Week 20, 2025

Bernie Mitchell shares (probably one of his best pieces yet) on how the ways in which we market, promote, describe and share coworking may be excluding the people who need our spaces the most – and tbh who our communities probably need even more.

"It’s understanding that, for many, just getting to your door is already a journey through countless barriers."

Virtual Offices are. Sofia Stolberg takes to video to share her thoughts on a link we shared last week regarding an operator turning off their VO offerings noting their ‘unprofitability’.

And Sofia would know. Afterall 40% of their revenue stack at Piloto 151 is from virtual plans, and they built PilotoMail to help themselves (and others) improve the profitability of building and running virtual office services.

Christy Alexander starts a debate around whether there should be a Michelin-like star rating system for coworking spaces.

What do you standardize? What do you measure? How do you compare apples to oranges to buckets filled with coal? There’s a formula in there, somewhere. But we’d love to hear what you think. Reply to the email or hop into the comments on Christy’s post (and @ This Week In Coworking so we can jump into your replies).

Steph Whiting shares an update on her recent transition from a community manager into the biz dev department at Kiln. Her numbers since moving over are astounding (842 outbound activities this month, 42 tours + day passes booked this quarter, and over $43K in closed-won revenue influenced through 44 personally-nurtured leads).

Sharing this, because as coworking jobs become coworking careers, we need to be more vocal and celebratory about folks who are kicking butt, closing deals and growing the collective pie for all coworking.

Jeremy Bamberg digs a little into the growing popularity of "Platform Operating Systems".

What’s that!? Jeremy gives the anecdote of an "embedded operator team inside a real estate fund—designed to help tenants grow faster, feel supported, and stay longer." The 5 examples given to illustrate these systems are Brand & Community, Growth & Partnerships, Data & Leasing, Design & Build Ops, and Policy & Ecosystem.

Want to know a secret? The best coworking space firms are already doing this, and with shifts in their operating stacks, they’re gearing up to be able to do this for entire buildings and campuses (just like Tashi Dorjee noted they were already seeing in Australia).

Morgan Real Estate riffs on the topic that "last week’s Sunday Times explored how developers of London’s newest offices are entering into a ‘property arms race’ to create ‘super-prime’ spaces, not just in design, but in experience. It’s no longer about size, but of an office that rivals the luxuries of a hotel."

Yeap!

Forbes Brazil shares insights from Claudio Hidalgo, who leads WeWork in Latin America, following news that the firm is now profitable in Brazil, with over 80% occupancy (and a NPS above 70) across its coworking spaces in the country.

Brazil is a key market for the firm, reportedly the second in occupancy globally.

G8 Consult‘s Douglas Green highlights a growing trend where flex operators focus on repositioning second-hand office space, such as former WeWork sites in London like Shoreditch Exchange and The Bower, to save costs and boost returns.

Brands like Huckletree and Oneder are stepping in to manage these already fitted-out spaces, benefiting from lower capital expenditure and improved sustainability features.

This shift shows the flex sector maturing, with landlords more willing to partner with operators on their existing assets.

Paul Dutnall shares how the work.life team took ideas from a hackathon, and turned them into a whole new set of membership products.

Coworking, when done well, is a force multiplier. It multiplies your energy, your ideas, your connections, and your impact in the world. Cat Johnson shares five examples of coworking as a force multiplier.

In its third edition, European Coworking Day has grown even further into a pan-European event, building the foundation for new connections and collaborations across the continent’s coworking ecosystems.

This year, 214 coworking spaces hosted free coworking days in 28 countries, up from 80 participating coworking spaces in 18 countries in 2023.

Tony Bacigalupo, a pioneer of coworking and founder of New Work City, shares insights on how coworking has evolved from a small community-driven movement into a broader shift in work culture.

He emphasizes the importance of building genuine community one-on-one, using tech for business flow rather than social connection, and predicts coworking will grow as a response to isolation and remote work trends. Bacigalupo, now leading New Work Cities consultancy, sees coworking blending with urban life, and hopes for a renewed community movement by 2035.

Investment banking firm Cavendish is expanding outside London with 2 new offices in Birmingham (at Five St Philips) and Manchester (No.1 St Michael’s), helped by property consultancy OBI and flex space operator Gilbanks.

The Gilbanks workspace at Five St Philips is opening in September 2025,and spans 22,000 sqft across two floors. While Manchester’s No.1 St Michael’s is also set to be the city’s first fully Net Zero Carbon commercial development both in construction and operation.

Mimi Montgomery shares an Axios piece exploring how some coffee shops are ditching WiFi and laptops. This isn’t a new phenomenon (or partnership-opportunity for clever brands).

But the quote from Lanny Grossman, who manages public relations for Devoción, a New York-based chain of coffee shops did catch our eye. "We want it to be fair to all customers, and having somebody sit for hours and hours on hours instead of a WeWork — that doesn’t serve our business or our community". Challenge, meet opportunity.

Cobot explains legal rules for offering virtual offices in coworking spaces across countries like Germany, France, the UK, Canada, and the USA, covering business registration, mail handling, KYC/AML checks, and data privacy.

The takeaways? Have clear terms of service and ensure compliance with local laws to protect you and your clients.