SAN DIEGO—Reduction of space and an increased need for technology are a couple of ways the hoteling trend is manifesting itself in the office-development sector, Jim Roherty, president of Pacific Building Group, tells GlobeSt.com. We spoke exclusively with Roherty from a general-contractor's perspective about office-construction trends he's noticing in San Diego and how hoteling fits into that.

GlobeSt.com: What trends are you noticing regarding with office construction in San Diego?

Roherty: We anticipate that companies will continue creating informal, open environments and enhancing their existing spaces. We're also starting to see hoteling in San Diego, meaning employees arrive at work and then reserve unassigned seating and/or workspaces. We're seeing more over of this over the last couple of years. It has been coming on the last five to seven years, but the last couple of years it seems to have gotten more noticeable because we went through a four- to-five-year period where people weren't building new space. Now, they are talking about hoteling because they can build less space. They may have 1,000 employees, but they only have to build space for 700 because so many of them are out in sales and only need an office once a week. Accounting and audit firms have people going out to clients doing audients, so maybe they need a place to plug in once a week between assignments. We're seeing tenants building less space than they would have built maybe five to 10 years ago.

GlobeSt.com: What other implications does this trend have?

Roherty: This doesn't affect us necessarily, but from a technology side, they need a greater degree of technology so they can plug their computer into any workspace and it will recognize it as their own work space. Phones and other devices need to tie in with this. They can access that technology from anywhere—home or office. From a tech side and software systems, this allows them to serve an office or cubicle via software system, and it will recognize their phone number and email.

GlobeSt.com: As a general contractor, how are you responding to this trend?

Roherty: We're mainly just seeing it in reduction in space. There are also typically more conference rooms and more meeting spaces for collaboration, but that's not directly tied to hoteling—it just seems to be an overall trend.