A Sunshine Coast entrepreneur and businesswoman has harnessed the current working landscape to connect remote workers to office spaces throughout regional Australia.
Designed with the future in mind, Meetings Now bridges the gap between professionals needing occasional space and businesses with available space to rent.
Inspired by a shift in how people work since the pandemic, Victoria Berry saw the potential in office space left vacant by people continuing to work from home, and so created a solution.
Businesses can list spare offices or boardrooms on the Meetings Now site, allowing workers to rent them by the hour or for a half or full day for meetings or workshops.
As CEO and director of accounting firm HBA Encompass, Ms Berry said unused space at the company’s Birtinya and Gympie offices were the catalyst for bringing the idea to fruition.
“Both offices had offices and boardrooms which were either empty or not used on a daily basis,” she said.
“When thinking about the use of these rooms and potentially subleasing them, we realised that hourly, half day or full day was an option, rather than a permanent tenant, as that way we could use them if we needed to.
“We realised that other professionals probably had the same issue – either empty our under-utilised space.”
Ms Berry said she remembered her father travelling regional Queensland for work and having contacts with a lawyer or accountant in town to use their premises while away.
“There are always people traveling who need a room to utilise, whether it be to meet with clients, prospective clients or just somewhere quiet to work,” she said.
“COVID has proven that work is able to be completed anywhere but sometimes you simply need an office.
“From there it was a matter of finding a platform to manage these bookings and then beginning to market our concept to business owners and people needing the room to hire.”
The platform launched in July with locations currently available at Birtinya, Gympie and Maroochydore.
Ms Berry said Meetings Now acted as an intermediary to connect hosts with guests.
“Hosts can sign up with as many rooms as they like. They can choose their availability and block out times they want to use the rooms themselves,” she said.
“Guests can book the room as needed from as little as 15 minutes’ notice, depending on the location.”
Ms Berry said with a “build it and they will come” focus, the service was now looking for more hosts with plans to expand nationwide.
“The more venues we have available to offer, the more that guests will take up the offer to hire the premises,” she said.
“We are in discussions with business owners in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast to provide premises.
“Our attention is regional centres – to start with we are focusing on Queensland, and ultimately would love to offer our services Australia-wide.”
Ms Berry, who has almost 30 years of business experience, said she understood the importance of collaboration and was “keen to see the mutual benefits that Meetings Now can bring”.
She described the platform as a “convenient, efficient and cost-effective way to list and hire office space”.
Rooms can be listed and hired at meetingsnow.com.au.
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