We only have hot desks and members get their own keys with 24/7 access. There's no one here running the place on a reliable basis. And the members are primarily foreign expats living in Prague, Czech Republic. This is all important to the particular membership plans offered, and if you have a lot of permanent desks or someone running/ managing the space 9-6 or whatever, what works for our space surely won't work for yours. That said, here's our space's membership options, for what it's worth:
Our space started with only a 24/7 membership, priced so low, I thought, that it would be a good deal for people who only used it a day or two a week. I had hoped that we could charge great rates and still make a profit by having a high member/desk ratio given the low rates (sort of the $30/month gym model; which unfortunately left me in the ambivalent position of both wanting members to consistently use the space and not wanting them to). Instead, I think, people benchmarked the value of the space by what we were charging. If they thought they would only use it half time, they thought they would then be over paying (though the price at the time was under $100/month for 24/7 access). And many prospective members asked for lower prices for less use and alternative membership plans. I've tried a few different membership options since then (M-F, 9am-6pm which was very popular even though only a small discount off full time; 2 days per week which was also popular; 5 days per month which also got a few takers; but keep in mind that there are only about 26 members, so very popular is a relative term), but right now am happy with a 1 month full time plan for about $200, a 10 day/month plan for about $133, and a 1 day/month plan for about $20 (and people can add days to whatever plan for that same price). This keeps things simple and lets people get as many days as they want/need. I give big discounts for people who commit long term (20% off for a six month or longer commitment, and 25% off that for people who pay up front for the whole year or 15% off for people who pay up front for 6 months.). As for dealing with people who end their membership because they're going out of town or need a temporary hiatus: I live in a very transient city (Prague, Czech Republic) with a lot of expat members, and so this issue comes up a LOT (and has stopped a handful of people from becoming members in the first place). What we've done which I think works well is allow members to put their membership on hold for up to 2 weeks for each 3 months of their membership commitment. So, if you're a one year member, as most are, you can put your membership on hold for up to 2 months (however many days you take off get added to the end of your membership). This allows people to keep their long- term commitment which they wanted anyway, and it's great for the workspace because we get more cash flow and member stability. I guess about a third of the members have used this option. If there was someone here running the space on a 9-5 or 24 hour basis, I'd probably copy the Hub model and have hourly rates with a discount for purchasing packets of hours (at least the Hub here in Prague), and I wouldn't have a month by month end date. That way members inevitably feel like they're getting what they pay for, you're not in an ambivalent position of partly hoping your members don't use the space as much as they can, it's both maximally simple and maximally flexible. I.M.O. But it's not plausible without someone running the space with set hours of operation. Hope that helps. Best, Will Will Bennis Locus Workspace http://www.locusworkspace.com On May 3, 3:51 pm, Bianca Rico <[email protected]> wrote: > As we continue to grow we have been receiving more requests for > different membership plans. I was hoping to get some information on > those coworking spaces that have flexible plans such as purchasing > allotted days or hot seat plans where members can rotate the membership > between themselves and another employee, or something along those lines. > Currently we have monthly membership plans. Our members are set up on > recurring payments so we aren't hunting anyone down for checks. It seems > to work out much easier for accounting, and the members seem to prefer > it as well. Recently though, some members have been leaving and coming > back because they do not want to pay for a month that they are not > using. Its awesome that they all come back but we want to make it easier > for them instead of canceling and signing up again. Any suggestions? > We had one thought of Roll over days monthly plan, but a member > suggested that would just be the same as the original monthly plan , > they would feel obligated to use their extra days. These things can get > confusing so I thought I would just ask everyone here :) > > -- > Sincerely, > Bianca Rico > Client Services > MiamiShared.com > Tel: 305-929-8688, ext. 143 > Fax: 305-397-1250http://www.miamishared.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
