[smelendez]

I think it's possible there could be advantages for a chain co-working space over independent ones, but it depends on how the market looks long term. Not saying that chain has to be WeWork, of course.

For instance, short term users, who pay the highest rates, could turn out to be a big part of the market. That could be business travelers, companies moving office or setting up offices, companies that need temp office work, etc. They may go for a well-known chain over an independent, just like business travelers often do with hotels. Similar with, as you mentioned, big companies that need to hire in a lot of different cities at once.

It's also possible a big chain could manage to offer better deals than a smaller player if they can negotiate with big, multicity landlords and other vendors or get some kind of special deals for members (e.g., discounts on software, or cheap lunch delivery/taxi service sharing drivers between members).

We also owns Meetup, and I could see WeWork or another chain finding ways to offer additional uses that we don't currently associate with coworking spaces. The advantage could be easy online booking for all kinds of meetings and events, maybe with added features like food and beverage catering.

A chain could also effectively become a marketplace for coworking and other temporary business space needs. Maybe you could book a spot for your company holiday party, or reserve a shopping mall kiosk for a week to do user testing, or even book space at a non-corporate-owned coworking space through your account.

[notahacker]

> We also owns Meetup, and I could see WeWork or another chain finding ways to offer additional uses that we don't currently associate with coworking spaces. The advantage could be easy online booking for all kinds of meetings and events, maybe with added features like food and beverage catering.

> A chain could also effectively become a marketplace for coworking and other temporary business space needs. Maybe you could book a spot for your company holiday party, or reserve a shopping mall kiosk for a week to do user testing, or even book space at a non-corporate-owned coworking space through your account.

Much as WeWork could bring customers, I can't help but think Meetup would have been in a much better place to be that middleman for renting interesting and varied spaces without being lumbered with a branded workspace product...

[GCA10]

Those are all good ideas. They're very much in line with the ways that airlines (United), credit-card issuers and hotels (Marriott) try to leverage their big customer pools. Execute them well, and you can pick up some "free" (or nearly free) revenue and push up your profit margins by a percentage point or two.

Agree that running a chain of co-working office facilities can be quite a decent business (QADB). But those tend to be valued much more conservatively by the stock market.