“It’s not about reinventing the business center, but when we looked for real estate in the hotel, we came to the conclusion pretty quickly that the old business center is pretty irrelevant for today’s traveler,”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/business/hotels-carve-out-work-spaces-rented-hourly.html?pagewanted=all

“Work is more social and mobile.”

Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ Westin brand has introduced a similar concept of small-scale, nontraditional work space at two American hotels, in Boston and Arlington, Va., and at a hotel in Germany, in Munich. In Arlington, the company took what had been the hotel’s business center and turned it into a more modern, free-form work area with Wi-Fi, couches and Xbox video game console in addition to more typical conference room accessories like videoconferencing equipment and dry-erase boards.

“It’s not about reinventing the business center, but when we looked for real estate in the hotel, we came to the conclusion pretty quickly that the old business center is pretty irrelevant for today’s traveler,” said Brian Povinelli, senior vice president and global brand leader at Westin.

“You don’t need the built-in technology as much as you used to,” he said. “That’s less of an issue today because you’re working off a tablet or something.” Westin plans to add this kind of work space at more of its hotels.

Both Marriott’s and Starwood’s work spaces can be booked via LiquidSpace.

Aside from wireless Internet and a casual atmosphere, the appeal of these spaces is that they are available on demand. Most reservations are made within 48 hours, Ms. Roe said, although some are made less than an hour beforehand.

Some spaces at the various Marriott brands — like a lobby table or alcove — are free to reserve, and prices for the more enclosed spaces with high-tech amenities are considerably lower than typical meeting room rental costs, with most topping out at about $200 for a half-day, Ms. Roe said. Starwood’s two work spaces in the United States are rented for $50 an hour.

Hotels benefit even when travelers book free work spaces, since many of them end up buying food or drinks. And LiquidSpace takes a cut of the fee users pay to rent the space.