Recouping lost revenue by utilising empty office space
There’s no doubt that the pandemic has reshaped how and where we work. As a result of the work from home guidelines many commercial real estate landlords, building and business owners have been left out of pocket with empty spaces which were once regularly populated offices.
Prior to the remote work from home movement even when tenants were occupying the space they were only doing so for a set number of hours a day. This begs to question. What can be done to use the space outside of office opening hours to make use of the space and create additional revenue?
Landlords must think outside the box, it is about making a former workspace dynamic. A space that was once used for one purpose but now has the potential to house multiple purposes.
One simple solution is setting the empty office space up as a coworking space. Little preparation is needed as the existing space is already an office that benefits from facilities such as fast internet access, desks with computer monitors and printing facilities on-site as well as being conveniently located for commuters. Pay as you go hot desking allows for a steady stream of revenue for the hours you want. Business owners or landlords just have to get Doordeck setup for the time periods they want to allow customer’s access for and then count the dollars coming in.
The visitor management system solution
Doordeck’s visitor management system makes driving additional revenue from managing an empty office space straightforward. However the space is being utilised, a landlord or building manager can remotely control access to the space, with the option of setting time periods for customer access. This allows secure cloud-based access control for guests and for the building manager, landlord or whoever has been approved as the Doordeck admin to maintain control over how their building is being used, when and for how long, without compromising the building’s security.
A good example of this concept in action at an insurance brokerage whose offices are used during the day Monday - Friday but not in the evenings which is ideal for a nutritionist consultancy firm who mainly has online client consultations in the evenings. The Health Nutritionist, a London based nutritionist consultancy uses Doordeck to access the building and the pre-booked and paid for meeting room on a pay as you go basis.
The founder, Charlotte Turner says:
“Doordeck is exactly what I need. I required a room to perform consultations with clients and found an existing office that would be ideal. I pay for the room only when I need it, I turn up and tap to unlock. I can even unlock with one tap on my Apple Watch. It’s simple and easy”.
Flexi Workspace
The foundations for Doordeck’s flexi workspace concept were laid a number years ago, thanks by and large to the coworking movement started by coworking giant WeWork which now has such a substantial foot-hold in New York, being it’s largest private office tenant with 8.9 million square feet and over 100 buildings in Manhattan! The idea that several businesses could work under one roof and share facilities has become so popular that the amount of flexible workspaces in London (also known as flexi space) has increased in H1 2021 (six months to 17 June 2021) by 32%.
While the flexi-office market in cities is dominated by large shared office space companies, the concept of the flexi-office doesn’t stop there. Where office space used to be solely located in – well – office buildings, since the pandemic, a new concept has been born.
Flexi Workspaces not in traditional Workplaces
It is not just office building’s where this new concept of utilising empty space is happening, an increasing number of hotel groups are now turning their hotels into shared office spaces – spaces that businesses can hire as and when they need to, with all the facilities of the modern office to hand. Accor Hotel Group – one of the industry’s biggest names – are turning rooms in 250 of its hotels into flexi-office spaces.
Beyond hotels, the David Lloyd fitness club chain has reported a 40% increase in online inquiries for corporate memberships, which it attributes to employers wanting to provide staff with gym access and a workplace.
It's been a long time coming, and it's not new news that people want flexible options that fit in with their lives – whether that be proximity to home, space or time share offices. Check out our recent blog article on some of the dynamic workplaces that Doordeck works in.
If you’d like to learn more about how Doordeck can provide a second revenue stream for your business please contact us to discuss further.
