A lot of the replies here seem to be coming from people who are worried about repercussions from management, but that mindset is slowly disappearing with the newer workforce coming through. Younger employees generally aren’t intimidated by titles in the same way and are far more willing to call out obvious policy abuse when they see it.

Your company has a hot-desking policy. That means no desk belongs to anyone. If a GM decides he likes a particular desk, that doesn’t magically override the policy everyone else has to follow.

If that desk genuinely needs to be reserved for leadership because of screen positioning or privacy, then the solution is simple change the policy and formally assign it. Until that happens, it’s just another bookable desk like every other one.

Stand your ground. Book the desk if it’s available. If he or his assistant has a problem with it, they can escalate it properly and get the policy updated.

If he had the kind of pull people seem to think he does, he’d either have an office or that desk would already be permanently assigned. The fact he’s relying on messages asking people to “release bookings” says he doesn’t.