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Lodging in city centers has become outrageously expensive and I talked to several people at Meta recently who were struggling to find decent hotels within their

Lodging in city centers has become outrageously expensive and I talked to several people at Meta recently who were struggling to find decent hotels within their travel budgets. If I had to stress out about affording a room during a mandatory work trip, I'd be pissed too. If you can't afford to put your staff up at a decent hotel near your office, don't make them travel.

traveler01 4y ago
These big companies clearly hate remote work as it seems. Even Apple is forcing its workers to go back to the office. I guess they want workers to be presential but don't want to pay them enough for the expenses huh.
- hnaccount_rng 4y ago
  Why do you say "even Apple"? I would have expected Apple in particular to be against working from home and for on premise secrecy
- r00fus 4y ago
  Apple is trying but not succeeding very well (from my friends who work there - some of whom do go in nearly daily). Google and Apple campuses are quite empty most of the time.
denton-scratch 4y ago
I had to travel for work from London to Ottawa. They put me up in a suite hotel; there was a kitchenette, a huge TV, another huge TV in the bedroom, a second double bedroom, and a bathroom with twin washbasins. The next day I discovered a utility room with a washer and dryer; and a second bathroom, also with twin washstands. The only problem was that the hotel had no bar; to get booze, I had to go to the hotel next door. I later learned that there was a major international conference going on in Ottawa at that time, and all the hotel rooms had been taken by politicians and diplomats. They weren't doing me a favour; they were just ensuring as best they could that I didn't jump on the next flight back to London.
francisofascii 4y ago
> struggling to find decent hotels within their travel budgets Don't they have a travel department to worry about booking accommodations? I can confirm hotels in some cities (downtown Boston, for example), are crazy pricy these days. It seems like you can't even find a bad hotel under $450 depending on what is happening that week or weekend.
- ghaff 4y ago
  Urban hotels seem to have gotten back to something like pre-COVID levels depending on what's going on at a given time. I live far enough out of Boston that I occasionally book hotel when I'm at a multi-day event and pricing in Boston and Cambridge are pretty much in line with NYC, SF, and other top dollar places.
- scarface74 4y ago
  A travel department? I work in consulting at $BigTech. We go into Concur and book our travel. Sure we have a policy about how much we can spend on hotels. But if I book “our of policy” for any reason, my explanation can be as simple as “I wanted to be in walking distance to the site” and have never gotten push back. Especially when it was for in house traffic (ie not billing a customer)

traveler01 4y ago

These big companies clearly hate remote work as it seems. Even Apple is forcing its workers to go back to the office. I guess they want workers to be presential but don't want to pay them enough for the expenses huh.

hnaccount_rng 4y ago
Why do you say "even Apple"? I would have expected Apple in particular to be against working from home and for on premise secrecy
r00fus 4y ago
Apple is trying but not succeeding very well (from my friends who work there - some of whom do go in nearly daily). Google and Apple campuses are quite empty most of the time.

denton-scratch 4y ago

I had to travel for work from London to Ottawa. They put me up in a suite hotel; there was a kitchenette, a huge TV, another huge TV in the bedroom, a second double bedroom, and a bathroom with twin washbasins. The next day I discovered a utility room with a washer and dryer; and a second bathroom, also with twin washstands. The only problem was that the hotel had no bar; to get booze, I had to go to the hotel next door. I later learned that there was a major international conference going on in Ottawa at that time, and all the hotel rooms had been taken by politicians and diplomats. They weren't doing me a favour; they were just ensuring as best they could that I didn't jump on the next flight back to London.

francisofascii 4y ago

> struggling to find decent hotels within their travel budgets Don't they have a travel department to worry about booking accommodations? I can confirm hotels in some cities (downtown Boston, for example), are crazy pricy these days. It seems like you can't even find a bad hotel under $450 depending on what is happening that week or weekend.

ghaff 4y ago
Urban hotels seem to have gotten back to something like pre-COVID levels depending on what's going on at a given time. I live far enough out of Boston that I occasionally book hotel when I'm at a multi-day event and pricing in Boston and Cambridge are pretty much in line with NYC, SF, and other top dollar places.
scarface74 4y ago
A travel department? I work in consulting at $BigTech. We go into Concur and book our travel. Sure we have a policy about how much we can spend on hotels. But if I book “our of policy” for any reason, my explanation can be as simple as “I wanted to be in walking distance to the site” and have never gotten push back. Especially when it was for in house traffic (ie not billing a customer)