Google offers special rate for its on-site hotel to lure workers back to office

CALIFORNIA - Google’s attempt to entice workers into going back to the office with an on-site hotel deal has not been convincing to some employees.

The company said full-time employees can book a room at an on-campus hotel in Mountain View for US$99 (S$133) a night in what it has claimed to be a “Summer Special”, according to CNBC.

The description states that the special will run through Sept 30 in hopes that it will “make it easier for Googlers to transition to the hybrid workplace”.

The Google-owned hotel, which opened in 2022, is situated on a newer campus in Mountain View, California. The 17ha campus is adjacent to Nasa’s Ames Research Centre and has the capacity to house 4,000 employees working on its ads products, the company said upon its opening.

At the heart of Silicon Valley, the city of Mountain View is especially short on housing and contains large swathes of corporate offices – many of which are owned or leased by Google.

Since the on-site stay promotion is for unapproved business travel, the special’s description states that it will not reimburse the employees’ stays and will require them to use their personal credit cards.

“Just imagine no commute to the office in the morning and instead, you could have an extra hour of sleep and less friction,” the description read. “Next, you could walk out of your room and quickly grab a delicious breakfast or get a workout in before work starts.”

The ad goes on to say that after the working day ends, “you could enjoy a quiet evening on top of the rooftop deck or take in one of the fun local activities”.

A Google spokesman told CNBC that the company regularly runs specials for employees to take advantage of the company’s spaces and amenities.

Internal discussion forums revealed mixed opinions about the hotel deal among employees.

At US$99 a night, the hotel would amount to roughly US$3,000 a month, employees pointed out in internal discussions viewed by CNBC.

“I pay more and get a lot less in total for my apartment,” wrote one employee. “Though admittedly where I live is much better.”

Another thought it was still too expensive. “If it was around US$60 a night, that could be a fine-ish alternative to apartments, but US$99? No thanks.”

“I would’ve totally done it, had it fit a certain profile: US$3k rent all-in, fully furnished, unlimited meals, paid utilities, plus housekeeping/cleaning every day,” another employee wrote.

Google began bringing most employees back to physical offices three days a week in 2022, following several changes in its return-to-office plans that were complicated by spikes in Covid-19 infection rates.

However, attendance had been sparse in the months that followed mandatory return to office as workers pushed back, citing high housing costs near offices and higher productivity while working remotely, which corresponded with record profits for the company.

In June, Google became stricter, announcing new enforcements that included using office attendance in performance reviews and tracking badge data. The company’s human resources chief even asked already approved remote workers to reconsider their status and rejoin their colleagues in office.