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Much to the chagrin of business travelers, Marriott Hotels is doing away with the desks inside of its guestrooms.
Considering Marriott International's flagship brand operates more than 500 properties in more than four dozen countries, the decision is a significant one, and one that many frustrated guests have blamed on the increased fascination with millennials.
But a company spokeswoman has sinced debunked the myth, citing improving technology as the biggest reason for the change.
"It's really technology driven. Technology has gotten a lot smaller. People are on their iPads, iPhones," Marriott International's senior director for consumer public relations Nina Herrera-Davila told CBC News.
With many of today's business travelers working from their phones and tablets, one can certainly conclude that desks are in less demand.
According to Herrera-Davila, the Marriott Hotels brand is looking to "re-imagine their rooms - they're doing things to the bathrooms, they're doing other things - and the work surface was one of the things that was looked at."
"We have customers and guests and focus groups walking through and using the space, the target customer for that brand," she told CBC News. "So it's never going to please everyone."
While there's no denying technology has come a long way, many guests would still consider a desk a must-have for their hotel room. Lounges and meeting spaces will suffice for some, but they lack the privacy of an in-room work space.
But since it'll be years before the brand is completely free of desks, only time will tell whether Marriott Hotels' decision will prove to be the right one.
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