The Best Hot Desk Booking Software List
After carefully reviewing many different options, here’s my list of the best hot desk booking software, with detailed summaries below:
The pandemic has transformed the way we work, and hybrid schedules are here to stay. To make the most out of office floor plans, hot desk booking software has risen to the occasion. Hot desks (a.k.a. first-come-first-served desk reservations) allow employees to access unused workstations in a pinch. The distinction for desk hoteling is reservations for workspaces are submitted in advance.
Hot desk booking software describes one element of a new wave of space utilization tools. These systems also allow users to reserve other items like meeting rooms, equipment, or parking spaces. Beyond that, they provide management teams with detailed analytics, to uncover workspace trends.
In this article, I'll review the 10 best hot desking software and their related space management functions. I'll highlight their core features, as well as elements that make them unique.
Overviews of the 10 Best Hot Desk Booking Software
Here’s a brief description of each hot desk booking software that showcases each system’s best use case, plus some noteworthy features, and screenshots to give you a snapshot of their user interface.
deskbird
Best for easy-to-use integrations with MS Teams, Outlook, and Google Workspace
deskbird is a flexible and easy-to-use desk booking solution that your employees can access from anywhere. In just two clicks, you can easily reserve a desk, meeting room, parking spot, or any other resource.
Why I picked deskbird: I included their system because I found their integrations helpful and easy-to-use. For example, you can make bookings through multiple methods, including their web platform, their mobile app, or directly through Microsoft Teams, or Slack. Their software also includes Outlook and Google calendar integrations, you can avoid scheduling conflicts and get real-time analytics.
deskbird Features and Integrations:
Key features in their desk booking tool include health policy reviews prior to checking in, check-ins via QR codes, and incognito bookings if you want your trip to the office to stay anonymous. Platform administrators also have the ability to monitor space utilization metrics, dedicate zones to particular teams, and restrict access to key areas as needed.
Integrations are available with numerous calendar programs, communication tools, and active directory systems. They also have a mobile app for Android and iOS mobile devices.
Pricing for deskbird’s workspace booking tool starts at $1.80/user/month. They also offer a 14-day free trial with no credit card or other strings attached.
Kadence
Best hot desk booking platform for coordinating your people, projects, and spaces
Kadence is a full suite of easy-to-use hybrid working software designed to improve the coordination of people, space and time to help your teams work smarter. Their next-generation operating system for hybrid working was designed to unleash the potential of people, powering a more positive way of working.
Why I picked Kadence: Their intuitive user interface and interactive floor maps (web and mobile versions) help your employees find and book available desks in seconds. Their platform also includes analytics on desk bookings, occupancy, or wasted bookings, to help you get a better understanding of your office space utilization.
Kadence Features and Integrations:
Features include an auto-release capability that eliminates no-shows and improves availability. Another unique team collaboration function is their “Personal Kadence” profile feature that helps office managers and teams get a clear view of employee’s personal preferences, and generates a list of who’s booked to come into the office on any given day to help with efficient meeting coordination.
Kadence integrates fully with Microsoft Teams, Outlook and Google calendars so your teams can easily find, and book available spaces all within the tools they already use.
Pricing for Kadence starts at $4/user/month. They also offer a free demo.
Tactic
Best hot desk and meeting room booking software for coordinating in-office schedules
Tactic’s workplace experience software makes the office a more valuable piece of your company's hybrid work plan. This flexible platform provides a variety of tools that help bring your team together on their own terms.
Why I picked Tactic: With on-demand desk booking and meeting room reservations, team members can plan their preferred hybrid work schedule at the beginning of each week. Using the interactive office map, employees can see which days their team members will be in the office, allowing them to easily coordinate meetings and events, and facilitate in-person collaboration.
Tactic Features and Integrations:
Tactic's features are designed to ensure a safe working environment for all. Their system includes optional health check-ins for office visitors, capacity management tools, and detailed analytics to support contract tracing as needed. On top of all that, the system can also track the vaccination status of your workers—a modern requirement for certain industries.
And the safety features don't stop there. With Tactic's visitor management tools, you can provide guests with a delightful digital check-in process, allowing you to easily collect their information, photo, and necessary signatures. Tactic puts a heavy emphasis on their user experience to eliminate common technology frustrations.
Integrations are available with many popular scheduling and communication apps, such as Slack, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, and Zoom. All features are also available through their Android and iOS apps.
Pricing for Tactic starts at $2.50/desk/month. All plans include a 14-day free trial, no credit card required.
