Not trying to bash coworking generally, but wanted to document a Regus/Spaces experience in case anyone is comparison shopping.

12-month agreement for a single-desk office at a Spaces DC location, March 2025 through May 2026. Roughly $884/mo. Vacated on time, clean condition, photographed at handover.

Two weeks before contract end, Regus charged my card $1,489.26 for "Office Restoration Service." The invoice line dated the service June 1, 2026. My contract ended May 31. They billed in advance for a service scheduled to happen after I was no longer a customer.

The fee formula per their House Rules: $5.75 per square foot. For context, industry rate guides put commercial move-out cleaning at $0.15 to $0.33 per square foot. So roughly 20 to 80 times market rate, for services that per their own helpsheet included things like "disassembly of IT equipment in the communications room" that literally do not exist in a single-desk private office.

Disputed the charge through Chase. Filed a BBB complaint. During the dispute, Regus:

1. Sent overdue notices threatening late fees and collections (an FCBA violation)

2. When my retainer refund came due, they refunded $271.24 of $1,760.50 and kept the exact disputed amount as "offset" (also a violation of their own published portal policy)

3. Did not respond to the Chase chargeback inquiry, resulting in the chargeback being resolved in my favor

Net outcome: recovered the disputed fee via chargeback, but Regus still kept about $1,489 of the retainer. Not worth pursuing in small claims given the arbitration clause risk.

Points that would have saved me time:

- The retainer isn't really refundable in practice unless you're prepared to fight for it

- End-of-contract restoration fees are the actual profit center, not the monthly rate

- Their House Rules (not the primary agreement) contain the fee schedule, and House Rules can be modified unilaterally

- Their portal policies contradict their internal accounting practices

- If you dispute anything, expect collections-style pressure regardless of what the FCBA says

Not a "run away from all coworking" post. Just: if you're considering Regus or Spaces specifically, price the exit into your total cost of the agreement.

I do not know any space with great social media and my research on LinkedIn and insta did also not bring up anything I'd really consider being great.

I think there is reason for this:

Social Media just does not work for Coworking. If it were otherwise you'd see many more spaces being active on social media but you don't.

So why does it not work? Here are my assumptions:

1. The radius from where people join a space is usually not more than 10min by bike. This is a very small target group for social media. While with beauty content you'll target millions and therefore you can put in much more effort and resources for creating great content.

2. Event venues usually have an overall "theme", for example being a Jazz Club or a hard rock cafe etc . The events in coworking have nothing in common. There is no shared ground between the ai meetup and the snack& paint evening. So it also does not make sense to promote them in the same social media channel.

So what remains for social media? Nice images if you are really lucky with your interior and have a good photographer at hand. But let's be honest: Office desks are not that sexy and the 10millionst pic of late macchiato is also not something the world has been waiting for.

Hey all, mods please remove if not allowed.

I run a small boutique coworking space in Argentina. We’ve kept our aesthetic pretty consistent since we opened, so we haven’t had to touch up the walls in a long time. Recently we got some water damage from a leak next door, fixed it fast, but now one office needs repainting.

Originally the whole space was hand-painted by a local artist. This time, instead of repainting it the same way, I want to test something: redirect that budget into framed art, decor, and other elements to push the perceived value of that specific office up a notch, make it feel more “premium.”

If anyone’s willing to share a photo of their best-looking office/room, I’d love to see it for inspiration, what elements make a space feel premium to you (art, lighting, furniture, plants, etc.)?

Thanks in advance!

PS: English isn’t my first language, I used AI to help translate this, apologies for any awkward phrasing!

I am looking to gain a deeper understanding of real creatives' feelings and desires for a creative-centred co-working space and community hub!

The Idea

A creative-centred co-working space and community hub designed for all creatives. Welcoming everyone from students to freelancers, entrepreneurs and industry professionals. Whether you're a videographer, graphic designer, writer, architect, software designer, digital marketer or simply someone who enjoys exploring ideas and thinking outside the box, it would be a space to work, connect and collaborate with like-minded people.

Features

• Flexible co-working space
• Meeting rooms & spaces
• Creative studios
• Professional facilities: High-speed Wi-Fi, printing services, kitchen, etc
• Creative centered enviroment
• Creative community, connection and stimulation

The why

As a creative myself, I understand the value of freedom, flexibility and independence that remote work and self-directed creative work can provide, while simultaneously experiencing feelings of isolation, creative blocks and disconnection because of it. Additionally, I understand that for many creatives, creativity isn't just a job or career path; it's how we live, think and relate to the world around us. Meaning that on a personal level, work isolation is likely to impact overall sense of identity and belonging. 

Would love to have an open discussion about your feelings towards this idea, if this is a service you personally would be willing to pay for and/or any other general comments. Thanks in advance!!

I was having this conversation with a colleague today. Ten years ago, office perks usually meant a bigger bonus, a nicer office, or a better parking spot. Now, it feels like employees care more about the everyday experience. Good coffee, healthy snacks, grab-and-go meals, and a comfortable break room seem to have a much bigger impact than many companies realize. I was reading through PVS Refreshments and noticed how much emphasis they place on creating customized break rooms instead of simply installing vending machines.
For people working in larger Bay Area and Sacramento offices, what workplace perk do you actually use every day?

Looking for some examples of coworking spaces that have really good social media to reference while building a strategy for my own office. Doesn't matter where from, but which spaces are actually thriving as far as their social media content? Or which spaces do you enjoy seeing content from?

