๐—œ๐˜€ "๐—›๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป" ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ผ๐—น๐˜‚๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜ ๐—”๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—™๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ง๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—บ? ๐Ÿจ

"Hotelification" is the latest buzzword in workplace design, where offices are transformed into less office-like spaces.

My Wednesday morning question:

๐—œ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—น๐˜† ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ, ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ท๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฐ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—บ ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€?

The headline from a recent New York Times article on โ€œThe Hotelification of Officesโ€:

โ€œ๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฌ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ณ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฌ๐˜ด, ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ โ€˜๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ด,โ€™ ๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜น๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ณ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ.โ€

New York Times

Hereโ€™s the glaring issue with that statement: "๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฌ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ณ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฌ๐˜ด..." ๐Ÿง

๐—ง๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ฟ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ธ๐˜€, ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐˜€๐˜๐˜‚๐—ณ๐—ณ. Not to mention the backlash to the recent news of Amazon's desire to have their staff back in the office 5 days a week.

It appears battle lines have been drawn.

Back to the Forbes statement, it reflects a traditional mindset that assumes work requires a desk. I believe terms like "Hotelification" have emerged to justify why we would have any additional amenity in an office.

But is this concept new?

During the early days with WeWork, we embraced the idea of creating a "home away from home" in the workplace.

๐Ÿป Having a beer tap in the kitchen wasnโ€™t just a novel gimmick. It was part of an amenity stack designed to challenge the cold, sterile, grey, and boring single-use traditional office designs.

We didnโ€™t just want to offer desks; we aimed to build communities and create experiences. ๐Ÿš€

Fast-forward a decade, and thatโ€™s precisely what terms like "Hotelification" aim to achieve.

Now more than ever, we need to ensure that the spaces we create truly foster connection, productivity and collaboration, not just mimic the comforts of home. We've been there already.

So, what do you think? Is "Hotelification" just a fancy term, or is it genuinely reshaping how we think about the office?

Ping me a message and let me know your thoughts

Thanks for reading

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