A new kind of room service

The Economist

Hoteliers whacked by the pandemic are hoping to tap a promising new source of revenue when the current strict lockdown lifts, says Bartleby: remote workers. The big chains are rushing to test the size of the market. Hilton has launched a new service called WorkSpaces in America, Britain and Canada, dangling the opportunity of using the gym or swimming pool (where available). The US Wyndham chain is also offering “worker packages”. The problem is cost. Although these hotels are excellent boltholes for those “finding it difficult (or boring) to sit at the kitchen table every day”, even the cheapest options would “require a company’s expenses policy to be incredibly generous”. Perhaps a halfway house will be found: hotels might be good places for job interviews, or for workers with big projects to finish. Hoteliers have long made good money out of the business market, “but renting rooms by the day has traditionally been aimed at a rather different slice of the market from the solitary desk jockey”. Still, many are embracing the new clientele with gusto. “Nice little touches” at Sofitel include “extra pens, Sellotape, scissors and a stapler”.

He has been dubbed Britain’s “most appropriately named entrepreneur”, and business has certainly been blooming for Freddie Garland’s homedelivery flower business, said the Daily Mail. In a “rare pandemic success story”, subscribers to Freddie’s Flowers have risen from 60,000 to more than 100,000, while sales have rocketed to £26m. Garland, 32 – who founded the company from his parents’ back garden in 2014 – aims to double its size by 2022. Hence the launch of a “Flower Bond” paying backers twice-yearly cash payments of 5% – or regular boxes of flowers worth 7.5%. Critics warn that unregulated “novelty minibonds” are risky. It hasn’t put Freddie’s fans off. The group, which is now steaming into Germany, has surpassed its target, raising £3.7m in four weeks, and now hopes to “bag” £10m.