What makes a workplace amenity worth the investment?

Published by HealthFitness on September 17th, 2026

Most commercial real estate (CRE) owners and operators can list every amenity in their building without hesitation. But how confidently can they say which ones tenants actually value? That gap — between knowing what you offer and knowing how it’s landing — is an easy one to overlook. And before adding the next amenity, it’s worth understanding what the current ones are actually doing for the tenant experience.

The Blind Spot Is the Uncertainty

“We have great amenities, but I’m not sure tenants actually use them,” is a common concern among CRE owners and property managers. It often surfaces after the ribbon-cutting, once the fitness center, lounge, or café has become part of the tenant experience and attention shifts elsewhere. 

That uncertainty isn’t trivial. New research gives it real financial weight. A 2026 peer-reviewed study of 2,965 U.S. office buildings and 55,951 corporate tenants, led by researchers at Maastricht University, found that a one-point increase in overall tenant satisfaction was tied to an 8.6% greater willingness to renew, an 11.5% higher likelihood of recommending the property, and a 23.1% lower probability of moving out. Higher tenant satisfaction was also associated with stronger rent growth and lower vacancy growth.

The study can’t tell you which amenity is driving those numbers up or down, and it doesn’t establish that amenities themselves cause those outcomes. What it does show is that tenant satisfaction and the outcomes owners care about — renewals, referrals, and retention — are closely connected. Not knowing where your tenants stand on satisfaction, then, leaves an important part of the picture unanswered.

Amenity Expectations Are Rising. The Question is Whether They're Working.

The pressure to get this right isn’t easing up. CBRE’s 2026 Americas Office Occupier Sentiment Survey found that a lack of amenities is one of the top factors keeping employees out of the office, cited by 53% of organizations, while nearly half rate their current workplace experience as insufficient. JLL’s 2024 Building Amenities Outlook found that Class A tenants now treat amenities as a baseline expectation rather than a differentiator.

The implication for owners and operators is straightforward: amenities are becoming less of a “nice to have,” while expectations for the experience they deliver continue to evolve. That makes it more important — not less — to understand whether the amenities already in place are meeting those expectations.

Why Utilization Isn’t the Same Question as Value

The instinct, once the uncertainty sets in, is to check usage numbers: How many badge swipes at the fitness center this month? How many people ordered from the café? How often is the lounge occupied? That’s useful information, but it answers a narrower question than the one that actually matters.

Utilization tells you whether tenants are using an amenity. It doesn’t tell you whether they’re satisfied with the experience, whether it’s meeting their expectations, or how it shapes their perception of the building.

For example, a fitness center with strong traffic but mediocre equipment, inconsistent hours, or limited programming may be getting plenty of use without delivering the experience tenants expect. The numbers show that people are showing up — but not why they’re coming, what they think once they get there, or what they would change.

That’s where amenity strategy can stall: CRE owners and operators have a number, but not necessarily the insight behind it.

Before Adding More, Look at What You Know

Before adding another amenity — or assuming an existing one is earning its keep — the more useful exercise is to look at the evidence already available. Not utilization data alone, but tenant sentiment, renewal conversations, and broker feedback that can help show whether the experience is landing the way it was intended to.

For many buildings, that may reveal a simple gap: there is plenty of information about what tenants are using, but much less about what they actually value.

A few places to start:

  • Ask, don’t assume. When did tenants last have a meaningful opportunity to share what they think about the amenities they have, outside of a renewal conversation?
  • Separate traffic from sentiment. Utilization tells you what tenants are doing. Satisfaction data can help explain how they feel about the experience.
  • Look beyond the building. Brokers and tenant representatives often hear amenity feedback during tours, negotiations, and renewal discussions before it reaches ownership directly.
  • Use the information together: A high-use amenity with low satisfaction tells a different story than a low-use amenity with high satisfaction. Neither number means much in isolation.
None of this requires a new investment. It starts with a closer look at what’s already in the building and whether tenants think it’s delivering what they need.

Learn more