, an important call or a major presentation.

“I live in Manhattan, so the living space is cramped and noisy,” said Lorenzo Haggiag, a cybersecurity executive who said he is looking to book his first day-pass stay in a Marriott hotel near his Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.

“You can hear the noise from the streets, the sirens from the fire department. The walls in my building are thin. If my neighbor plays the television or music loudly, you could hear that,” said Mr. Haggiag, who lives in a one-bedroom apartment with his girlfriend.

Marriott’s day pass is now available in cities such as Atlanta, Phoenix, Dallas and New York, and some locations abroad. At the Ritz-Carlton in Atlanta, the day pass costs half as much as an overnight stay, said Erwin Schinnerl, the hotel’s general manager. Rates are currently around $135 for a standard guest room and $270 for a suite.

Some smaller-hotel owners said such ‘desks for a day’ promotions help to raise occupancy rates but aren’t a long-term solution since demand is limited to people living nearby.

“These day-rentals are a temporary Band-Aid to an industry that is hemorrhaging,” said Lisa Shalom, whose family owns the Andrew Hotel in New York’s Long Island.

But these programs are still necessary to shift people’s perceptions, hotel executives said. They will recognize that going into hotels is something people can do and be safe, even if they aren’t prepared to stay overnight, said Marlene Poynder, general manager at Conrad New York Downtown. The luxury hotel offers a day-use rate starting at $300 that includes a breakfast and lunch room service and a cocktail at 4 p.m.

“Will this be a huge revenue driver? It may not. But it’s useful to get people used to going out again,” said Ms. Poynder.