Vantage Space Global Trends Report: Q4 2021

1: Global Average Occupancy

Global average occupancy decreased significantly in Q4 2021, falling to 52.0% (-13.0% from Q3 2021). APAC mirrored this trend with a drop to 53.0% (-12.0%). This quarter introduces separate data for EMEA (46.0%) and AMER (42.0%). The overall global decline suggests a potential slowing of return-to-office momentum or impacts from end-of-year factors and potentially the emergence of new COVID-19 variants.

Table 1: Average Occupancy by Region. Note: The percentage changes are calculated based on the previous quarter’s data (Q3 2021) where available.

2: Average Occupancy by Space Type

Global occupancy decreased across all space types compared to Q3: Work Spaces fell to 56.0% (-11.0%), Meeting Spaces saw a very sharp drop to 25.0% (-25.0%), and ‘Other’ spaces decreased significantly to 44.0% (-27.0%). This suggests a marked reduction in collaborative and ancillary space usage towards the year’s end. APAC showed similar declines in Work (-10.0 points), Meeting (-25.0 points), and Other (-17.0 points) spaces. In the newly reported regions, EMEA recorded 53.0% for Work, 23.0% for Meeting, and 18.0% for Other spaces. AMER showed 40.0% for Work, a relatively high 57.0% for Meeting spaces, and 42.0% for Other spaces. The high meeting space use in AMER contrasts sharply with the global trend.

Table 2: Average Occupancy by Space Type. Note: The percentage changes are calculated based on the previous quarter’s data (Q3 2021) where available.

3: Meeting Room Occupancy

Examining meeting room usage patterns helps understand collaborative dynamics.

Table 3: Average Meeting Size by Region. Note: Global average rounded. The changes are calculated based on the previous quarter’s data (Q3 2021) where available.

Despite the significant drop in overall meeting space occupancy globally, the average meeting size increased to nearly 3 attendees (+0.3 from Q3). This was driven by increases in APAC and the relatively large average size recorded in AMER. EMEA reported the smallest average meeting size. This suggests that while fewer meetings might have occurred overall, those that did possibly involved slightly larger groups, or that smaller meetings disproportionately decreased.

The Q4 2021 meeting room capacity versus usage data continued to illustrate the persistent mismatch. Globally, rooms designed for 1 or 2 people made up only 17.2% of the portfolio but hosted over 56% (28.6% + 27.7%) of meetings. Large rooms (5+ people) constituted the vast majority of capacity (over 62%) but hosted less than 16% of meetings. Regional variations existed: EMEA saw very high usage of 1-person spaces (46.2%) despite moderate capacity (14.4%). APAC showed slightly better alignment but still underutilized large rooms. AMER had a unique profile with very high capacity in 10+ person rooms (42.9%) which hosted only 5.5% of meetings, and zero listed capacity for 1-2 person rooms, yet these small meetings still occurred, highlighting improvisation or misclassification.

Conclusion

Q4 2021 concluded with a lower global occupancy rate of 52.0%, indicating a slowdown compared to Q3, particularly visible in APAC. The quarter saw substantial drops in the usage of Meeting and Other spaces globally, although AMER reported surprisingly high meeting space occupancy. Despite reduced meeting space usage overall, the average meeting size saw a slight global increase. The core issue of meeting room misalignment remained prominent, with consistent underutilization of large rooms and high demand for smaller spaces across all regions. As 2021 closed, the data strongly suggested that organizations needed to critically reassess their space portfolios, particularly reducing large meeting rooms in favour of smaller, more adaptable spaces to match actual user behaviour and support both individual and small-group work effectively.