Smartway2
Best hot desk booking solution for hybrid collaboration and safety features
With Smartway2, users can book everything from hot desks, conference rooms, parking spots, or other equipment to enhance their productivity while venturing back to the office.
Why I picked Smartway2: Their mobile “book here and now” feature supports bookings on the fly, or users can book in advance using their calendar feature on mobile or on desktop. As well, their Outlook integration allows you to book a room through your Outlook Calendar, while simultaneously checking whether your colleagues will be in the office and what their availability is for an in-person meeting.
Smartway2 Features and Integrations:
Modern hybrid work challenges are well-integrated into Smartway2’s workplace scheduling tool. Their powerful rules engine behind their hot desk booking solution can be easily configured to allow for social distancing between booked spaces, manage how many occupants can book spaces at the same time, and incorporates time for sanitation services in-between hot desk bookings if required. It also allows for localization of hybrid working policies, which is particularly useful for large muti-nationals with offices in multiple countries hosting thousands of employees.
Another useful feature is their Smart Desk Recovery tool, which scours the systems for any no-shows and releases unused bookings, increasing desk availability for employees and facilitating a better use of space in the office. Room panels can also be installed in meeting rooms or other common spaces so people can quickly make a booking, or check-in for an existing meeting using swipe cards, mobile device activation, or facial recognition.
Integrations are available with Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook, as well as Office 365.
Pricing details for Smartway2's hot desk booking solution are only available upon request. A free demo can also be requested via their website.
Skedda
Best hot desk booking platform with an interactive floor plan and full mobile access
Skedda’s customized booking system allows you to control the allocation of all your corporate spaces including desks, meeting rooms, studios, labs, or anything else you want to make reservable.
Why I picked Skedda: Their system is designed to remove the hassle of manually managing spaces by automating the process and enabling self-service bookings. This means you only have to set up your bookable items and automated user rules and permissions once. After that, your staff will be able to help themselves.
To ensure easy access, Skedda also has full-featured native apps for Android and iOS devices that work for users, as well as owners and administrators.
Skedda Features and Integrations:
Their floorplan maps are interactive, making it easy to view and make bookings directly from the map interface. Included in the floor plan is a time-of-day range-slider, so users can determine exactly when their favourite spot will be available again.
Users can also make reservations through their booking calendar, which allows platform admins to review bookings using day, month, grid (all listings) or list (per space or user) views. For pay-per-use venues, the platform also makes it easy to collect payments from users during their initial booking, which is saved for convenient reuse.
Integrations are available with commonly used calendar programs such as iCloud, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook (and Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 to generate meeting invites and video-conferencing links), and with communication tools like Microsoft Teams, Slack, Trello, Basecamp, Mailchimp, and many others.
Pricing for Skedda starts at $7 per month. A 30-day free trial of their premium version is available, as well as a free demo. They also have a freemium version with limited features for up to 5 bookable spaces.
Deskfound
Best for hot desk management via Google Workspace or a Slack integration
Deskfound is a Slack-based space management software tailored for a hybrid workforce. It allows employees to find the appropriate workspace, view floor plans, and book desk reservations from an easy-to-use, centralized platform or their existing Slack program.
Why I picked Deskfound: The cloud-based software enables supervisors to strategically assign desks to different employees, evaluate seating arrangements, and manage available workspace for a designated number of days or even weeks. It allows employees to manage work desks across multiple locations, view workspace status & availability, and schedule reservations for dedicated and temporary desks in offices.
Deskfound Features and Integrations:
Features include the ability to view desks by area, book permanent or hybrid seats, and update reservations by simply using the built-in drag-and-drop user interface. In addition, the software enables users to easily track each team’s location, configure user access rights, set up the software’s contact tracing functionality, and manage other critical tasks within a unified system. Users can use QR codes to scan desk labels and ensure the visibility of seating arrangements and locations.
Integrations are available with Slack and other third-party applications, including Google Calendar, Google Maps, and Google SSO.
Pricing starts from $1.00/user/month. A free trial is available for the first 10 users.
Eden
Best hot desk and room booking software with a full workplace software suite
Eden’s HR and workplace experience software is modular by design, so you only have to pay for the products you need—making it an affordable option for businesses who want to maintain a flexible, hybrid workforce. Their system includes separate modules for desk booking, room scheduling, visitor management, COVID-19 team safety, deliveries, and internal ticketing, which can be used for IT support, HR requests, and more.
