Ernst and Young invented office "hoteling" back in the early 1990s as a way to maximize use of its real estate assets. Instead of having permanent private offices or desks, employees had to reserve desks on a weekly, monthly or project basis. Office space became, in a sense, a commodity to be allocated through market mechanisms. Hoteling has been widely criticized as dehumanizing - my wife spent 6 months in such an environment in the firm's New York office, and I can say it wasn't the best work environment of her life.
Now, PricewaterhouseCoopers is experimenting with "reverse hoteling". Most people have permanent offices, but when they go out of town on business or are on vacation, they have to give them up to visitors and floaters. It seems they are trying to strike a balance between privacy, ownership over space, and the need to use real estate assets officially:
"A range of desk systems have been used to match different needs. Service hubs mark key interfaces at the corners. The old-fashioned hierarchy of enclosed space and rigidly defended territory has been swept away through a variation on use of cellular space called 'reverse hoteling'. Privacy is there when needed, but offices can be booked out when unoccupied." (source: Locate Birmingham)
Some companies are now implementing "reverse hoteling", a practice in which workers with permanent offices are required to register their space as vacant when they are out of town or on vacation. During those periods, visiting employees are permitted to utilize that space.
-Dannie
Posted by: upscale office space | August 06, 2008 at 08:34 PM