4 ms·

It's in slightly better taste, and it's even arguably beneficial as an option if any employees actually want to do this, but I think ultimately it's the exact s

It's in slightly better taste, and it's even arguably beneficial as an option if any employees actually want to do this, but I think ultimately it's the exact same sin: Normalizing the idea of sleeping at work. It's insidious.

rcme 3y ago
What about people visiting from out of town?
seanmcdirmid 3y ago
It isn't oriented at local employees, probably. More like...hey some Googler from Seattle needs to visit Mountain View for a few days, and doesn't want to drive, where will they sleep?
- vbezhenar 3y ago
  Mountain View does not have any hotels? Sounds weird.
  - jonny_eh 3y ago
    They're very expensive.
  - gruez 3y ago
    I'm sure Palo Alto has hotels too, but Stanford still runs their own.
    - colordrops 3y ago
      Google is not a university. Do you think Stanford could come up with something like WEI?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - erik_seaberg 3y ago
    The way I heard it, Googleplex land uses are limited because it’s so close to Shoreline wetlands. The nearest hotel (Shashi) is about a mile away to the southeast, but it now seems to be surrounded by newer Google offices so maybe the campus shuttles would serve that street?
  - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
    If you know where Google's office is, ya, there isn't any hotels nearby. You would probably have to trudge out to across El Camino, better have a rental car! Definitely nothing nearby at $99/night...maybe East Palo Alto?
    - sangnoir 3y ago
      > Definitely nothing nearby at $99/night...maybe East Palo Alto Why fixate on $99/night as if Google won't pay for/refund $500/night hotel stays and cover rentals for employees it requested to report to Mountain View? Even if there are no hotels nearby, Im sure there are dozens of hotels within walking distance of a Google shuttle stop all across the bay. If Google won't pay for your hotel but still expects you to HFW (H@W?), well - that's a little gross.
      - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
        I think the going rate for a room now, just three stars or less, is around $200-250? And that’s anywhere close or not. I don’t think shuttles service hotel areas, since they are focused on Google’s who live in residential areas. It’s not like Europe where hotels are often mixed in with residential areas.
        sangnoir 3y ago
        > It’s not like Europe where hotels are often mixed in with residential areas. I disagree - I did a search for "Hotels in Mountain view"[1] and I see no distinction between "residential areas" and hotel areas. I randomly searched for apartments close to 5 hotels, and 4 of them had apartments within 2 blocks. Unfortunately Google's shuttle-stops are confidential so I can't correlate how close some of them are to hotels. Regardless, Google can afford to shuttle its employees 1. https://www.google.com/maps/search/hotels+in+mountain+view/@37.4006455,-122.0875807,13.79z?entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/search/hotels+in+mountain+view/@...
        seanmcdirmid 3y ago
bombcar 3y ago
How’s the song go? Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime. That’s why I sleep on company time.
CaliforniaKarl 3y ago
It may be the exact same sin, but that's not the point I'm making. Though TBH, as others note, I doubt this is normally meant for local employees. At some scale, it makes sense for a large company to have their own hotel (either run by them, or contracted out) to host employees traveling in. And if you've got a hotel like that, you have a certain occupancy rate that separates profit and loss. Advertisements to local employees make sense, in such a situation.
- pyrale 3y ago
  But who takes vacations at the office? If it's a work trip, it's work expenses.
  - treesciencebot 3y ago
    > If it's a work trip, it's work expenses That doesn't probably affect the financials of the hotel though (assuming its financial profit/loss charts are totally independent from google's OpEx)
    - CaliforniaKarl 3y ago
      Exactly. Take the Stanford Guest House: It is operated by Residential & Dining Enterprises, which is an auxiliary. It is expected to maintain its own financials, and break even (or make a profit) on its own. It's not perfect (for example, accounting for students who get free room & board), but it's largely completely separate.
orra 3y ago
It's deeply insidious. From the advert, they recognise that time is valuable: > Just imagine no commute to the office in the morning and instead, you could have an extra hour of sleep and less friction Cool, you mean by working from home? No? Oh, you want me to home at work. Gross. People deserve a life away from work.

