Revenue per Square Footage Within Coworking Spaces

As more people choose remote jobs, have flexible working hours, or join the freelance gig economy, it’s no wonder that coworking spaces have become a popular business venture. While opening one of these spaces may feel like an obvious choice to any entrepreneur, it’s always important to think about profitability, of course. It may seem easy enough to attract paying members and fill the desks in your coworking space… But what happens when you run out of room? Perhaps unsurprisingly, coworking space owners and managers are asking themselves this question more often lately as they look for new ways to bring in revenue and attract more members.

In fact, Kisi has noticed that one of the biggest challenges faced by coworking spaces we’ve worked with is that the spaces can feel somewhat limited in how much revenue they can bring in, mainly because there is only so much space that can be used. For example, many coworking space managers have expressed that the amount of space they have limits how many members can be there at any given time. This, in turn, limits the number of memberships they can sell and how much money they can make through membership subscriptions.

Access as a Revenue Growth Tool #

Although it may be true that you can’t change how large your space is, one solution that is getting increasingly popular is to pair your coworking space management system with access control. This technology will let you charge members for use of specific areas within your space, which means that as a coworking space owner, you’ll be bringing in more revenue than you can with only flat-rate subscription-based memberships.

This solution allows you to get past the common limitations coworking spaces face. There’s only so much you can do with office space, between redesigning your layout and trying to create more work areas. And with an ever-changing job market across the U.S., it’s important to be flexible enough to accommodate different types of members, from startup businesses to individual freelancers. To do that, it’s necessary to have options available within your coworking space—like different subscription packages and a variety of spaces available for use—that will work best for your members’ different needs.

Together with Kisi, coworking spaces can overcome these challenges, make more revenue, and meet members’ needs. By charging for the use of different areas within your coworking space, like desks, conference rooms, and private offices, you can bring in more revenue and members can feel like they’re getting a more customized experience.

To do so, Kisi integrates with your coworking management system to allow members and guests to pay for use of specific areas or rooms within your space, so that you can monetize based on different access permissions.

While it’s true that integrating Kisi with your space does come with an initial cost, the direct revenue it will generate for you while improving the administrative and customer experience makes it an obvious choice for any coworking space looking to increase profit margins. Renting out private rooms and offices rather than having them as common areas is a clear path to higher revenue, even with a limited amount of space.

Underscoring this fact, Coworking Resources points out, “through Kisi, individual spaces (i.e. the private offices) are leased at rates 60-70% higher (per square foot) than other office spaces in the market.”

Kisi also allows members to book spaces at all hours, through integrations with your coworking management software. This adds up to more revenue without any extra effort on the administrative end and can mean your space is available to be used whenever members want, even enabling you to become a 24/7 space if you wish.

For example, one Kisi client, McDougal Coworking, uses Kisi to rent meeting spaces after hours through the integrated scheduling system. “We simply reserve a meeting room, add it to our Google Calendar, and the doors open and lock based on the scheduled meeting,” McDougal says.

Not only does this boost your revenue, but it gives members one more reason to choose your coworking space. As the market becomes more saturated with options, it’s important to make it easy for members to join and use your space. Karen Condi, president of Workplace Strategies, says you have to make it easy for people to do business with you, and Kisi can help you accomplish that.

Condi often advises clients to use Kisi to make a coworking space more successful, noting, “we’re able to have people book their meeting rooms and they can use the app to access the doors, and they don’t have to rely on a team member.” She adds that this feature makes meeting space revenue a high dollar line on monthly P&L reports, and it makes it easier for people to utilize the space.

Conclusion #

Being able to accommodate a wide range of member needs within your coworking space, such as the ability to use the space 24/7 or choose specific areas to work in, can really transform a coworking space and increase revenue. With coworking spaces looking to find creative ways to make a profit, integrating Kisi into your space is an obvious solution for any coworking business feeling limited by space.