Most co-working spaces offer you various plans to suit your business needs – one such example is the option to take either a hot desk or a dedicated desk. What’s the difference? Put simply, a hot desk is a flexible membership where you can make use of a group of desk-spaces – but without having one permanent space, to call your own. Contrastingly, a dedicated desk (or as we call it, a resident desk) allows you to have a desk of your own, on a permanent basis.
These two options prove extremely popular at Avenue HQ, with many different members using our hot desks, as well as using our dedicated desks. If you’re unsure exactly which option would be right for you, or what benefits both options can bring, this guide should make that a lot clearer.
Benefits of Hot Desks
Here are just a few of the benefits of using hot desks:
Cost
Hot desk memberships are cheaper than dedicated desk memberships – purely as you’re not using up one space permanently. Hot desking usually means you want the ability to use the space as much as you need, and only pay for the time used. Our Flex membership at Avenue HQ allows exactly this – you only pay for the days you use the space. Similarly, our Hot Desk membership gives you 10 days a month, with the ability to pay for more. For many businesses, it doesn’t make financial sense to pay for a space for a month, when it will only be used sparingly.
Flexibility
Similarly, growing businesses can’t be sure that they’ll make use of the space permanently, either. If you’re away a lot on client meetings, or you’re opening your business in a new location, chances are you don’t need access to a workspace in one location all the time. Instead, you require the flexibility to only use the location when needed – and not waste money on paying for it for a whole month.
Ability to Grow
By choosing this more flexible membership, you are enabling your business to grow at the rate it requires – and it means you can easily upgrade your plan too, if needed. At Avenue HQ, we have seen many members start off with a flexible hot desk membership, only to see their business take off and for them to require a dedicated desk, or a private office. With a hot desk membership, you aren’t committing to too much too soon – instead, working in a way that suits your current business needs.
Benefits of Dedicated Desks
So, we’ve seen the benefits of a hot desk membership, but why take up a dedicated desk? Here are a few reasons:
Community
By choosing a dedicated desk, you’re surrounded by other businesses and individuals who have chosen to do the same thing. We have found a great community amongst the people using dedicated desks, as they get to know each other, understand each other’s businesses and learn how they can work together. Even businesses with vastly different goals or in very different markets can find common ground – and this is where we see exciting collaboration happening. Whereas hot desks might mean you meet new people every day, or only see the same people infrequently, there is a strong sense of community through dedicated desks.
Ownership
Having a dedicated desk gives you more of a sense of ownership within the space – you are here permanently, and have a space of your own. Whereas hot desk members have use of a selection of desks, you have your own, meaning you feel more attached to the space itself. With this increased sense of ownership come other benefits – at Avenue HQ, due to the fact you’re a permanent member, you receive more credits to use in our meeting rooms, giving you greater use of the space.
Make Space Your Own
Of course, one of the main benefits of dedicated desks is that you can really make the desk your own. There’s no rush in the morning to secure your favourite seat, and no worry over whether or not someone will have impinged on your space – it is entirely yours. We would encourage adding some shrubbery to make it at home – in fact, often we’ll provide this ourselves. If you have lots of different screens, or want to store your important documents, a dedicated desk is a great way of doing this, and creating a small home from home.
In conclusion, if you’re at the early stages of developing a business, you will enjoy the incubator feel of hot desks – chatting to other flexible members, understanding how they are growing their business and what they need support in. This isn’t to say, however, that hot desks are only for businesses starting off – we’ve seen our hot desk space used by businesses of all sizes, from all sectors. If you are seeking the flexibility of using the space when you want, then hot desk is definitely the right membership.
However, dedicated desks can work just as well for businesses of all sizes. If you’re looking for a desk to make your own, which you’ll use frequently and become part of a community, then this membership is the right one for you.
No matter what your business needs, explore our membership plans or get in touch to find out how Avenue HQ can help you.