Why I picked Eden: Within their desk booking module, system administrators can limit which desks are available for booking, to ensure social distancing between workers. Their system also supports office neighborhoods, allowing employees from the same department to book spots close to each other for improved collaboration. The system also tracks office space and desk usage metrics, making it easier for operations teams to analyze their usage and reduce wasted space.
Eden Features and Integrations:
In addition to their desk and room booking modules, Eden also has an embedded ticketing system, which can be used for any type of employee service request, such as HR and People Operations requests, IT support, facilities needs, or document formatting requests. Designed to act as a central hub for service requests, this module also includes analytics so teams can understand what type of support their employees need the most.
Integrations are available with Google Calendar, Slack, Microsoft Teams, common HRIS platforms like Gusto, Hibob, and BambooHR, and many other access control and single sign-on directory service applications.
Pricing for Eden is very transparent and modular, depending on the type of booking services you need. For their hot desk booking service, pricing starts at $2.25/desk/month, sold in sets of 25 desks. Their room scheduling software can also be added for free for up to 10 rooms, and their COVID-19 safety features can also be added for free for 1 location up to 50 employees.
Officely
Best hot desk booking tool for hybrid teams that use Slack
Officely is a hot desk booking software that helps businesses manage meeting rooms, desks, and other shared spaces. Their cloud-based solution allows users to see availability in real time, book meeting rooms and desks, and track space usage. One feature that really sets them apart is their full integration with Slack. This means users can receive updates on who's in the office, or when they'll be in next, all within their Slack workspace.
Why I picked Officely: Their software allows employees to reserve space for specific days or times and cancel reservations if they no longer need the space. Users can make individual or group bookings, and also reserve spaces and amenities like parking spots or rooms for private luncheons. Users will receive a confirmation email with all the details about their reservation, including a floor map for easy navigation.
To assist with workforce management, Officely allows employers to limit the time each employee can spend in the office, ensuring everyone can use the space. Moreover, Officely provides employers with data on how their employees use the office, allowing them to make informed decisions about office utilization. The system's overall flexibility helps make hybrid work arrangements more manageable for employers and employees.
Officely Features and Integrations:
Officely allows system administrators to customize their built-in health surveys, such as their automated COVID-19 or vaccine check-ins, which can be incorporated into the desk booking process. Once a health survey is completed, the results are automatically logged into a secure system. This feature helps businesses monitor employee interactions for contract tracing purposes, creating a record of anyone who may have been exposed to the virus. It also helps businesses stay compliant with any local or national guidelines on reporting cases of COVID-19.
Integrations are available natively with popular calendar programs like Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook. In addition, Officely is fully integrated with Slack.
Pricing for Officely starts at $2.50/user/month. They also offer a freemium plan with limited features for up to 10 users too.
FLYDESK
Best hot desk booking solution with weekly schedules and leave management
FLYDESK is a hot desk booking software designed for hybrid teams. It helps businesses manage their flexible workspaces and allows employees to book desks, rooms, and even parking spaces.
Why I picked FLYDESK: This software allows you to fully manage your hybrid workspace. In addition to booking desks, team members can book rooms and parking spaces. This helps make their time at the office productive and eliminate the need to manage logistics upon arrival. You can also manage a weekly schedule through the system, creating visibility around who's working from where, when.
FLYDESK Standout Features and Integrations
The platform shows users real-time availability, so you can see which desks and rooms are available at any given time. The mobile app also makes it easy to book your room or desk from your phone during your commute or between meetings. Employees can input their time off in the software and manage their calendars day-to-day, giving teammates a heads up of when they'll be in or out of office. The platform also offers detailed analytics and reporting, so you can track how your office space is being used and make data-driven decisions about your workspace needs.
Integrations include Slack, Microsoft Suite, Google Workspace, BambooHR, and Payfit.
Pricing starts from $4/user/month, and a 14-day free trial is available.
WorkInSync
Best for hybrid workplace scheduling using virtual assistant software
WorkInSync is a hybrid workplace scheduling solution with all the standard features you’d expect for a hot desk booking application, and more.
Why I picked WorkInSync: The system helps managers stay on top of their hybrid employees by asking staff to fill out an Employee Preference Report once per week, indicating the days they would like to work from home or in the office. When staff are ready to make a booking, they can browse the interactive booking platform to find seats near other team members, and search for workstations with special features, including cubicles with ergonomic chairs, or dual monitors.
Within the same process, employees can also book parking spaces too. On the day of a booking request, the system automatically sends a health risk assessment questionnaire to ensure employees have no cold or flu symptoms before heading to the office.
