Our Premium Space is Worthless if the Experience is Shit
Part of the Coworking Confidential Series: Saying the parts unknown out loud
I’ve walked into workplaces that look like they belong in a magazine.
High ceilings, natural light, bespoke joinery, art curated like it’s a gallery.
Every square metre whispering “premium.”
And then I’ve watched the whole illusion collapse in under 30 seconds.
A member walks into reception. The person behind the desk doesn’t look up. There’s an awkward pause before they’re asked if they’re “new here.” This is a client who’s been in the building for six months. They’re paying top-market rates, and in that moment, they’re invisible.
That’s it.
The space is no longer premium to them. It’s just expensive.
We can pour millions into design, but oour brand lives in the smallest, most ordinary interactions.
Customer experience is not defined by our best days, but by our worst.
We can have a rooftop garden and a fully staffed and stocked coffee bar. We can host natty wine tastings and panel talks.
But…
If the Wi-Fi dies during a member’s investor pitch and no one moves fast, that’s our brand.
If the air conditioning is broken for a week in July and the team’s only answer is “we’re waiting on the contractor,” that’s our brand.
If a member moves out without a single person asking why, that’s our brand.
Premium pricing comes with a brutal exchange rate
The higher we charge, the lower the tolerance for failure.
We don’t get to have an off day. The gap between the promise and the reality is where our reputation bleeds out.
And here’s the bit we don’t see in churn reports:
The member who has that bad experience will tell people.
Not in an online review. Not in a formal complaint. But quietly, over coffee, to the exact kind of people you wish were in our pipeline.
The real measure of a premium workspace is how it feels on the day the lift breaks, not how it looks when everything’s perfect.
The day the community manager is off sick.
The day something goes wrong and everyone’s looking at us.
If those days still feel like the standard we promised, we’ve earned our brand. If they don’t, all we’ve built is an expensive set.
Because premium isn’t our best day.
It’s the worst we allow to happen.
Because in the end, members don’t stay for the set, they stay for how we make them feel.
When care enough to close the gap between promise and reality, that’s when our brand earns loyalty.
James Panepinto is General Manager for Clockwise Offices Manchester, England and UK Chair / Ambassador for FLOC (Future Leader of Coworking)