RELAX.

YOU’RE AT WORK.

The “work from hotels” trend is going nowhere – and fast.

If corporate leaders had peered clairvoyantly through crystal balls a few years ago, they might have reacted to the rise of “WFH” with “WTF?” Yet the pandemic-stoked phenomenon of “work from home” doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Projections by Ladders see 25% of all high-paying professional jobs in North America going remote over the calendar year ahead, and opportunities for remote work increasing through 2023. Meanwhile, employees are making their case for ditching the office, with 90% of 2,050 full-time remote workers recently surveyed telling Owl Labs they were as or more productive working remotely, and 84% saying it would continue to make them happier, even, in many cases, enough to take a pay cut.

As we noted in December 2020, the hotel industry was quick to put its spin on remote work amid the travel downturn with special enticements for people to “Work from Hotels,” such as Work From Hyatt packages, and Your Bel-Air Office from Hotel Bel-Air of Dorchester Collection in Los Angeles. 

One remote travel mode fairly safe from cancellation is the good ol’ American road trip. Living Vehicle, an immaculately outfitted, luxury travel trailer that blends self-sufficient technology and sustainable power with modern architecture, was conceived by Co-Founders Matthew and Joanna Hofmann as they worked off the grid surrounded by mountains, beachfronts and more. In this era of working remotely from anywhere, Living Vehicles allow users to live, work, and explore endlessly. While Living Vehicle’s price may be out of the range of, say, a junior VP who desires to work remotely, RVShare, the nation’s first and largest peer-to-peer RV rental marketplace, has more than 100,000 vehicles for rent, from travel trailers to luxury motorhomes.

Back on property, hotels should ensure their hardworking guests have everything they need. A piece in The Points Guy advised of “7 Things” work-from-hotel-ers should be sure of when booking their hotel office, from “a bonafide work-from-hotel package” to “a gym, pool, beach or spa,” and of course “fast and reliable Wi-Fi”. (Pssssst: According to research cited from ISP.com, Ritz-Carlton had the best Internet speed among hotel brands tested in 10 cities.)     

Have a productive getaway!

The industry has stayed on top of the action. Hyatt, for instance, tweaked its WFH offer with an amenity-rich Work from Hyatt: Office for the Day package perfect for locals who couldn’t stand another day-sharing space with their needy pets. IHG Hotels and Resorts has promoted its wellness-focused Even Hotels brand as settings for work as well as wellbeing. 

Dorchester Collection is among brands tempting remote workers with laps of luxury, going beyond hotels to offer new luxury residences, including Mayfair Park Residences in London; One at Palm Jumeirah, Dorchester Collection, Dubai; and The Residences, Dorchester Collection, Dubai. As designed by Foster and Partners, the last is perfect for the CEO who has had enough of the office, with two interconnected towers – one a hotel, the other with 39 fully furnished residences, 6 lavish penthouses, and full bespoke lifestyle services for owners including access to the One at Palm Jumeirah Beach Club managed by Dorchester Collection.

Remote work also plays into the recent trend of trip stacking, an outgrowth of pandemic-related travel disruptions in which people book a backup trip in the event their preferred outing gets canceled. It’s catching on: As a decades-long Virtuoso travel advisor, who stacks trips only for “top tier clients,” told Real Simple, “We have never done trip stacking to this level. We used to give our clients more than one option but never completely planned them out or booked them.”