The hospitality industry is exerting its influence on far more than just residential property. Co-working operator The Great Room demonstrates how.

The hospitality industry is exerting its influence on far more than just residential property. Co-working operator The Great Room demonstrates how.

"There's more to [co-working space] than squeezing in more people per square foot; there is the elevated experience,” begins The Great Room's cofounder and CEO Jaelle Ang, in describing the latest co-working provider to enter the Hong Kong market. “Hotel-style” amenities and “five-star living” are common buzzwords attached to new residential developments, and so it's fitting that the office sector is finally getting in on the hospitality act. In reality, office “hotel-ification” is, “nothing new and it follows the evolution of the real estate industry,” adds Don Taylor, director of office for Swire Properties, also spearheading its multi-billion dollar Taikoo Place redevelopment. “We develop a lot of mixed-used, and each use—the retail, the office, the hotel-serviced apartment— is dependent on the others. The historical lines between each use are becoming increasingly blurred.”

There aren’t many flexible workspace operators in the market that can deliver a range of amenities, and that leaves the door ajar for hotel operators.

Increasing Amenitisation

The Great Room (TGR) is the latest brand to join Hong Kong's 140-plus co-working operators and it hopes to be ahead of the curve in relation to office design and function. As Jonathan Wright, Colliers International's director of flexible workspace services—a service line that's only existed since 2016— describes it, occupiers lead the market, and in turn talent leads the occupiers. While premium occupiers continue to seek space in premium addresses, the demand for better facilities (meeting rooms, lounges, F&B, wellness facilities), a flexible workspace tenant, and landlords that can deliver that in addition to office space, is becoming the ideal. Blue chip tenants “don't necessarily want to carry all these amenities in their space, so they're looking for landlords that do. In turn [landlords] are looking to … coworking operators that have a hospitality element to them,” theorises Wright. “There aren't many flexible workspace operators in the market that can deliver a range of amenities, and that leaves the door ajar for hotel operators. And that's where we're starting to see the blend of hospitality and workspace.”

Hospitality-forward co-workers at this stage are the purview of Grade A addresses— TGR is in the glittering new One Taikoo Place—which would seem to fly in the face of the original concept of the co-working space: an affordable, functioning office for cash-poor start-ups. Taylor and Ang see the segmentation of the market as part of its evolution, with both occupier and landlord expectations changing the game. “For all our corporate tenants the critical factor is the attraction and retention of talent,” says Taylor. “So we're looking more and more at the overall tenant experience.” This leads to developments like Taikoo Place, with its increased public realm and hotel-inspired public amenities. But he and Ang insist fivestar co-working isn't sending the concept's original demographic back to Starbucks. “The [start-ups] are never going away; in fact they're the bulk. Co-working is very fragmented and whether you call them the mass market, the cheap and cheerful … there is a huge number of players operating in that space. We're actually counting on more start-ups graduating to the premium tier,” says Ang.

Many labour advocates argue hospitalityforward co-working and “campus-style” offices (think Google) are simply a way to keep staff at work for more hours and less pay. Accurate or not, Wright and Taylor note it's hard for landlords to police what tenants do or private business policies, but Ang points to shifting standards as equally important. “The boundaries between ‘work' and ‘play' are blurring. It's bookmarked by coming in earlier and leaving later. People hit the gym at 3pm because that's not peak, and how many of us have lunch while we work? The way we live and work has changed and this is the result.

It’s not necessarily ‘I’m keeping you here longer’; it’s also driven by talent that wants more fluidity and freedom.”

Great Minds

So how does The Great Room bring that hospitality touch to an office space? Not surprisingly, Ang is an architect by training, with projects such as the Four Seasons Bangkok under her belt. As a result the hospitality is in the details. Spanning an entire floor in One Taikoo, the Hasselldesigned TGR features a drawing room, two studios, an atelier, parlour and stateroom on top of its workhall, private studies, dedicated offices and hot desks. Offices begin at HK$11,000 per month and hot desks at HK$7,000; day passes are available, as is a business club membership. The expected perks are accounted for (high speed Wifi, mail services, conference space, cleaning), but Ang hopes the physical space’s complementing services will set TGR apart, which is what the hotel industry was built on. “It’s in the spirit of taking care of people,” explains Ang.

“If you’re a one-person company versus a 50-person company, your needs are very different.” TGR’S hardware and design are the first step: system-wide corporate tiling is gone, replaced by real timber, there’s a lack of glaring white tones and fluorescent lighting, offices are outfitted with custom furnishings by hospitality designers, and there’s a crèche. Natural light pours in through expansive floor-to-ceiling windows, and its position on the 23rd floor means the forthcoming Two Taikoo Place won’t change that, Taylor ensures. The technology is designed to be empowering and invisible.

On the software side, TGR is a “high service, high-touch experience,” according to Ang, with a dedicated planning team for meetings, conferences and any other events both emerging and established business could need. “These days, corporate entertaining isn’t just board meetings, training and AGMS,” argues Ang. “It’s not how many meetings you run but how deep a connection we can build with people.”