An Edinburgh hotel is renting out its bedrooms to business people as replacement home offices.
The Dalmahoy Hotel & Country Club has started the novel practice to appeal to those where working from home is not a feasible option.
The moves comes at a time when city hotels have been badly his by the effects of the pandemic.
The majority of our country’s office workers are currently working from home, with Scottish Government advice making it the default position for businesses during current restrictions.
Dalmahoy senior events manager Rachel King, who has hosted thousands of delegates at business meetings and conferences over the years with her team at Dalmahoy, is now running this very different offering.
She said: “A number of business people and home office workers have been booking our smaller meeting rooms as a private office space for the day.
“Many of these professionals have either struggled to find peace and quiet at home because they don’t have a dedicated or suitable home office space, or they simply need a change of scenery.
“So we decided to open up our otherwise unoccupied hotel bedrooms – which already have perfect dedicated workspaces, including a desk and chair, and access to superfast broadband – merging the need for a peaceful and professional office with the convenience and amenities of a hotel.
“As a hotelier, we are obviously faced with the challenge of driving room occupancies in these unprecedented times, and allowing workers to use our bedrooms as an office is a novel way of utilising our space.”
Every Dalmahoy Workspace room is deep cleaned prior to guest arrival and the resort said it has focused intensively on its comprehensive safety measures to allow guests a comfortable and relaxing visit.
As part of the package guests will have access to onsite bars, restaurants and leisure facilities (open within the resort according to Scottish Government tier restrictions), in addition to all in-room amenities.
Guests also have the option of adding in breakfast, ordering in-room dining, or having a snack or lunch on the go.
Case study: Grant Mather of Mather Consultants
Grant Mather runs his own consultancy business, Mather Consultants, which organises business golf networking events.
In normal times, he works out of an office in Edinburgh, but has been working from home since March this year.
Mather was one of the first professionals to roadtest a Dalmahoy meeting room as his workspace.
He said: “I have two young children at home and when Daddy is home, its playtime for the kids, so I get very distracted.
“I’ve been able to make use of the hotel bedroom office space to escape background noise, allowing uninterrupted work and the ability to conduct video calls in a quiet environment.
“Driving onto a golf resort such as Dalmahoy automatically has its ‘calming effect’ as soon as you drive off the busy roads onto the resort.”
He added: “I was able to limit my distractions to improve productivity in a nice quiet location. The hotel has various places to sit quietly so I was able to arrange various one-to-one meetings.
“I loved being able to walk the splendid grounds of the hotel – watching the golfers has a sense of relaxation – and I was able to make work calls along the way.”
And the best bit? Mather added: “And yes, Daddy playtime was much better for me and my family when I got home, I was able to switch off from work and be more present.
Guests taking advantage of The Dalmahoy Workspace service can reserve their office for up to nine hours, with check in from 0830 and a check out time of 1800.
The service allows guests to book from one to five-day packages and will be available through to March.
