(Yicai Global) Oct. 19 -- BTG Homeinns Hotel Group has signed a cooperation agreement with shared workspace brand UrWork.

Under the agreement, BTG Homeinns will share its conference rooms, restaurants, cafes and other public spaces with startups at UrWork to provide them with places to hold meetings and interact with others. The pair will work together to share their membership systems and offer discounts on accommodation fees for business travelers.

Their partnership will cover Homeinns Hotel's more than 3,400 locations in over 380 Chinese cities.

"Hotels have lots of existing assets and vacant space," said Sun Jian, general manager of BTG Homeinns Hotel. "We need to pay rent for them even if they are not occupied. Hotels may more efficiently utilize their meeting rooms and other spaces by teaming up with shared workspace firms."

An occupancy rate of 100 percent is difficult to achieve for most hotels, meaning some guest rooms are always vacant, Sun said. By working with shared workspace platforms, hotels may consider transforming some of their guest rooms into other types of spaces to help improve revenue and their utilization rate, Sun said.

Shared workspace platforms may also bring hotels customers. Since companies opting for shared workspace are usually startups and employees at such companies do not typically choose to stay in luxury hotels while on business trips, teaming up with shared workspace platforms provides BTG Homeinns Hotel, which is known for its economy hotel chain, with access to many potential customers.

For shared workspace firms, collaborating with hotels means a substantial decline in investment and operating costs. They also value pooling platform traffic and resources. BTG Homeinns Hotel may offer meeting rooms at its hotels for lease at UrWork's platform, while UrWork may sell its workstations on BTG Homeinns Hotel's platform.

The two companies plan to first renovate 50 hotels, covering BTG Homeinns Hotel's low-end and high-end hotel brands, to gauge demand, said UrWork Chairman and founder Mao Daqing, adding that their trial will cover Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Xi'an, Chengdu and Qingdao.