WorkInSync Features and Integrations:
The platform boasts several unique features that I haven’t seen in other systems. To improve productivity, their software has integrations with Google Assistant, Alexa, and Siri so employees can reserve desk spaces during their drive to the office. Once they arrive, the platform’s Mask Detector feature asks employees to confirm they’re wearing a face mask by uploading a selfie of them wearing it.
After that, the next step is a temperature check using WorkInSync’s digital thermal hand scanner, which checks and records employee temperatures to ensure no fevers are developing. QR code scans also work in tandem with their Contactless Access Management module and Digi-Pass, ensuring contactless check-in for booked desks or meeting spaces.
Integrations are available with Microsoft Teams, Slack, Google Assistant, Microsoft Outlook, G-Suite Calendars, Microsoft ADFS, Okta, One Login, Honeywell EBI, and Siri.
Pricing for WorkInSync starts at $2.50/user/month. A free plan is also available for organizations with less than 50 employees. A free demo can also be requested via their website.
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The 10 Best Hot Desk Booking Software Comparison Chart
This comparison chart summarizes basic details about each of my top hot desk booking software selections. You can view pricing details and the availability of free trials or demos side-by-side to help you find the best software for your budget and business needs.
Tool | Free Option | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | deskbird Best for easy-to-use integrations with MS Teams, Outlook, and Google Workspace | 14-day free trial | From $1.80/user/month | Visit Website |
2 | Kadence Best hot desk booking platform for coordinating your people, projects, and spaces | Free demo available | From $4/user/month | Visit Website |
3 | Tactic Best hot desk and meeting room booking software for coordinating in-office schedules | 14-day free trial | From $2.50/desk/month | Visit Website |
4 | Smartway2 Best hot desk booking solution for hybrid collaboration and safety features | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
5 | Skedda Best hot desk booking platform with an interactive floor plan and full mobile access | 30-day free trial | From $7/month | Visit Website |
6 | Deskfound Best for hot desk management via Google Workspace or a Slack integration | Free trial for the first 10 users | From $1/user/month. | Visit Website |
7 | Eden Best hot desk and room booking software with a full workplace software suite | Free demo available | From $2.25-$4/user/month | Visit Website |
8 | Officely Best hot desk booking tool for hybrid teams that use Slack | Free plan available | From $2.50/user/month | Visit Website |
9 | FLYDESK Best hot desk booking solution with weekly schedules and leave management | 14-day free trial available | Plans start from $4/user/month | Visit Website |
10 | WorkInSync Best for hybrid workplace scheduling using virtual assistant software | Free demo available | From $2.50/user/month | Visit Website |
Other Hot Desk Booking Options
Here are a few more worthwhile options that didn’t make the best hot desk booking software list:
- Envoy
Best hot desk system with a modular configuration and a linked health questionnaire
- SpaceIQ
Best hot desking software and space management suite with advanced wayfinding features
- Zynq
Best hot desk and office space management software for hybrid teams
- Condeco
Best hot desk booking tool for flexible desk workflows and team collaboration features
- Cloudbooking
Best desk and room booking software with advanced real estate planning tools
- HotDesk+
Best multilingual hot desk booking software with built-in tools to help companies achieve net zero emissions
- OfficeSpace
Best hot desking solution for advanced desk allocation usage data & analytics
- Ronspot
Best 3-in-1 hybrid workplace reservation tool for booking hot desks, parking spots, and meeting rooms
- Robin
Best workplace management software for employee productivity features
- Teem
Best hot desk & desk hoteling software for touchless mobile bookings and sanitation flags in between users
- Tribeloo
Best space management system for AI-powered automatic assignments
- YAROOMS
Best plug-and-play desk booking solution with digital signage & visitor management solutions
- Meetio
Best hot desking app for QR code check-ins and a find-a-colleague feature
- StaffMap
Best desk booking software for move management and asset management
- Gaia Workspace
Best workspace solution for advanced employee screening plus vaccine & COVID-19 test tracking
- Smart Space
Best for wayfinding features, occupancy sensors, and advanced desk utilization metrics at a granular level
- Flowscape Solutions
Best desk management solution for booking spaces with specialized equipment
- Pronestor
Best for booking flexible and fixed desks in real-time, with an auto-release feature (14-day free trial available)
- Space Connect
Best desk booking platform for automatic ‘booking conflict resolution’ and making bookings on behalf of others
- Roomzilla
Best workplace reservation system with unique admin features like an approval queue, private bookings, and tools to remove ghost reservations
Selection Criteria for Hot Desk Booking Software
Wondering what I look for when selecting the best hot desk booking software for this list? I'm happy to explain my process.
