The idea comes from the United States

Hourly, last minute, and fully equipped office rentals

Pay per view TV already exists, so why not also offer offices to be paid for only for their actual use, without bureaucratic paperwork and available even for just one hour? It works like this: you call the call center, ask for an office for as long as you desire and as big as you like, with the ease of having it at your disposal in just one day. Telephone switchboard, vocal service, computers and Internet all included in the price.

Halldis, a company that has been providing house rentals for 4 years now, with this new strategy has decided to expand towards the commercial sector. The idea comes from the United States and was brought to Italy by Pietro Martani, a 33-year-old manager, who estimates that next year’s income will reach 5 Million Euros. Anyone looking for an office rental can call Halldis, where a multilingual staff speaking eight different languages (Dutch and Flemish included) offers the solution that best suits one’s needs: a meeting room, an open space, an hourly office, a single private office or a shared office.

“65% of our clients are not Italian” Mr. Martani says. “Many companies want to come to Milan for a few months before deciding whether to buy a stable office, others need a satellite branch for just one month, and at times businessmen staying in hotels need a meeting room for a couple of hours. ”Once the office is rented, you can use the telephone switchboard available in 6 languages and all the most modern technologies supplied to our workstations. The Halldis offices are located mainly in the most strategic areas of the city, from Conca del Naviglio (where there are 26 offices) to Sant’Ambrogio, and Corso Vittorio Emanuele. The service has different prices, but to give the reader an idea, an office for two people for one month costs 1000 €. “We receive even 5 bookings per day” says Mr. Martani “and requests are growing”.

Ready to take a chunk of the traditional market? “They are two different philosophies and the one cannot substitute the other”, FilCasa, an Estate dealer, explains “It’s like the difference between residences and apartments: the first is practical and fast, but it works only for short periods”. Among the facilities offered by Halldis, there is the opportunity of Last Minute bookings. “They call us even with only 3 days’ advance notice” explains Mr. Martani. On the other hand, “Costs are quite exorbitant” they tell us from FilCasa, “and they are not convenient for long term stays.”

In the meantime, demand is sometimes so high that “we are unable to satisfy all our clients. A company had once asked us a location to open an entire call center, but we’re still not able to offer such vast spaces”. “These are useful services for company start ups or for professionals who travel often”, explains Francesca Corna, assistant to the director of Gambetti Real Estate. “After which, companies need to invest in a traditional office rentals”.

by Camilla Montelli

- LIBERO - Friday December 1st, 2006