Should employees have to share hotel rooms?

26 May 2021 · 7 MIN READ

Last updated: May 2026The short answer: No, employees should not be required to share hotel rooms on business trips. Most employment law experts and HR professionals advise against mandatory hotel room sharing policies due to legal, health, and professional risks. Doing so can violate duty of care obligations, expose companies to discrimination claims, disrupt sleep and performance, and damage professional boundaries.The tricky topic of sharing rooms is a question that frequently crops up in work travel. The situation is a minefield to navigate on both sides. Managers under pressure to save money can inadvertently set themselves up for huge issues, including possible litigation. Meanwhile, anxious employees seek advice from colleagues on how to get their own room. Pretty soon, at best, you have a team of unhappy employees and, at worst, a discrimination lawsuit on your hands. So why would companies insist on a room-sharing policy, and why is it always a terrible idea?
Key takeaways
  • Employees should not be required to share hotel rooms on work trips.
  • Room sharing policies can violate duty of care obligations and expose companies to discrimination claims.
  • Forcing shared accommodation disrupts sleep, damages professional boundaries, and breeds job dissatisfaction.
  • Legal risks include disability discrimination and violations of protected characteristics under employment law.
  • Better alternatives exist: negotiate corporate rates, use online booking tools, apply for VAT recovery, and book in advance.

Why do businesses suggest that coworkers share rooms?

1. They think sharing rooms is the easiest way to reduce the cost of corporate travel

Predominantly companies ask their teams to share rooms because they wish to reduce costs and believe the savings outweigh any discomfort it causes their employees. Halving their accommodation spend, especially when organizing trips for entire teams, does significantly impact a business' annual travel budget. However, the consequences of making coworkers share a room could rack up much larger bills.

2. They believe sharing rooms fosters stronger bonds between colleagues

Many organizations believe sharing rooms when working away is a form of team building. They think it allows colleagues to get to know each other on a deeper level and believe these bonds are impossible to form within the office setting.

Reasons why companies should not require employees to share hotel rooms

1. Business travel can be intense

Most business trip schedules are intense. After a long day of taking meetings and negotiating your way around a new city, it's vital to have some downtime.Corporate travelers and managers alike will be keen to make the most of every work trip. Business travelers need to have some time and space to regroup in private to perform at their best. As humans, our biological wiring is to feel vulnerable when we sleep. So sharing a room with a colleague, even one we get on well with, is not conducive to getting a great night's rest.Combine this with jet lag or light sleepers, and you could have a recipe for disaster! Earplugs won't cut it if you want your corporate travelers to be at their best the next day. It's vital to ensure your budget covers a double room for each of your employees so they can have their own space to rest and recover for the following day.

2. It damages established boundaries

Throughout their careers, people deliberately hold professional boundaries. Keeping parts of our lives private is important for our mental well-being. But professional boundaries also enable us to work more effectively with our colleagues, especially in management positions.Sleeping in the same room as a colleague can violate these boundaries. Many companies find out too late that any falsely perceived benefits of team building are massively outweighed by denying employees their privacy. The bottom line is that forcing employees to get to know each other on such an intimate level is inappropriate.Having been made to deal with their colleague's snores or late-night working habits, employees might find it challenging to maintain their professionalism the next morning. As their boss, you don't want a business trip to be the last time two colleagues got along!

3. It breaks your duty of care towards your team

Duty of care is an employer's legal and ethical obligation to protect employee health, safety, and well-being during work-related activities.No one wants to overhear their employees asking how to get out of sharing a hotel room. These break room chats can be a worrying indicator of discontent and a human resources headache on the horizon.Your duty of care to your employees is to ensure they feel safe, respected, and appreciated at work. As an employer, there will be lots about your team you will not know. Bunking up with colleagues might not seem like a big deal to you, but it could be hugely triggering to employees. They might not feel safe sleeping in the same room as someone they do not know.There could be reasons for wanting separate rooms that they don't wish to explain, and they could be concerned about being unfairly labeled as difficult. Management should not underestimate the impact this could have on their employees' mental health.Another essential consideration is that your employees may have medical conditions that make it difficult for them to share a hotel room. They may not wish to disclose this information, and you could be creating significant embarrassment for them as they try to navigate getting out of sharing a room.
Mandatory room sharing policies can expose your company to significant legal liability:
  • Disability discrimination: Employees with medical conditions, sleep disorders, or mental health needs may require private accommodation. Forcing them to disclose these conditions or share rooms could violate disability discrimination laws.
  • Protected characteristics: Room sharing policies may disproportionately impact employees based on gender, religion, or other protected characteristics under employment law.
  • Privacy violations: Requiring employees to share intimate sleeping spaces with colleagues may breach workplace privacy expectations.
  • Employment tribunal claims: The cost of defending against discrimination claims far exceeds any savings from shared accommodation.
The only way to ensure you are following legislation and avoiding discriminatory behavior is to remove any shared room policy from your organization.

5. Forcing employees to share rooms takes advantage of their goodwill

It's easy for companies to forget that employees are giving their free time when traveling on business. Instead of spending their evenings with family or friends, pursuing their hobbies, or relaxing at home, they are on the road putting in extra hours to travel.They deserve to have some personal space in the evening, especially when they have an early morning start ahead. Whether they want to make phone calls to loved ones, order room service, or explore the city, it's essential to respect your corporate travelers' time outside their schedule.On top of this, business travelers may feel anxious about leaving their families for the first time after last year's pandemic. Expecting employees to have a roomie and be in business mode 24/7, especially after the turmoil of 2020, is the fastest way to breed job dissatisfaction and have your employees searching for a new job.

What to do instead: better ways to save on work travel

Rather than risking the pitfalls of shared accommodation, try these alternatives:
  1. Negotiate corporate hotel rates – Partner with hotel chains for discounted rates based on your booking volume
  2. Use an online booking tool (OBT) – Streamline your systems, saving money and time by consolidating travel bookings in one platform
  3. Apply for VAT recovery – Reclaim VAT on eligible travel expenses to reduce costs by up to 25%
  4. Book in advance – Secure better rates by planning trips ahead of time
  5. Set clear travel policies – Upload preferred airlines and hotel chains so employees can select compliant options that stay within budget
  6. Use itemized reporting – Track spending patterns to identify further savings opportunities
An online booking tool or OBT can streamline your systems, saving you money and time. Travel managers no longer need to sift through multiple websites sourcing rates when they have access to an extensive inventory of travel options with competitive prices.
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