Hospitality Ventures Management Group plans to announce next
week a joint venture with shared workspace supplier Serendipity Labs to grow
the latter's presence and expand it into the hospitality sector.
Led by former Worktopia CEO John Arenas, Serendipity Labs
provides temporary workspaces for mobile workers and space for small meetings
and events. The company operates on a monthly fee-based membership model, based
on use. It currently has locations in Rye, N.Y., and Chicago, with plans to
open a location near Grand Central Terminal in New York this summer.
"It's a phenomenal concept that's got opportunities for
members to have their own office or use it for meetings and catered events,"
HVMG president and CEO Robert Cole said. "They have Smart Boards,
high-speed Internet and all the bells and whistles you'd expect in an upscale
business center."
The partnership with HVMG, an Atlanta-based hotel management
and ownership group with 42 hotels across the United States, will help
Serendipity grow its presence, he said. Under the agreement, HVMG will open and
operate Serendipity workspaces.
"This has a strong hospitality focus," Cole said. "It
will be a very service-oriented culture with high service standards."
Within the next month or so, HVMG plans to begin
construction on the first location under the joint venture, about 18,000 square
feet of space in downtown Chicago. During the next year, the group also plans
to announce locations within hotels, according to Cole.
"This is a good solution for inefficient hotel space,"
he said. "This also could potentially make business centers in hotels
obsolete."