That's one way to draw people back to the office: Google hotel reportedly touts $99 special to 'make it easier for Googlers to transition to the hybrid workplace'
- Google is offering staff a promotion to stay at its on-campus hotel for $99 a night, CNBC reported.
- Staff have to cover the expense themselves, but it could be cheaper than some San Francisco rent.
Google is trying to incentivize its workers to come into the office by promoting a "Summer Special" for its hotel on its campus in Mountain View, California, according to a recent report from CNBC.
The special was sent to Google staff and offers them the opportunity to stay in one of its hotel rooms near the company's headquarters for $99 per night as part of a promotion that will run until September 30, CNBC reported.
The Google promotion said it would "make it easier for Googlers to transition to the hybrid workplace," CNBC reported. Though, workers will be expected to pay for the hotel stay out-of-pocket as it will not be considered refundable business travel, the publication said.
Google spokesperson Ryan Lamont told Insider the promotion is nothing out of the ordinary for the company.
"We regularly run accommodation specials for local or traveling Googlers to take advantage of our spaces and amenities," he said in an emailed statement. "We advertise these in a regular Perks email which also contains discounts for employees on other services and entertainment options."
The promotion generated some discussion on a Google's internal employee forum, with some poking fun at the offer and others pointing out $99 a night would be cheaper than some of them pay for their apartments in the Bay area, CNBC reported. For example, one month of sleeping at the hotel would cost a Google employee about $3,000 and the median rent for an apartment in San Francisco is about $3,600, according to Zillow.
Some Googlers also commented on the offer on the anonymous job-posting site Blind. The platform verifies user employment using company emails, but Insider did not independently confirm the users' identity.
"I'm planning to use it for a few days while I travel to Bay area for a personal event," a Google employee wrote on Blind. "The way I see it, it's basically a great hotel at a cheap price."
The hotel is on Google's brand new Bay View campus that opened only last year near the company's headquarters. It has about 240 hotel rooms and serves as a hub for about 4,000 employees who work on Google ads products, the company said when the facility first opened.
The promotion appears to be one of several steps Google has taken to bring more remote workers back into the office. Last year, Google said some of its workers must be in the office at least three days a week, but faced pushback from staff. More recently, the company said in June that some employees could receive negative performance reviews as a result of failing to come into the office often enough — a move that frustrated some Google staff, Insider's Hugh Langley previously reported.
Do you work for Google or in tech? Reach out to the reporter from a non-work email at gkay@insider.com