How it works
Both models remove the permanent desk and set fewer desks than people. With hot desking, people take any free desk when they arrive. With hoteling, they book a specific desk or area for a day, a few hours or a recurring slot, much like reserving a hotel room.
Hoteling adds certainty: people know before they travel that a desk is waiting, in a place they chose, near the colleagues they want to sit with. Enterprise offices usually combine it with neighborhoods, so each team has a home zone, and keep a few drop-in desks for unplanned visits.
The weak point of hoteling is the booking nobody uses. A check-in, by app, kiosk, badge or presence on the office network, confirms who actually came, and bookings without one are released back to the pool. Without that step, ghost bookings make the office look fuller than it is and hide space that could be released.
Shared desks need some basics before the first day. Every desk should work for anyone, with the same dock, monitor and power, and a clear-desk rule at the end of the day. People need lockers for what used to live in a drawer, a booking system with check-in, and a way to find a free desk and their colleagues on arrival, such as an interactive floor plan.
Hot desking vs hoteling vs neighborhoods vs assigned desks
The four models differ in how a desk is claimed and how certain people can be of getting one. Most enterprise floors mix them: neighborhoods for teams, hoteling inside them, a few drop-in desks and assigned desks where a role needs one.
| Model | How a desk is claimed | Certainty for the person | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hot desking | First come, first served on the day, with no booking | Low: no guarantee of a desk or a spot near the team | Offices with spare capacity and short, unplanned visits |
| Hoteling | Booked in advance through a system, then checked in on arrival | High once booked; unused bookings are released | Shared seating where people plan office days |
| Neighborhoods | A team gets a zone, often on set days, and books or takes desks inside it | Medium to high: a desk near the team, not a named desk | Teams that come in together and need to sit together |
| Assigned desk | Owned by one person every day | Full, even on days the person is away | Roles that need fixed equipment or are in the office most days |
How to measure it
- Desk ratio: desks available per person assigned to the space.
- Peak-day desk occupancy, by floor and neighborhood.
- No-show rate, and how many released desks are rebooked.
- Reports of people unable to find a desk on busy days.
How to start hot desking or hoteling
- Measure attendance by team and weekday for several weeks, from check-ins or presence data, and find the peak day.
- Decide which roles keep assigned desks and which share, and whether shared desks are booked or first come, first served.
- Set the number of shared desks to the peak day you choose to support, plus a buffer for visitors and unplanned days.
- Group shared desks into neighborhoods so each team has a home zone, and keep some drop-in desks near the entrance.
- Write the rules: how far ahead people can book, how long a booking lasts, the check-in window and what happens to no-shows.
- Set up the basics before day one: lockers, the same equipment at every desk and a clear-desk routine.
- Pilot on one floor, compare bookings with check-ins and listen to complaints, then roll out floor by floor.
- Review the desk count and the zones each quarter as attendance changes.
Examples
- A team of forty shares twenty-eight desks in its neighborhood through hoteling, with a few drop-in desks near the entrance for unplanned visits.
- A consultant books a desk near the project team for three days with one multi-day booking and checks in each morning.
Benchmarks
A US medical lab and diagnostic company introduced desk hoteling with automatic desk release to run 150 desks for 200 employees returning to its headquarters.
Kadence customer story: US medical lab and diagnostic companyRSPB accommodated 2,500 employees on flexible desking without major portfolio changes.
Kadence customer story: RSPB
Common mistakes
- Introducing hot desking only to cut cost, without better space, which employees read as a downgrade.
- Running hoteling without check-in and auto-release.
- Setting the desk ratio from average attendance and running out of desks on peak days.
- Removing all personal storage; people need lockers once they no longer have a drawer.
How Kadence helps
Kadence supports both models: on-demand booking for hot desks, and advance, recurring and multi-day booking for hoteling, with neighborhoods, assigned desks and priority access on the same floor plan. Check-in comes from the app, the Kadence Agent on the office network, badge data or the API. Unused bookings are auto-released, and Automatic Bookings records people who turn up without one.
Office hoteling software · Desk booking software · Workplace occupancy · Guide: flexible office models · Desk booking policy template
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between hot desking and hoteling?
Hot desking gives out shared desks first come, first served, so people find out where they will sit when they arrive. Hoteling asks people to reserve a desk in advance and check in when they arrive. Both remove the permanent desk; hoteling adds certainty before the commute.
What is office hoteling and how does it work?
Office hoteling is a way of sharing desks in which employees reserve a desk before they come in, rather than taking whichever one is free. They pick a date and a desk, check in when they arrive, and the desk is released if they do not. Hoteling software handles the booking, check-in and release, and reports how desks are used.
What are the pros and cons of hot desking?
Hot desking frees space, mixes departments and flattens hierarchies because nobody owns the best desk. Its drawbacks are uncertainty, time lost searching for a desk and difficulty finding colleagues. Booking, neighborhoods and reinvesting freed space in better settings address most of them.
How many desks do you need for hot desking?
Size to the busiest day you choose to support, not to the average. Measure peak-day attendance by team from check-in data, add a buffer for visitors and unplanned days, and review the ratio as attendance patterns change.
Does hot desking save money?
It can, because shared desks let an organization hold fewer desks and, over time, less floor area. The saving depends on attendance: size the desk count to the busiest day you choose to support, not the average, or the office runs out of desks and the saving costs goodwill. Many organizations put part of the freed space back into meeting rooms and quiet areas.
Related terms
- Desk booking system Software that lets employees find and reserve a desk before they come in, check in on arrival and free desks nobody uses.
- Neighborhood A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together.
- Desk ratio (desk sharing ratio) The number of people assigned to a workplace for each desk, set from peak attendance and policy.
- Assigned desk A desk reserved for one person, either permanently or on set days, instead of being shared through booking.
- Activity-based working (ABW) A workplace model in which people move between settings designed for different tasks instead of working at one assigned desk.
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