Abstract:

The article presents an analysis of new opportunities for integrating operations and facilities of coworking spaces with business hotels. Starting with the initial notion of both types of businesses being located at central business areas of cities, and thus, having a quite predictable inclination to complementary activities and cooperative formats as a natural progression for their core business models. And following with a range of concrete points of rationale with regards to how in the age of digital platforms and workforce high mobility (as both local employees and as business tourist) it becomes increasingly easier to arrange cross-selling and combined service promotions and, eventually, product packaging for hospitality and flexible office facilities solutions. And, most importantly, there may be increasingly a very strong case not only for ad hoc collaborations of companies in the hospitality and coworking industries, but also long-term partnerships contracts, and, eventually, even some solutions for co-branding and sustainable combined value propositions. Especially in those circumstances where customers would recognize common value, synergies, functional advantages, as well as community and ethos complementarities of integrated value propositions for coworking and hotel areas. The article presents two different approaches for integrated business models of coworking spaces and hotels, depending on the key determinant parameter – whether there are excesses or deficiencies of coworking facilities at hotels. At the present stage one of the most prominent implications of coworking and hotel collaborations and partnerships is remediating potentials of business tourist flows for struggling coworking business models. New customer and purchasing power ‘injections’ from hotels to coworking spaces can improve overall financial and operational performance of coworking operators. It is of particular interest in the current climate when expansionary coworking business models are experiencing a painful feasibility and viability “reality check”, especially in the notorious case of WeWork Company.