👋 Hey! We’re Alliance Virtual Offices.
You may have heard that we’re investing a whole bunch (millions of dollars, in fact) in upgrading our tech and services, with a focus on improving your day and businesses.
This week we go behind the scenes to share how our real-time integrations work, why we picked Syncaroo to build with, and how leaders like Anne Olsen at The Shop Workspace found the integration process a “piece of cake”.
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🎉 Coworking celebrations
🏆 Coworking brands climb Franchise Times rankings #
All three Vast Coworking franchise brands improved positions in the Franchise Times Top 400 ranking for 2025. Office Evolution ranked 436 (up from 457 in 2024), Venture X reached 402 (up from 464 in 2024), and Intelligent Office entered the list at 489 as a new addition this year.
The rankings reflect growth momentum across the groups portfolio and demand for flexible workspaces (and entering the market) continues growing.
👉 Read this.
📰 Coworking news & views.
🤔 What do you do when someone wants your team’s office? #
Charlie Gallienne-Schmidt shares a conundrum many great operators have found themselves in one or more times. The team running Sandbox Workspace squatted in one of their empty offices, fitted it out a little and then someone wanted to rent it from them. The problem? Their team loooves it, even if their business is in filling as much of their space out as possible.
Been there? What did you do? Chime in in the comments (and let them know you landed there via TWIC)
👉 Read this.
🧱 Building a community that outlives the workspace #
This week, Cobot explores what it really takes to build a coworking community that people feel part of, carry with them, and continue to support even beyond their need for space to work. From leading with values, to giving members room to shape the culture, this post looks at how lasting communities are built.
👉 Read this.
🚙 How one Panama hub leans into earning their commute #
Alicia Wolfe shares the founding story of coworking space La Colectiva in Cambutal, Panama.
While others position local coworking hubs as a reason not to commute, Alicia and the team note that while the commute to their space may be more than 30 minutes, they promise it’s worth it. Earning the commute is a increasingly popular strategy for a number of spaces.
👉 Read this.
📲 How one leader drove member app engagement #
Olivia Lutz shared a bunch of ways she bumped member app engagement by 700%, in just six months.
During this time, at a Venture X location in London she combined member onboarding tweaks, FAQs, event calendars, room bookings and simplified visitor registrations to create value from the app instead of just chasing numbers.
👉 Read this.
✨ All the Coworking Creators Summit notes you can handle! #
Cat Johnson assembled a stellar lineup of experts for her first BIG virtual "Coworking Creators Summit" event. Lauren Walker at Coworks took a LOT of notes! And then shared all of them.
Get insights from Taylor Mason, Dani Corbett, Dean Connell, Garrett Tichy, Amanda Leffew, Kristin Fields and Cat herself.
Discover how these leaders think and do so they can write, create, share, and BE authentic in this industry (and life, tbh).
👉 Read this.
😎 9 ways to bring new members into your community #
People don’t want to be "coworking ghosts", they just don’t feel at home (yet) in your coworking space and community. Cat Johnson makes the case for intentionally bringing them into your community before they have a chance to start ghosting.
👉 Read this.
📖 What’s your coworking story? And how are you telling it? #
Coco‘s CEO Colleen Moselle took an honest look at their organic marketing, and what does or doesn’t drive qualified leads – and then shared the results with all of us.
When was the last time you took a deep honest look at what you’re doing, and what’s working?
👉 Read this.
🥪 Are flex spaces driving workplace events revival? #
Rubberdesk‘s Gareth Smith argues flexible workspaces are leading a post-pandemic revival of workplace events in UK urban areas, where workplace/work events used to be part of ‘regular city life’.
Gareth explores how operators including techspace, Spacemade, Fora, Business Environment Group, and Creo are hosting weekly gatherings ranging from cocktail hours to wellness sessions and themed lunches to combat workplace isolation.
Hosting events at your spaces? Might be a good idea to add these into proposals for teams up to 20 staff who lack dedicated event coordinators as tools for talent retention and networking while also addressing blurred work-life boundaries in hybrid work models.
👉 Read this.
