Georgia Collins
CBRE has expanded and rebranded its global workplace experience services offering under the name Host. The service combines services and training with an enterprise-grade technology platform and app.
Formerly called CBRE360, Host joins the marketplace as workplace amenities become an increasingly important part of the employee experience.
GlobeSt.com caught up with CBRE’s joint global leads of Host, Georgia Collins and Alex Andel, for an exclusive discussion of the program.
GlobeSt.com: The workplace-services space isn’t new territory for CBRE. How has CBRE’s approach evolved into Host?
Collins: That is correct. This is an extension of what CBRE introduced last year as CBRE 360, but we now have enhanced the offering as Host.
CBRE long has managed buildings and property portfolios through our global Property Management business and Global Workplace Solutions business. What’s different with Host is the extent and depth of service that we offer to employees on behalf of building occupiers and owners.
That includes three primary facets: concierge-quality services from on-site hosts, world-class customer service training and certification, and a comprehensive technology platform for easily coordinating services to and in the building.
The tech aspect of that is interesting. What does that entail?
Andel: The Host app provides easy access to a broad array of services in a single interface. This directly solves the ‘app for that dilemma.’ By that, I mean that we’ve all seen instances in which there’s a different app for each service you could request in a building, resulting in half a dozen more icons on your phone’s home screen. Host consolidates all of that into a single app. We’ve also incorporated a recommendation engine. That’s a service based in artificial intelligence which continually learns a given users preferences so as to recommend relevant options to that user when he or she is considering various services through the app.
What’s an example of this app in action?
Andel: An employee could use the app to reserve a conference room, share their location with a coworker, order a lunch delivery and submit a request for a Host concierge to retrieve a delivery of office supplies. All from their phone. And all on a single platform branded with the name of their company or building owner. Our hosts are on-site help to make sure everything goes as planned.
This app was developed in-house by CBRE’s product managers, designers, data scientists and engineers.
What about the training aspect?
Collins: This is why we say Host is led by people and enabled by technology. Hospitality is inherently a human-centered experience. Technology must be part of it, but not all of it. Our hosts act as air-traffic control for all employee-facing services, connecting people to services inside and outside of the building. We train our people extensively on catering to employees’ needs. We also offer training and certification for companies’ staffs to do the same under our Host Method for front-of-house personnel.