Google’s $99 a night company hotel advertises ‘no commute’ as a perk

Google is offering its employees a new incentive to come into its Mountain View, California office: discounted hotel stays. The company is promoting $99 per night rates for its on-campus hotel to help remote employees transition into a hybrid working schedule, according to a report from CNBC.

Materials sent to Google employees, which were viewed by CNBC, paint a rosy picture of having no commute with “an extra hour of sleep and less friction” when getting to work.

Google started requiring workers to return to the office for three days per week last year and has continued pushing for employees to adopt hybrid work schedules since then. In June, CNBC reported that Google updated its policy to include badge tracking and said in-person attendance would be considered during performance reviews.

At that time, CNBC also reported that Google was in the process of reevaluating the fully remote status of some of its employees as well. Recent cuts at Google included announcing 12,000 layoffs in January.

The hotel is part of Google’s new 42-acre Bay View campus that opened in Mountain View last year after years of planning and can hold 4,000 employees.

The materials point out that the company provides breakfast, too. The hotel stays will reportedly not count as approved business travel, though. The discounted hotel rate only lasts until September 30th, but it’s not clear how much it will cost after that.

A Google spokesperson told CNBC that it regularly offers discounts on its spaces and amenities for employees.

Assuming a Google employee stayed for 30 straight days, that’s about $2,970 per month — a bit less than the median rate of one-bedroom apartments in the San Francisco area but not as much of a value on of the price of more permanent housing. A quick Google search for four-star hotels in the area yielded rates between $120–$250 per night.

According to CNBC, employees have discussed the offer on an internal forum with mixed feelings. “Now I can give some of my pay back to Google,” one employee wrote, and another pointed out that Google’s amenities are better than what’s offered at their own apartment.