🤺 Davids vs. Goliaths: The argument for indies over major brands #
OneSpace founder and CEO Matt Hewitt advocates that developers should partner with regional flexible workspace operators rather than large global brands, citing that WeWork and IWG have closed over 700 locations worldwide in the past five years. WeWork closed approximately 200 locations including 160 exits through bankruptcy restructuring, while IWG rationalized around 500 centres between 2020 and 2024 despite record revenue.
Hewitt argues regional and independent operators are expanding profitably while offering developers faster decisions, tailored solutions, lower operational risk, and direct access to local corporate occupiers.
👉 Read this.
🤫 A Community Management cheat sheet #
William Hatfield, Community Manager at The Work Well in Houston, shares five strategies for smoother operations—helping teams balance efficiency and crafting a thriving member experience.
This post by on the iPostal1 Workspace blog highlights how increasingly being a great coworking community manager takes combining structure, adaptability, and smart systems.
👉 Read this.
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💻 Coworking technology.
🔑 Does coworking IT have a “golden handcuffs” problem? #
Paul Orrock from isofy says the quiet part aloud, digging into "the biggest threat to profitability and retention". What is the threat? Outdated infrastructure and long-term MSP (Managed Service Provider) agreements quietly holding operators back.
While MSPs usually refer to IT and actual hardware infrastructure, we are seeing a new generation of managed services entering and supporting coworking businesses.
👉 Read this.
🗺️ Do you have ENOUGH Google admins? #
Amy Toman reminds us why just having one admin (or user) account added to your Google Business Profile listings.
In short: Life happens. Lost credentials, suspended accounts, firm departures, account handovers, etc. How many users should you have? Three.
👉 Read this.
📈 Coworking data.
🇪🇺 European flex allocation in corporate portfolios doubling #
Sebastian Opalko shares how flex is reshaping Europe’s office market linking to CBRE‘s 2025 European Flex Market Update. It reveals that flexible space allocation in corporate portfolios increased from 12% in 2024 to 21% in 2025, with expectations reaching 29% by 2027, while 18% of respondents report over half their portfolio is now flexible space.
European operator take-up in H1 2025 declined 23% compared to H1 2024, though Amsterdam (+193%), Berlin (+119%), and Munich (+97%) posted significant growth while Frankfurt (-76%), Madrid (-74%), and Barcelona (-47%) saw reduced demand. The European flex penetration rate reached 2.52% across 31 tracked markets, with prime desk rates showing mixed growth led by London at 23% year-on-year (£1,500 to £1,850) and Madrid at 30% (€500 to €650). CapEx avoidance emerged as the primary driver for flex adoption at 64% (up from 46% in 2024), while IT/security challenges remain the top barrier at 54% of respondents.
The report highlights managed offices as a key growth area, with operators including Industrious, IWG, WeWork, Kitt and Knotel, noting IWG added 620 new centres last year but only 20 via traditional leases as operators shift toward management agreements and other partnership models.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 UK & Ireland sees 116 new locations in Q3 #
CoworkingCafe has shared their latest UK&I report and location numbers, noting that the region now features 4,315 locations, up from 4,199 in Q2.
The breakdown is 4,085 in the UK and 267 Ireland, whole the majority of locations are concentrated in major urban hubs. Unsurprisingly, London leads the pack with 1,191 coworking spaces (~27% of all UK&I spaces). Following the capital is Manchester (120), Glasgow (68) and Birmingham (67). The hottest market in Wales is Cardiff (40 locations) and Belfast in Northern Ireland (35). Dublin is Ireland’s coworking capital with 126 spaces, nearly half of the countries count.
Included in the report are median prices for daypasses, memberships, virtual offices and meeting rooms.
👉 Read this.
📈 Do these new metrics prove flex can deliver predictable revenue? #
Industry analysis contends flexible workspace offers more predictable revenue than traditional long-term leases through six measurable drivers: lead flow, conversion rates, time to close, deal values, agreement terms, and churn rates. Allwork.Space published data showing that office vacancy reached 19.8% in 2024 while sublease availability nearly doubled since the pandemic, undermining traditional lease stability assumptions. The global flexible office market is forecast to grow from $39.6B in 2024 to $136B by 2032 at 17% annual growth.
