Google Offers Discounted Rates At Campus Hotel In US To Lure Staff Back To Office

Work From Home became a worldwide norm in the wake of the pandemic. Now that Covid-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, companies are asking their staff to return to the workplace on a full-time basis. However, not everyone is comfortable with the idea. In an effort to lure its employees back to the office, Google is offering its workers discounted nightly stays at a hotel.

The tech giant is now offering a "Summer Special" program to let employees stay at an on-campus hotel for a discount, around $99 per day (around Rs 8,190), according to materials viewed by CNBC. The description states that the special will run through September 30 in hopes it'll ''make it easier for Googlers to transition to the hybrid workplace.''

The discounted hotel rate only lasts until September 30th, and it's not clear how much it will cost after that. Notably, the hotel is owned by the online search giant and is housed on its Mountain View campus. It can hold 4,000 employees.

The description reads, "Just imagine no commute to the office in the morning, and instead, you could have an extra hour of sleep and less friction... Next, you could walk out of your room and quickly grab a delicious breakfast or get a workout in before work starts." 

However, employees aren't impressed with the offer, with many pointing out that at $99 a night, the hotel would amount to roughly $3,000 a month.

“If it was around $60 a night, that could be a fine-ish alternative to apartments, but $99? No thanks,” one staffer wrote, as reported by New York Post.

''We regularly run accommodation specials for local or traveling Googlers to take advantage of our spaces and amenities. We advertise these in a regular Perks email which also contains discounts for employees on other services and entertainment options,'' Google spokesperson Ryan Lamont said in a statement to The Verge.

Notably, Google has been urging staffers to return to the office since April of last year, when it made the three-days-a-week mandate.

Recently, Zoom also asked all of its employees to return to the office for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The company has requested all employees within 50 miles of a company office to return for in-person work at least two days a week on a hybrid schedule.