We need a digital nomad friendly hotel

Most hotel chains, have the same check-in / check-out times. While check in is pushed to the afternoon, check out is pushed to the morning. BnBs follow the same, established practice. But does that model work for all?

Why?

The main reason for this empty-room window in the middle of the day, seems to be the need for cleaning, maintenance and restocking of the rooms. Which, of course makes perfect sense. Cleaning crews start in the morning with the rooms that will not check out that day, or have checked out early, and continue until late afternoon for the late check - out guests. This usually extends to 3 or 4 pm, for select rooms. But this model, does not match the needs of all guests.

A digital nomad

Digital nomads may be staying in a place, usually medium-term renting a flat, or a hotel room. Their usual working hours are between 9 to 5, although they obviously fluctuate a lot if they work across timezones. None of these is compatible with the usual check - out / check in times.

A digital nomad may choose to stay a week in a city and enjoy it in the evenings, then use the weekend to move to another city and so on. And while this is a nice model, if someone follows the typical check in / check out windows, their Mondays and Fridays will have to be half days. Or, they checkout / check in over the weekend, which unfortunately means one of the two days is lost.

While a schedule of check out until 6, check in after 8, might work better for this specific guests. In that case there are no wasted hours and days, and they maximize their working hours. They can work their whole work day, and move from one hotel to another in the evening, outside of their working hours. Do we need cleaning crew out of hours? Yes, but that should not be a problem. People are getting paid depending on the working hours, and if overtime or different shift is expected, hospitality is the industry where this is standard practice.

Flexibility is possible

Although a chain could change their check out / check in times completely, and brand themselves as The Digital Nomad Friendly Chain, this is not necessary. They can start with only a couple of rooms, that will only offer this option if requested. This way they can have The Digital Nomad Rooms. Arranging the cleaning schedule, if the schedule is not standardized, may be a challenge though. So this might work either for large chains, or small family-owned BnBs.

Paradigm shifts are not uncommon

In reality this is not a paradigm shift, not even a serious adjustment worth talking about. But if marketed correctly it can brand a hotel chain as the first one that is Digital Nomad Friendly. The first to market, or rather, the first to serve a specific group, will always have an advantage. And depending on how long will it take for the other chains to react, they can monopolize this (probably insignificant) market segment.