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One Man's Quest to Make Business Travel a Lot Less Awful

theatlanticcities.com

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Re: One Man's Quest to Make Business Travel a Lot Less Awful

#31

Post by cjlm »

inthewoods wrote: post #29

Not sure how they make a lot of money on this. At $15/hr, and and average of 10 hours of booking, that's $150/day. 20 days a year (you can only book on weekdays), that's a total of $3k a month per space. In NYC, I've got to figure at least $1500 a month, probably higher. Furniture and app development is a relatively fixed cost (maintenance), cleaning after every appointment can add up if you've got a lot discontinuou…

FWIW, it's $25 an hour in New York. Still challenging I but also perhaps not limited to 10 hours a day.

Re: One Man's Quest to Make Business Travel a Lot Less Awful

#32

Post by inthewoods »

cjlm wrote: post #31
inthewoods wrote: post #29

Not sure how they make a lot of money on this. At $15/hr, and and average of 10 hours of booking, that's $150/day. 20 days a year (you can only book on weekdays), that's a total of $3k a month per space. In NYC, I've got to figure at least $1500 a month, probably higher. Furniture and app development is a relatively fixed cost (maintenance), cleaning after every appointment can add up if you've got a lot discontinuou…

FWIW, it's $25 an hour in New York. Still challenging I but also perhaps not limited to 10 hours a day.

Ah, yes, it was showing me Montreal - so $25 x 10 hrs x 20 days = $2500/month - better. In fact, my suggestion was going to be to double their rates! If I was them, I would be encouraging/exploring more hours per guest - so charge $30 for one hour and then drop it in blocks of 2 or 4 hours.

I still don't like taking on the inventory risk.

I think they limit it to 10-12 hours per day in their schedule (as they limit the days to during the week). I'm just making an assumption about their occupancy rate - could be higher or lower.

Re: One Man's Quest to Make Business Travel a Lot Less Awful

#33

Post by adrianhoward »

rm445 wrote: post #28
adrianhoward wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's anything like Regus in the UK it looks like a very different experience. The offices are part of a larger group office. You need to check in at the front desk. The environment is much more "corporate" - office desks and chairs, plus no en-suite toilet, etc. Very much not "your" space. I'd love something like this in London. I live about 2.5 hours out of London, and when I come in for client meetings or on-sit…

There are such places already in London, though you might not like the prices. The more business-focused private members' clubs typically have offices, meeting rooms and bedrooms available (for rent) as well as the kind of bar, restaurant, reading room facilities you might expect.

Yeah ;-) There are solutions. Members clubs. Plain old hotel rooms. But mostly the price-point is way to high for an hour or two. The overhead and friction in booking and checking in is also substantial.

I've got a Regus gold card. The number of times I've actually used it in the last 18months - zero. Because the friction in actually making a booking and getting something sane out the other end is so high. I find especially memorable the time where I was running on EST in London and wanted to work at night, was told verbally that Regus has 24 hour office space at X address, only to show up to find a confused security guard and no access ;-)

So it seems like a gap in the market to me !

Re: One Man's Quest to Make Business Travel a Lot Less Awful

#34

Post by adrianhoward »

jpalomaki wrote: post #25

I imagine there could be an opportunity for AirBNB/Über style service here. Maybe not for individuals, but for companies that are anyways offering office space for rent and who already have reception facilities (for giving access) etc. Or maybe even hotels? Re-decorate few rooms to serve specifically this purpose (remove beds etc). The main challenge I can think of is related to getting access to the space. With this…

"And of course these could also expand to airports. With some good design one could probably fit in a decent room in pretty small place. Knowing that I have my personal space booked at the airport, I could actually go there a little bit earlier instead of trying to kill the time at the city."