To start off, I scoured the web to create a long list of all the hot desk booking software solutions out there. In this case, the list was very long! I then set to work assessing each software vendor's website in greater detail to pinpoint the systems with features that go above and beyond the rest.
With my list already pared down, I then used the selection criteria below to make my final choices for this list. With these criteria as a framework, I was able to compare each system systematically to the rest of the pack to select the best options for this list.
I also drew on my years of experience using meeting room booking software (the ancestor of hot desk booking software) to pinpoint the features that add a lot of value for administrators and employees alike.
Here’s a shortlist of the main criteria I assessed to determine my top 10 picks:
Key Features
These are the key features I assessed when creating this list of the best hot desk booking software:
- Self-service bookings: The ability for employees to make bookings themselves, rather than bottlenecking requests through administrators or managers.
- Mobile device accessibility: This is an essential feature, as it allows users to book from anywhere, anytime, while also enabling touchless check-ins via mobile devices.
- Detail-rich floor plans: Users should be able to visually locate the workspace they want to book from an accurate, and often interactive map. Some platforms even include wayfinding features that help users orient themselves within the workspace.
- Flexible booking types: Every workspace is unique with different types of work areas. The best platforms offer flexible booking types (e.g., for desks, conference rooms, parking stalls, and equipment) as well as flexible booking arrangements (e.g., hourly, all-day, multiple days, etc.).
- Team zones or neighbourhoods: This feature creates designated areas for specific teams or departments, ensuring better team collaboration while in the office. This feature is also useful for creating designated quiet zones too.
- Search tools to find colleagues: To further enhance productivity and collaboration, hot desk booking systems allow users to search for other employees to find out when they’re going to be in the office, and where they’ll be sitting.
- Health & safety features: This category includes a whole host of features such as built-in health screening questionnaires, occupancy limits, social distancing parameters, data to assist with contract tracing, and automations that flag desks for sanitization in between users.
- Usage metrics: The best systems keep track of usage data to support higher-level workspace analysis processes. This helps management teams quantify the cost of unused space and understand where they can further optimize or reduce their floor space.
User Interface
I chose software with clean, colourful, and visually attractive user interfaces (UI) that make the booking process enjoyable for staff at all levels. I also assessed whether each system had a mobile app, or at the very least, a mobile-friendly UI.
Usability
Hot desk booking software is straightforward by design, to ensure the booking process is simple. I selected software that’s simple and user-friendly, with clear menus and navigation for processes and preferences. I also gave bonus points to systems that allow you to book through interactive office maps, eliminating the possibility of user errors during the booking process.
System Flexibility
To help you get the most out of this software, I selected systems that include a wide range of booking options for managing flexible workplaces. This includes different types of bookings (e.g., hourly, all-day, multiple-days), and other flexible work features. I also gave preferential treatment to flexible work systems that allow you to book more than just desks.
Software Integrations
I picked systems that integrate with commonly used office programs like email systems and calendars to maximize productivity. This creates a seamless user experience and keeps information organized.
Price
I appreciate software with transparent pricing models and the ability to scale up to add more bookable spaces easily. Since some systems have modular designs, pricing details are not always readily available as prices are customized based on the specific modules needed.
Hot Desk Booking Software: FAQ
Do you have general questions about hot desk booking software and how it works? You’ve come to the right place! Here are some answers to commonly asked questions I’ve received on this topic:
What is hot desking?
What is hot desk booking software?
What's the difference between hot desking and hoteling?
Just how common is hybrid working?
Other Resources
I hope this article highlighted the value of using hot desk booking software to streamline space management in your workspace. If you need something that goes beyond just desks, take a look at our list of the best office space management software systems too.
If you’re looking for more details to support your workforce planning efforts, I recommend reading our article on best practices for workforce planning.
Are you specifically looking for workforce management tools? Here’s our summary of the best workforce management software to help you tackle other common issues too.
Still craving even more workforce data? This article summarizing the best HR analytics software for actionable workforce data may just do the trick.
Lastly, before you go, I’d love it if you'd subscribe to our People Managing People newsletter. By subscribing, you’ll gain access to the latest articles covering a whole range of workforce management-related topics.
Related read: HR Software: What It Costs And How To Decide What’s Best For Your Company
Also check out: 10 Best Employee Evaluation Software For Performance Reviews & Recognition
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