Corporate comeback: How to capitalise on the return-to-office trend
Exclusive Op-Ed: The corporate crowd is coming back—JLL’s Ross Beardsell on why CBD hotels should seize the moment
With workers returning to the office, it is time for hotels to focus on growing corporate business expenditure.
It would appear that the COVID-inspired work-from-home trend is softening, with the US leading the way and Australian businesses following suit. This trend has the potential to re-energise CBD economies, and particularly benefit the hotel and hospitality sector.
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In America, Federal government workers are being ordered to work five days in the office, despite a recent poll suggesting that 77 percent of Americans supported flexible work arrangements. In Australia, a mixture of incentives and directives has seen a large increase in office attendance.
Recent CBD office occupancy statistics showed Brisbane office workers had the biggest jump in office occupancy, with the 50c public transport fares cited as a major contributing factor in boosting average weekly attendance rates from 78 percent to 88 percent in the past 12 months. Perth and Adelaide office occupancies are also close to 2019 levels.
Sydney’s office occupancy rate recovered to 76 percent by the end of 2024, but working from home on Mondays and Fridays remained a strong trend. Government-worker-dominated Canberra experienced an increase from 54 percent to 65 percent during 2023, while the traditional laggard, Melbourne, recorded 61 percent office occupancy by the end of 2024.
While cost-effective public transport might have been the incentive for increasing Brisbane office attendance, some companies have decided to mandate more in-office team collaboration.
Commonwealth Bank issued a requirement for employees to spend at least four hours in the office each day, and Woolworths has instructed its 10,000 office-based staff to return to the workplace for at least three days a week. This follows a similar Coles directive last year, while large corporations such as ANZ, Origin Energy and AGL are linking office attendance with performance reviews and potential bonuses.
Recruitment company Robert Half estimates that for large corporations, the amount of time mandated for employees to work from the office has increased from 3.43 days in 2024 to 3.64 days in 2025, a figure that will likely accelerate in 2025.
How can hotels tap into the return-to-office trend?
For hoteliers, the most obvious implication of having more workers in offices is the opportunity for growing F&B and meetings/functions business. This indicates a shift back towards face-to-face interactions, which many team members have missed during remote work periods.
The return of the business lunch to network with clients is firmly back on the agenda. This doesn’t necessarily mean long lunches, but hotels offering express style menus will be well-positioned to grow their patronage.
Many hotels have already started targeting the corporate lunch market. An express lunch at Kimpton Margot Sydney is popular, offering one course for just $35, including a glass of wine. Collins Kitchen at the Grant Hyatt Melbourne offers a two-course express lunch for $50. Marriott Melbourne’s business lunch starts at just $22 a head, while Quincy Melbourne’s Salted Egg $39 express lunch promises that patrons “can be in and out within 45 minutes and have a full belly to boot”.
In Brisbane, you’re likely to find plenty of the business community discussing strategy over a $30 lunch at The Terrace restaurant at the Emporium Southbank, and in Canberra, public servants will be assessing their potential future bosses over a $25 chicken schnitzel lunch at Vibe’s Helix Restaurant, with a glass of wine included to ease the concerns.
For many hotels, the return of office workers can justify the opening or extension of hours of F&B outlets if they can attract enough weekday workers. This can also be the time to use loyalty member databases to market F&B offers. Knowing that a CBA office will likely be 80 percent full throughout the week represents a powerful prospect for a nearby hotel to increase its marketing of F&B.
Reversing the Teams/Zoom trend to rebuild business events
A resurgence of corporate events was a key takeout of the recent JLL’s Hotel Operators’ Sentiment Survey in the Asia Pacific region. Over 80 percent of hotel operators surveyed anticipated increased revenue from meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions.
This is backed up by data from event software provider Cvent, which reported that business events planners in Australia and NZ are forecasting a 68 percent increase in the total volume of events in 2025 compared to last year.
With companies realising the potential of face-to-face meetings to boost competitiveness, hotels will need to assess whether they have the appropriate venues to take advantage of the expected growth in business events.
For instance, flexible event spaces will be in greater demand for small to medium meetings. Boardrooms could be valuable for think tank strategy-style meetings, and atmospheric private dining venues could be attractive for high-level client entertaining.
For decades the corporate market was the bedrock of demand for most CBD hotels, and while office attendance is unlikely to ever return to 2019 levels, the trend analysis suggests that the revival is gathering momentum.
Ross Beardsell has over three decades of experience in the hotel industry in senior management roles in operations and development. Working initially with Southern Pacific Hotels, then IHG and the Carlson Group, Ross worked in GM positions across the Asia Pacific. In 2008, he joined JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group, providing asset management services on behalf of hotel owners to maximise profitability and to provide strategic guidance. He has provided hotel advisory services to the owners of luxury, upscale, mid-market, new hotels, limited-service accommodation, resorts, convention hotels, and pubs – both nationally and internationally.