While 4G, email, FaceTime and Skype are great ways to stay in touch and do business, there are times when you really do need to be in the same room as a supplier or customer.
But with increasingly large numbers of Brits working for themselves – the Office for National Statistics puts the number at 4.8 million, or 15% of the total labour force, as of 2017 – and many of those from home, it’s no longer the case that everyone has a plush meeting room on hand for such purposes.
Luckily there are alternatives.
Obviously there are serviced office providers, some of which offer ad-hoc room booking to non-tenants but even those who do so often tend to keep their best rates for tenants and regular users.
Another and increasingly common option is to use a day break hotel. If you’re not familiar with the concept, this is a hotel which rents out facilities such as meeting rooms during daytime hours when they’re less in demand from guests.
Beyond the business world, day break hotels are also a great option for anyone looking to catch some sleep before an afternoon or early evening flight and some will even rent out the entire restaurant for a family event.
While many will also rent out standard hotel rooms during the day – often with substantial savings of up to 70% off the cost of staying for a night – so that attendees can refresh themselves before your event, there’s generally no obligation on you to do so.
This means you can enjoy a well presented room that will impress your guests and, with most city hotels conveniently located for public transport, in an accessible location.
Inevitably with any growing sector, the hotel chains are competing aggressively with one another for market share, out pricing one another as they seek to attract what they hope will be long-term clients.
And as with any new business sector in the internet age, there are now a host of hotel related search engines and review sites popping up to help you turn a search for ‘day use hotels Birmingham’ into a confirmed booking.
With so many hotel owners and chains now targeting the sector, such sites are the simplest way to compare rates, offerings and reviews, helping you get the best possible deal while also making a great impact with your clients or suppliers.