The piece compares flex workspace to hotels and gyms as operating asset classes that deliver predictable returns through performance metrics rather than long-term contracts, though notes industry fragmentation limits capital market adoption with only one publicly traded operator providing consistent reporting.
👉 Read this.
🤝 Coworking market moves.
🇦🇺 Aussie firm launches demand pricing for meeting rooms #
WOTSO is implementing demand-based dynamic pricing for meeting rooms across its 35-site network in Australia and New Zealand to increase utilization during quieter periods and maximize revenue during peak demand.
CEO Jessie Glew reports meeting rooms experience highest demand on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 11am and 2pm, with Mondays and Fridays typically quietest, though some sites show exceptions. WOTSO will trial the strategy with meeting rooms first and may expand to coworking desks and private office day passes if successful.
Have experience implementing Dynamic Pricing at your space(s)? Apply to be featured in our upcoming Undercurrents deep-dive on the topic.
👉 Read this.
🇦🇪 flowork opens second Dubai location #
flowork.me will open its second Dubai location in Vision Tower, Business Bay in November 2025, marking the company’s first anniversary since launching at Dubai Hills Business Park. The Dubai-based workspace brand founded by entrepreneur Abir Moussa reached full occupancy at its first location within six months, attracting founders, consultants and growing companies.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 UK operator surpasses £30 million ARR #
Derby-based flexible workspace operator Cubo reported annual recurring revenue exceeding £30M (€34M/$39M) as it plans new site launches across the UK. Founded in 2020, Cubo operates 13 locations across England and Scotland.
The operator achieved record occupancy rates with five locations fully let and reported its highest number of enterprise client sign-ups, including growing blue-chip organization membership. In 2024, Cubo acquired three floors in Manchester, one of six provincial UK WeWork sites. New locations are scheduled to open in late 2025 and early 2026 as part of the company’s expansion strategy.
👉 Read this.
🇮🇳 JustCo announces expansion into India #
JustCo announced plans to expand into India as the country’s flexible workspace sector accounted for approximately 22% of total office leasing activity in Q1 2024 according to CBRE research.
India’s flexible workspace stock reached over 72M sq ft across its top nine cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, and Pune as of H1 2024. Michael Sim, Head of India & Australia, attributes growth to India’s talent pool, rapid urbanization, hybrid work models, and corporate demand for real estate agility.
👉 Read this.
🏢 CBRE acquires Pearce Services for $1.2 billion cash #
Jamie Hodari shares a 90-second primer on why CBRE Group have acquired infrastructure maintenance firm Pearce Services from New Mountain Capital for approximately $1.2B in cash with a potential earn-out of up to $115M. The deal expands CBRE’s technical services portfolio across telecom, energy, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure sectors.
Pearce Services will integrate into CBRE’s Building Operations & Experience unit, that Jamie now leads, and is expected to immediately boost CBRE’s core earnings.
👉 Read this.
🎙 Coworking conversations.
Stephen Phillips joined the Coworking Values Podcast to dig into how they answered remote worker questions about infrastructure reliability at their space in El Nido, Phillippines – not with marketing, but with a review system that feels human instead of transactional.
In this episode, Brave Corp CEO, Caleb Parker, and co-host Eyal Lasker from Flexspace AI, sits down with Heather Fleming, Head of Revenue at Spacemade , inside the MUTE Showroom in Clerkenwell London to unpack the answers to a simple question with big implications… Can the office win by borrowing the hotel playbook?
Caroline Hecht joined Jamie Russo and Giovanni Palavicini on the Flex Uncensored podcast to dig into Preferred Office Network‘s recent rebrand, their "one agreement" model, their trust-driven marketplace differentiator, and her career journey from Craigslist to industry leader.
Bryce Hill joins Hector Kolonas on the TWIC Podcast to dig into the evolution of coworking sales, and the valuable lessons he learned along the way from a community manager at an Office Evolution to leading sales across The Ohana Network .