Carte blanche. That's what OTA's brief to their interior designer looked like when they were going to redesign their office. Because why the hell would you install a ball pit and what are the benefits of an in-house gym? Find out all about it in our Office Insights series.

Pieter-Jan, thank you for allowing us to come and visit your office here in the heart of Ghent, the office of OTA Insight. What exactly are you doing here?

OTA is primarily active in the hospitality sector. As a relatively young and rapidly growing software company, we work with hotels and hotel chains. We help these companies set the right price for their products, from traditional hotel rooms, every day. We also help them offer them through the right channels. From B&Bs in the Ardennes to Hiltons in Paris and New York, we cover it all.

The hospitality sector - super interesting! What exactly is your role here in the office?

I'm the office manager here. In Ghent, I'm the jack-of-all-trades. From ordering a new toilet brush to contacting building owners or our visiting investors who we need to welcome, organizing meetings, ordering food and drinks, and so on.

It seems like a super varied job to me. If we take you on a very random day in the love. What can your day look like?

My week is really divided between practical and organizational work, and then some administration. Mondays and Fridays are mostly practical—starting or ending the week, preparing for the following week. Filling the refrigerators, making sure the suppliers arrive on time for food and drinks, and so on. But also arranging with the cleaning lady that we have this event this week or that we have visitors. On the other hand, there's also administration.

It seems like a super varied job to me. If we take you on a very random day in the love. What can your day look like?

It fluctuates enormously. On Mondays, it's still quite busy because we offer pastries. On Fridays, it's a bit quieter. But we really aim for complete flexibility, so anyone can come four or five days a week. Or if you agree with your lead that three days a week is sufficient, that's no problem at all. On average, between 40 and 80 employees are present each day. During peak hours, that number can exceed 100, and they all need food and drinks.

I can imagine that can be intense. What is the importance of the role of an office manager for such a group? How important is that role and what would happen if, for example, you were not there?

They would become lonely and have less food and drink. But office management is such a unique thing that means different things at different companies. Traditionally, it's more HR, an administrative role. Here, it's really more about practically managing the office, taking care of the people, and ensuring everything runs smoothly. I try to alleviate all practical concerns or resolve them quickly so the others can do their jobs well.

Wow, that sounds like a really cool job. But I don't think you have a "normal" office either. I've been peeking around corners here a few times and have seen some crazy things. But I'll leave the honors to you - what crazy features does your office have here?

Crazy features, we especially want to keep the office fun. We have everything from the swings over there to the ball pit here, VR rooms we're installing, but also a stylish kitchen, refectory, and dining area where everyone can relax. Cozy nooks, like the ones we have here, for working or meeting up. Suppose you want to sit quietly with your headphones on, you can seclude yourself a bit. You name it.

We're installing a secret meeting room where, if you pull on a book, a wall opens. We have a music meeting room full of instruments. There are some rules about it: they're not allowed to start jamming there in the middle of the day. It's before hours, during the afternoon or after hours. Because otherwise, yes. Besides, meeting rooms, and meetings and work are, of course, the priority here.

But the key question we really have is - why the hell are you investing in a ball pit in the office?

The classic answer, of course, is productivity and creativity. That comes entirely from the team itself. That was like: "Oh yes, Matthias, PJ, when we have that new area, we have to put a ball pit in it!" So that's what we did, of course.

And is it being used? Meetings organized?

Yes, definitely! And also catch ups with three, for example. But also, for example, if you have a call with someone from the US at 4 p.m., you can put yourself there.

Blessed! So you can actually have a meeting here with someone from OTA and they just record online from the ball pool?

Yes it is! No embarrassment.

Fantastic. And what is the whole office like, how did the whole idea come about? How did it get this far at this office?

We started on the other side of the building, on this floor. But before that, we were on the other side, much smaller, and before that, they were in Dok Noord. But that's constantly evolving, of course. We're already joking around about when we're going to add another floor. The office grows along with the team. The more people, the more workstations and the more meeting rooms you need. I'd love it if they just said, "Oh, I thought about that—shouldn't we do that?" That's the way it should be.

We're already actively talking to the building managers to see where we can make holes in the concrete slabs within the building's structure to insert a slide down into the ball pit. So, it'll definitely all happen someday. Just give us time.

So I can imagine this: you come from somewhere else and you have to completely redesign it. You go to an interior designer, I imagine, and what do you ask them? How does that process go up to this point?

That wing, the old wing as we call it, was actually already there. Matthias and our bosses primarily collaborated with Buro Project from Aalst. They were really pleased with it, because as soon as there was talk of a second wing, they came straight to me, and we got in the car together and went to the people at Buro Project.

When we arrived, Matthias said, "Look, we're adding an extra floor. Go ahead. The budget is this and that, and just do your thing. And this is the team's wish list." Something completely different from what interior architects are used to. And then the second message was: "From now on, this guy next to me will take care of all that, and you shouldn't bother me too much anymore."

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"We are already actively talking to the building to see where we can make holes in the structure to put a slide down that ends up in our ball pool. Just give us time."

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So you've been given full responsibility?

Yes, of course, but of course you have to check out when it comes to money. But other than that, he let me do it completely. He was like: go ahead man, I trust it.

That seems to me to be a project that has probably caused the necessary stress, but also with an end result that you can be very proud of?

That's right, but we also had a lot of fun with it. Now we're in the new section, which is completely decorated just the way we wanted it, but another company used to be here with really sterile, white, cube-shaped, closed-off meeting rooms. And last September, we organized a recruitment day here, an event. We even had laser tag. We turned all those desks upside down, upended cabinets, stretched nets with the boxes under the desks, and built actual staircases. That was crazy. What can we do here? Just trash it.

We sat here on a Friday night at two o'clock spraying graffiti on the wall. But with the plan: "yes, that wall is going to go, you can spray it full of graffiti."

So there are really no limits to what can and may be done?

No, if it works and you say that this is really something fun, then we can completely immerse ourselves in it. Ideas are there to pitch.