Outsite Mouco: Much more than a hotel

# tags: Hospitality , Events , Culture

Since the end of 2023, Mouco belongs to Outsite, a global network of coliving and coworking spaces.

The short history of Mouco, a hotel located in Porto, reached an important milestone in 2023 with its integration into the Outsite network. This network, which has a concept linked to coliving, has 50 properties in some of the most interesting destinations for digital nomads and travelers with a more flexible approach to work, eight of which are in Portugal.

The Porto unit has 62 rooms, much more than the usual Outsite properties, which normally have 20 to 30 rooms, and so 2024 was a period in which Mouco tried to “balance coliving and coworking with the classic hotel and I think we've reached a good middle ground here,” says Inês Castro, Mouco's director. In addition, the “strong” cultural commitment, a hallmark of this Porto hotel, has been maintained.

For events, Mouco has several areas. Starting with the coworking café. “It's a space that works very well as a buffet, very fluid and when the weather is good, we have this wonderful garden, which helps a lot in terms of space,” she says. It can accommodate around 40 people seated (indoors and outdoors) and up to 70 people in a buffett. There is an in-house kitchen, capable of catering for small events, but if the client wants “bolder” solutions, Mouco has a network of partners with whom it works. The client can, if they wish, bring in their own caterer.

At the moment, the main clients in the events segment are Portuguese, but “we have international requests, more team retreats from companies that work remotely and then come together in one location,” says Inês Castro.

Mouco's beginnings were closely linked to music but it's now adding new features. The Musicotheque is a room, as its name suggests, closely linked to music, filled with vinyls, which guests can take back to their rooms. Here it is possible to organize small workshops, meetings and other smaller events. The space has capacity for 30 people in a theater, 18 in a meeting and 20 at a meal.

A room that doesn't look like a hotel

The co-working rooms are also potential spaces for events, but the main space is the Mouco Room, a room that already has some importance in the cultural and musical itinerary of the city of Porto. The space is curated by music directors and the program includes national and international artists from different musical genres. This program “brings a lot of life to the hotel”. In order to manage the hotel's various audiences, “what we do is that the times of the concerts and events always have to be earlier, we never have concerts after 11 at night. We're always careful, because there's also accommodation and we have to look after the guests,” says Inês Castro.

The Mouco Room is 240 m2 and, with the stage set up, it can seat 320 people standing and 150 in the audience. The stage can be removed if there is a special request. “We have a great facility for events because all the technology is already here, in terms of projection, sound and lights,” explains the director. As this room is also used for concerts, it has a bar area, which can be used for corporate events. “It's a room that works very well because it's different from what's on the market, more industrial, not the classic 4-star hotel,” says Inês Castro.

Before being integrated into Outsite, Mouco had a few rehearsal rooms for musicians. These rooms have been altered and transformed into meeting rooms, which have the advantage of being soundproofed. There is also a podcast recording room - to match the hotel's new concept - and two dressing rooms to support the concerts.

In terms of objectives for this year, they include “growing the events side, because that's what we're focusing on here, corporate events, and also working on average prices, occupancy rates. We have very positive expectations for this year,” says Inês Castro.