Book yourself a workation

Alison Taylor explores the rise of the commuter hotels that you will actually want to stay in

In a cultural shift spawned by the pandemic, savvy companies are getting creative with the concept of the commuter hotel. The WFH trend has led in turn to a taste for working from anywhere, meaning swish onebedroom apartments, hip neighbourhoods and a seductive lobby culture fuelled by great coffee are part of the commuter hotel mix, replacing the traditional model of bleak tower blocks on the fringes of town, sad buffet restaurants and shades of Alan Partridge.

As a member of the commuter generation myself – I made the move back to Yorkshire after 20 years in London – I’m aware that the travel-and-stay-inthe-working-week movement is on the up and has had a significant makeover.

“Midweek stays are on the rise, with both London and Edinburgh seeing an increase in searches outside of the normal weekend breaks that we expect during this period,” says Ryan Pearson, regional manager at booking.com. “We can see from our data that among UK travellers, the top five most searched for cities in the UK are London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Blackpool and York. London [also] saw an increase of 4 per cent in searches for Monday to Friday stays in comparison with the previous week, hinting at a rise in commuter hotels.”

There are now boutique “cool neighbourhood” options such as the Hoxton, which has properties in Shoreditch, Holborn and Southwark – each with a destination restaurant. The group has also launched pocket-friendly Sunday to Thursday commuter rates at £119 per night. The rate includes a free breakfast bag each morning (perfect to enjoy “al desko”) – and as with all direct bookings at the Hoxton, the “flexy time” policy allows guests to choose both their check-in and check-out times for free, so you could dump your bags and freshen up before hitting the office.

“After escaping to the countryside during the pandemic, many have now found themselves creeping back to the office more frequently than expected, meaning a return to crazy train ticket prices and chunky commutes,” says Heather Pigott, vice president of brand marketing at Ennismore, the hospitality company that owns the Hoxton and Gleneagles, among others. “So we thought we’d help them out. Instead of having to race to Waterloo to catch the 5.45pm train, why not relax, finish at the office, go for a drink with colleagues or dinner with friends, then stay at ours instead? Less stress and a midweek liein, thanks to waking up in Zone 1.”

Town Hall in Bethnal Green is another example of this kind of hip neighbourhood hotel tempting in the commuter crowds, offering attractive one-bedroom apartments from £125 per night with its Skip Rush Hour deal.

“Commute and Stay” is also available in all UK hotels within the Accor group – Sofitel, Ibis, Novotel, among others – which offer up to a 15 per cent discount in city-centre hotels in the week. The group says it has had a lot of interest from regular hotel guests and corporate clients who are starting to explore what a “new normal” will be in terms of working from anywhere post-pandemic.

This new breed of commuting isn’t just about finding somewhere cheap and not-cheerful to lay your head, but rather about enhancing your stay and truly mixing work and pleasure. I can relate. My bi-monthly work trips to London enable me to scratch the cityculture itch I do miss now that I’ve moved away. It’s the best of both worlds.

Now that your boss wants you back in the office, make the most of your midweek stay in a hip neighbourhood hotel