Roam’s 2017 New Year’s Pledge

New Years. A day characterized by midnight count downs, silver confetti and a meal of collards and black-eyed peas. To top off the festivities, there’s that New Year’s resolution that will inevitably become forgotten or broken by mid-March. But what if we weren’t so distracted by the traditions of the holiday, and instead raised our *sparkling grape juice glasses as a promise to better ourselves, our people and our companies in the coming year? New Years would regain its true meaning and original purpose: a time that demands reflection on the successes and lessons learned in the past and using those to shape our progression into the future.

As we continue celebrating the successes of 2016 like the opening of Roam Buckhead and launch of Roam’s virtual platforms, we look forward to the new year with great anticipation. Countless (meeting room) hours and brainstorming sessions have allowed us to craft a vision for 2017 that sacrifices the good and better things in order to achieve the best for our team and members. It’s with much excitement that we begin this new year pursuing a higher standard of service and hospitality across all of Roam’s touchpoints. We believe this vision will add value and significance to the Roam experience beyond our physical offerings. With this transparency comes a sense of vulnerability. We recognize that this is a lofty ambition—but fear won’t cause us to shrink back. We acknowledge that Roam won’t get this right 100% of the time, but let this be our 2017 New Year’s resolution pledge to you.

Roam recognizes the power of people. As we seek to further serve our members and enhance the hospitality experience, we have identified the need for more localized programming. Connecting our membership base across all Roam workplaces through the implementation of smaller, topic-focused events will provide more intentional and effective solutions for establishing partnerships and relationships. Our hope is that these gatherings will serve as a platform to initiate conversations and connections that can further develop outside of Roam-hosted events. As you know and have experienced, it is not our retractable windows and mounted animal heads that define us. It’s the community within our walls that serves as our greatest asset. And to not fully-leverage that asset would be a disservice to us all. By laying the ground work for these location-specific events, we hope to better serve our members by offering the face-to-face interactions that are so often bypassed in our virtually-driven world.

Now don’t misunderstand us. The benefits of technology are vital to our operations. And in many cases, technology even has the opportunity to enhance the Roam experience. Roam’s understanding of hospitality is not limited to physical interactions and encounters. Our digital platforms provide additional avenues for service-oriented experiences. With this understanding, Roam believes that leveraging our booking system and website will allow us to better serve our members and guests. Research and member feedback have led us to redesign our booking platform. With user-friendliness as a priority, increased functionality and enhancements made to the new booking system will streamline the meeting room booking process. Once you experience the simplicity of our new platform, we think you’ll embrace the changes with open arms. And with a new year comes a new look for our website. We’re intentionally redesigning our website to better embody Roam’s physical offerings virtually. With the life and energy of our members at the core of this business, it’s difficult to fully replicate the vibrancy of our workplaces digitally but we think you’ll like what we’re able to accomplish. Don’t worry, you’ll still find us at meetatroam.com. You can expect to experience these new looks next week.

It’s probably safe to say that most New Year’s resolutions fall by the weigh side. I mean, who really wants to sacrifice their daily chocolate intake for the sake of healthy habits and trimmed waistlines. But when your passions and values align with the goal you’ve set forth, there’s an unstoppable momentum driving your resolution pledge. So all calorie-counting resolutions aside, what’s your pledge for investing in our community this year?