The global economy was heavily affected by the pandemic, and Hong Kong was no exception. With unemployment reaching a high level at the time, many businesses began considering whether they should change their operating model to reduce costs and survive difficult conditions.
This article uses co-working spaces as an example to show how digital systems can reduce operating costs for shared workspaces.
Hong Kong has many freelancers, and many of them find it easy to become distracted when working from home. As a result, they often choose nearby co-working spaces to maintain productivity. In recent years, demand for co-working spaces increased, and many people invested in this business model.
The pandemic created an unexpected challenge. Under social distancing restrictions, revenue fell by around 30% to 40%. The basic operating costs of a co-working space include rent, utilities, equipment maintenance, and manpower. Among these, manpower is often the most controllable cost, so merchants may try to reduce it first. However, reducing manpower can also affect service quality. Digital systems can help close this gap.
Traditional Reservation Methods
Many co-working spaces still use traditional reservation methods, such as email or WhatsApp, to communicate with customers. In terms of setup cost, this may be a cheaper approach. In terms of efficiency, however, it is weaker.
Traditional reservations involve longer waiting times, which can reduce customer patience and purchasing intention. Repeated confirmation is often required during communication, making the process complicated and inefficient. Human errors are also more likely. Customers cannot view real-time availability, so the experience lacks immediacy. These small issues can significantly affect customer satisfaction.
Online Booking System
An online booking system is different from traditional reservations. Although both use online channels to handle bookings, an Online Booking System is a digital operation that can properly arrange and process reservation details without manual assistance. The only manual work required is system setup.
Administrators can set up multiple reservable facilities or rooms in the backend and name them, such as Meeting Room A, Meeting Room B, and Meeting Room C. They can also set an independent booking schedule for each item. The schedule can be displayed in calendar form, making reservation details easy to understand.
Administrators can freely define the length of each time slot, such as 30 minutes per session, and temporarily remove unavailable times when needed. With only a few steps, a business can activate its own online booking system.
In the next article, we will explain the advantages of Online Booking Systems and introduce another technology system suitable for co-working space operations. If you want to learn more about online booking systems or ways to reduce operating costs, stay tuned for our updates.
Translation supported by AI.