rcme 3y ago

What about people visiting from out of town?

seanmcdirmid 3y ago

It isn't oriented at local employees, probably. More like...hey some Googler from Seattle needs to visit Mountain View for a few days, and doesn't want to drive, where will they sleep?

vbezhenar 3y ago
Mountain View does not have any hotels? Sounds weird.
- jonny_eh 3y ago
  They're very expensive.
- gruez 3y ago
  I'm sure Palo Alto has hotels too, but Stanford still runs their own.
  - colordrops 3y ago
    Google is not a university. Do you think Stanford could come up with something like WEI?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- erik_seaberg 3y ago
  The way I heard it, Googleplex land uses are limited because it’s so close to Shoreline wetlands. The nearest hotel (Shashi) is about a mile away to the southeast, but it now seems to be surrounded by newer Google offices so maybe the campus shuttles would serve that street?
- seanmcdirmid 3y ago
  If you know where Google's office is, ya, there isn't any hotels nearby. You would probably have to trudge out to across El Camino, better have a rental car! Definitely nothing nearby at $99/night...maybe East Palo Alto?
  - sangnoir 3y ago
    > Definitely nothing nearby at $99/night...maybe East Palo Alto Why fixate on $99/night as if Google won't pay for/refund $500/night hotel stays and cover rentals for employees it requested to report to Mountain View? Even if there are no hotels nearby, Im sure there are dozens of hotels within walking distance of a Google shuttle stop all across the bay. If Google won't pay for your hotel but still expects you to HFW (H@W?), well - that's a little gross.
    - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
      I think the going rate for a room now, just three stars or less, is around $200-250? And that’s anywhere close or not. I don’t think shuttles service hotel areas, since they are focused on Google’s who live in residential areas. It’s not like Europe where hotels are often mixed in with residential areas.
      - sangnoir 3y ago
        > It’s not like Europe where hotels are often mixed in with residential areas. I disagree - I did a search for "Hotels in Mountain view"[1] and I see no distinction between "residential areas" and hotel areas. I randomly searched for apartments close to 5 hotels, and 4 of them had apartments within 2 blocks. Unfortunately Google's shuttle-stops are confidential so I can't correlate how close some of them are to hotels. Regardless, Google can afford to shuttle its employees 1. https://www.google.com/maps/search/hotels+in+mountain+view/@37.4006455,-122.0875807,13.79z?entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/search/hotels+in+mountain+view/@...
        seanmcdirmid 3y ago

bombcar 3y ago

How’s the song go? Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime. That’s why I sleep on company time.

CaliforniaKarl 3y ago

It may be the exact same sin, but that's not the point I'm making. Though TBH, as others note, I doubt this is normally meant for local employees. At some scale, it makes sense for a large company to have their own hotel (either run by them, or contracted out) to host employees traveling in. And if you've got a hotel like that, you have a certain occupancy rate that separates profit and loss. Advertisements to local employees make sense, in such a situation.

pyrale 3y ago
But who takes vacations at the office? If it's a work trip, it's work expenses.
- treesciencebot 3y ago
  > If it's a work trip, it's work expenses That doesn't probably affect the financials of the hotel though (assuming its financial profit/loss charts are totally independent from google's OpEx)
  - CaliforniaKarl 3y ago
    Exactly. Take the Stanford Guest House: It is operated by Residential & Dining Enterprises, which is an auxiliary. It is expected to maintain its own financials, and break even (or make a profit) on its own. It's not perfect (for example, accounting for students who get free room & board), but it's largely completely separate.

orra 3y ago

It's deeply insidious. From the advert, they recognise that time is valuable: > Just imagine no commute to the office in the morning and instead, you could have an extra hour of sleep and less friction Cool, you mean by working from home? No? Oh, you want me to home at work. Gross. People deserve a life away from work.