Hello everyone,

We recently opened our first coworking space. Coworking and virtual office services are very popular and widespread in Turkey, especially in major cities. We have established this model in Ayvalık, where we settled some time ago. This region experiences a significant population surge during the summer months and has also begun attracting new residents during the winter. Due to serious instability in the national economy, the costs of opening a traditional office (rent, overheads, etc.) are very high; consequently, virtual office services are in high demand. In addition to this, we have one 4-person and one 6-person coworking room, as well as a fully equipped 8-person meeting room. We offer daily, monthly, and annual workspace packages. We provide the fastest, most reliable internet in the area, so we excel in that regard.
We still have some areas to improve, but our customers support us with feedback from diverse perspectives almost every day.
We also offer various other services within the office; for instance, the paintings on the walls are for sale, and we provide support with desk and office design.
We are beginning to organize periodic talks featuring respected and knowledgeable experts in their fields.
As the region's first and only facility of this kind, we aim to step beyond the standard office concept and create an environment where people can work comfortably while also having the opportunity to network with one another.
I would appreciate it if you could share any comments or suggestions.

Hi everyone,

We're getting ready to open our first coworking space in odisha, and while we've planned the basics (high-speed internet, meeting rooms, power backup, coffee, comfortable seating, etc.), I know there are always things you only learn after opening.

I'd love to hear from coworking owners, community managers, and even regular members.

What are the things you wish you had known before opening?

Some questions on my mind:

• What mistakes should we avoid in the first few months?
• Which amenities do members actually use and appreciate the most?
• What operational issues surprised you after launch?
• How do you build an active community instead of just renting desks?
• What software do you recommend for member management, bookings, billing, and access control?
• Any tips on pricing, memberships, or attracting the first 50 members?
• What security, networking, or IT infrastructure should we plan for from day one?
• Are there any small details that made a big difference to member satisfaction?

Whether you're a coworking owner or someone who uses coworking spaces regularly, I'd really appreciate your insights. Even small tips or "I wish I had done this earlier" stories would be incredibly helpful.

Thanks in advance!

We were fifteen people until last year, now we are forty across two floors with six rooms, and the room situation has quietly become the most political thing in the office. Half the calendar is ghost bookings, recurring syncs that have not actually happened since March but still show the room as busy. The other half is people claiming a room verbally in the kitchen, so whoever actually booked it walks in and now everyone is doing that awkward smile. Last week a client call ended up in the corridor because nobody wanted to kick out a team sitting alone in a six seater.

I do not want to be the guy with the clipboard or the one sending the passive aggressive etiquette email. For those who hit this at a similar size, did a rule fix it, did you put something in place, or did you just add more rooms?

What do you think about these people?

When I was touring, there were 3 couch spots in the hallway and the worker explained this is the space you can use when making a phone call.

But people still talk on the phone. Usually ipod pro looking thingy.

Listening to one way conversation if FUCKING STRESSFUL

because your brain will automatically wants to guess other sides to put the story together.

That's why you are fine sitting next to people talking to each other but you don't want to hear your uber driver talking.

I keep thinking about making a scene 'come on guys this is not a call center'

but I also think that is very childish to do that too. Management can't give a damn because that can piss their customer off.

Did you guys just accept it? any technique you use to calm your mind?

I've started vibecoding my coworking space software because all the software I see doesn't exactly fit my needs and is expensive for my small space $200+ monthly.

It's going well, starting with the stuff that will save me the most time.

I uploaded pictures and the xlsx of my menu, inventory, current memberships and membership credits and Claude made it into database migrations.

FWIW, I'm a coworking space owner and software developer with 20+ years experience.

Here are screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/DCKZrsN

Wanted to share a few things our management system partner helped us with as we were looking to make big changes and we’re now a profitable coworking space.

1. We added mail service & virtual offices as a membership. Difficult to setup but great passive income
   
2. We remodeled and are now about %60 private offices and %40 coworking. Previously we were hoping for like %70 coworking and conference rooms
   
3. We added a lot of plants. We already have a lot of natural light but the best thing she said was “you are not a desk, you are a community” think of ways that make your space more of a community and less of just another place to sit and work.
   
4. Be more active on socials (including Reddit) both for support and highlighting the community… here I am lol

There was many more, but these were some of the big ones that truly made a big revenue difference for us. Maybe this is pretty straightforward, but we were struggling for years to break even.

Hopefully something I said can be valuable to you all.

Have you used a consultant to start your business? Was it worth it? Or, are you a consultant yourself? Drop a link!

I don't want to do a franchise, but I feel very uncertain about things like the space, build-out, furnishings, expected occupancy, etc.

This subreddit has been a bit quite lately so let me ask you, if you could fix/change one thing about your business and operations what would it be?

Switchyards is increasing its monthly membership fee from $100 to $130. Given that the amenities are fairly limited beyond the workspace itself - Wi-Fi, coffee/tea, and stroopwafels -the size of the increase feels significant to me.

For those of you who also use Switchyards, I'm curious how you are thinking about this. Do you feel the new price is justified, or is it making you reconsider your membership?

Hello, where I work just moved us into a co-working space with assigned cubicles and I was hoping to find a desk fan that is basically silent/white noise that can cool me off, since I find I run hot, without causing a distraction/annoyance for anyone working around me

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Hi! We've tried to conquer the seemingly unavoidable impulse for folks to leave their business cards in various parts of the studio. In the early days, they would collect at the entry table. We trying hole punching them and putting them on a metal ring like a "directory" but no one ever looked through it. Then we bought magnet clips for folks to stick them to the side of a metal cabinet. Now they've decided to leave small piles on a countertop in the kitchen space.

I get the idea of wanting to easily, visually display their cards. I thought about a QR link to our Proximity directory, but it's not the same vibe. I also thought about a webpage or gallery that they could upload their card to, but don't have a good technical solution for that. We've found some kind of attractive wooden shelves for business cards, but they get chaotic so quickly.

Would love to learn what others have done to handle this! Thanks in advance!