You mean things like http://www.yotel.com/ ? ;-)

Re: One Man's Quest to Make Business Travel a Lot Less Awful

#35

Post by Nutella4 »

adrianhoward wrote: post #34
jpalomaki wrote: post #25

I imagine there could be an opportunity for AirBNB/Über style service here. Maybe not for individuals, but for companies that are anyways offering office space for rent and who already have reception facilities (for giving access) etc. Or maybe even hotels? Re-decorate few rooms to serve specifically this purpose (remove beds etc). The main challenge I can think of is related to getting access to the space. With this…

"And of course these could also expand to airports. With some good design one could probably fit in a decent room in pretty small place. Knowing that I have my personal space booked at the airport, I could actually go there a little bit earlier instead of trying to kill the time at the city." You mean things like http://www.yotel.com/ ? ;-)

Nope, the Yotel in New York is a hotel. They rent for overnight stays only.

Re: One Man's Quest to Make Business Travel a Lot Less Awful

#36

Post by chockablock »

inthewoods wrote: post #32
cjlm wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, it's $25 an hour in New York. Still challenging I but also perhaps not limited to 10 hours a day.

Ah, yes, it was showing me Montreal - so $25 x 10 hrs x 20 days = $2500/month - better. In fact, my suggestion was going to be to double their rates! If I was them, I would be encouraging/exploring more hours per guest - so charge $30 for one hour and then drop it in blocks of 2 or 4 hours. I still don't like taking on the inventory risk. I think they limit it to 10-12 hours per day in their schedule (as they limit t…

> I still don't like taking on the inventory risk.

In the article they mention that the spaces are often small underused spaces in commercial buildings, and that they try to make revenue-sharing deals with landlords, rather than paying fixed rents.

Re: One Man's Quest to Make Business Travel a Lot Less Awful

#37

Post by sunir »

inthewoods wrote: post #32
cjlm wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, it's $25 an hour in New York. Still challenging I but also perhaps not limited to 10 hours a day.

Ah, yes, it was showing me Montreal - so $25 x 10 hrs x 20 days = $2500/month - better. In fact, my suggestion was going to be to double their rates! If I was them, I would be encouraging/exploring more hours per guest - so charge $30 for one hour and then drop it in blocks of 2 or 4 hours. I still don't like taking on the inventory risk. I think they limit it to 10-12 hours per day in their schedule (as they limit t…

You are off by a factor due to an error in your math

$25/h x 10h/d x 20d/mo = $5000/mo

Re: One Man's Quest to Make Business Travel a Lot Less Awful

#38

Post by columbo »

I believe they are on to something but I'd suggest looking at an existing model that has been around for decades, specifically the Moose, Lions, Masons, Rotary, American Legion and many others.

These clubs put you into a community. When my father-in-law comes to visit he usually goes to the American Legion down the street, that's his Breather spot. My dad would visit other Lions clubs when he was travelling out of town.

I'd suggest looking into how clubs operate. When I travel I would really like to have something between AirBNB and the Moose Lodge. Something that is...

1) Members only. It's a casual membership that includes a yearly fee to weed out people that are likely to trash the place.

2) Open to multiple members. This might be contradictory to where they are going but as a traveller I don't mind a few other travellers around me. I just don't want to be in a coffee house. I could stand 3 or 4 other people if there was enough room. Instead of saying "You are blocking off this room for X hours" make it an option. If you want exclusive privacy then you must rent the room for a minimum of 4 hours @ $25 an hour. Otherwise it's first-come-first-serve with a limit of X people depending on size. The more members the lower the hourly rate (spread it between them).

Neat idea.

Re: One Man's Quest to Make Business Travel a Lot Less Awful

#39

Post by adrianhoward »

Nutella4 wrote: post #35
adrianhoward wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"And of course these could also expand to airports. With some good design one could probably fit in a decent room in pretty small place. Knowing that I have my personal space booked at the airport, I could actually go there a little bit earlier instead of trying to kill the time at the city." You mean things like http://www.yotel.com/ ? ;-)

Nope, the Yotel in New York is a hotel. They rent for overnight stays only.

Booo! The one at Heathrow now does by-the-hour bookings. And was doing 4 hour chunks a year or two back.

Re: One Man's Quest to Make Business Travel a Lot Less Awful

#40

Post by igrekel »

danieltillett wrote: post #22
MarkTee wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some North American airports have sleeping pods. I think I last saw them at YVR (Vancouver).

Does anyone have a list where they all are? Actually this sounds like a great application idea.

I know these ones are available in Munich airport and many other places. http://www.napcabs.com
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