Business travellers are always on the move and need to find time to catch up on their work or with colleagues. More hotels are setting public work areas t o meet this need.

According to a recent guest survey from Hotel Solutions Provider HRS, 75% of business travellers in the UK usually have to conduct business duties at the hotel they’re staying in.

The research, which was conducted by HRS in conjunction with the Fraunhofer IAO, revealed the UK has one of the highest levels of business travellers continuing their working day when staying in hotels, with only Italians pipping them to the post by one per cent more.

This was followed by Poland and Switzerland (50% respectively), Germany (46%), China (45%), Russia (43%), Austria (42%) and France (25%).

Jon West, Managing Director of HRS, commented: “Business travellers are always on the move and need to find time to catch up on their work or with colleagues. In order to meet this need, we are seeing that more hotels are starting to introduce ‘co-working’ spaces into their public areas to create pleasant working environments within their lobbies.”

Mr West added: “Using open space to meet the needs of the guests, hotels are starting to offer open areas that are equipped with technical features such as mains connections, docking stations and Wi-Fi. Business travellers can also benefit from being able to meet other guests on a business level, as local freelancers or creative are more likely to use these spaces as a temporary workspace.

“This means that hotel owners also profit from additional revenues should the business traveller take advantage of its food and drink offering for example whilst working.”