Robin is good software. Let's get that out of the way first.
It's mature, well-designed, and packed with features. If you're a 500-person company with dedicated IT staff and a facilities team, Robin might be exactly what you need.
But if you're a 60-person hybrid office trying to stop the double-booking chaos? You probably don't need Robin. And you definitely don't need to spend $8,000 a year to solve this problem.
The Price Tag Problem
Here's a real quote from an IT admin shopping for desk booking software:
"Robin is a very good mature app but very expensive. I was quoted about $8,000. It was way too much for the 15 shared spaces we had."
$8,000 for 15 desks. That's over $500 per desk, per year. For software that helps people... book a desk.
This isn't Robin being greedy. It's Robin being built for enterprises. The pricing reflects a product designed for companies with hundreds of employees, complex integrations, dedicated support needs, and procurement departments that expect five-figure contracts.
If that's you, great. If it's not, you're paying for a lot of capability you'll never use.
What Enterprise Desk Booking Includes
When you pay enterprise prices, you're typically getting:
Advanced analytics and reporting — Detailed utilization dashboards, custom reports, data exports for facilities planning. Valuable if you're optimizing a 50,000 square foot headquarters. Overkill if you have one floor with 40 desks.
Complex integrations — Connections to HRIS systems, building access control, digital signage, IoT sensors, and workplace experience platforms. Essential for large organizations with existing infrastructure. Unnecessary if your tech stack is Google Workspace and Slack.
Dedicated support and onboarding — White-glove implementation, custom training sessions, dedicated account managers. Nice to have, but you're paying for it whether you use it or not.
Multi-location management — Centralized administration across dozens of offices worldwide. Critical for global enterprises. Irrelevant if you have one office in Denver.
Enterprise security and compliance — SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA compliance, custom data retention policies, single-tenant deployments. Non-negotiable for regulated industries and Fortune 500 companies. Probably more than you need for booking Desk 7 near the window.
None of these features are bad. They're just not necessary for most hybrid teams under 200 people.
What You Actually Need
After talking to dozens of office managers and IT admins at small and mid-sized companies, the requirements list is surprisingly short:
A visual floor plan. Not a calendar. Not a spreadsheet. A map that shows which desks are available and lets people click to book. This is the single biggest driver of adoption. Without it, people won't use the system.
Calendar integration. Bookings should sync with Google Calendar or Outlook automatically. No one wants to manage two calendars.
Simple booking rules. The ability to set how far in advance people can book, auto-release desks if someone doesn't show up, and maybe designate some desks for specific teams.
Works on mobile. People book desks from their phones on the train, not from their desktop at 9am Monday morning.
Easy setup. If it takes a consultant and three weeks to configure, you've already lost. The best systems are self-serve—upload your floor plan, invite your team, done.
That's it. That's the list.
Everything else—the advanced analytics, the IoT integrations, the enterprise security certifications—is nice to have, but not essential for solving the core problem: people need to know where to sit, and you need to stop the double-booking emails.
The Math for a 50-Person Office
Let's run the numbers for a typical hybrid team.
Robin: ~$8,000/year (based on reported quotes)
What you get: Full enterprise feature set, dedicated support, advanced analytics, extensive integrations.
What you use: Desk booking with a floor plan. Calendar sync. Maybe some basic utilization reports.
Gridero Starter: $348/year ($29/month)
What you get: Visual floor plans, desk and room booking, calendar sync, booking rules, mobile access, SSO.
What you use: All of it.
The difference: $7,652 per year.
That's not a rounding error. That's a team offsite. That's money you could spend on literally anything else.
When Robin Makes Sense
To be fair, there are situations where paying for enterprise software is the right call:
- You have 500+ employees across multiple locations
- You need to integrate with existing building management systems
- You're in a regulated industry with specific compliance requirements
- You have a dedicated facilities team that will use advanced analytics
- Your procurement process requires vendors with enterprise certifications
If three or more of those apply, Robin (or Envoy, or OfficeSpace, or another enterprise player) might be worth the investment.
When It Doesn't
But if you're a 40-person startup, a 100-person professional services firm, or a growing team that just went hybrid and needs to stop the desk chaos—you don't need enterprise software.
You need something that works, that your team will actually use, and that doesn't require a budget meeting to approve.
The desk booking problem isn't complicated. The solutions don't need to be either.
The Bottom Line
Robin is good software built for enterprises. If you're an enterprise, use it.
If you're not, don't pay enterprise prices to solve a simple problem. Find something built for your size, at a price that makes sense, and spend the savings on something that actually moves your business forward.
Gridero is desk booking software for hybrid teams of 50-200 people. Visual maps, simple setup, $29/month. Start your free trial →