I've used a lot of them and Wework was the most "clinical" and corporate of them. The small local ones tend to have awesome community, fun after work get together and special events, a little board game area, etc. All in all they actually feel like communities, not just desks.
But no, that sounds interesting! I guess it's not that different from today's coworking spaces in that "someone with capital starts a shared office" way.
I do like the eclectic mix of people at the local ones, though. They weren't all devs or worked in tech. Made life more interesting that way.
Health and fitness places likewise will sublet portions of a larger facility out to other businesses. e.g. the Yoga classes at your local big-gym etc.
Most big Asian grocery stores in the U.S. also have lots of small sublet but compatible businesses, so you can get a haircut, buy jewelry and makeup, get lunch, and leave with a coffee and a baked good...all from separate establishments.
I travel for a couple months at a time to different places and while WeWork certainly has a feel that many don't like much, its always a convenient and reliable option when it comes to getting access to someplace with good wifi, amenities etc.
I travel all around Latin America and Spain for the most part, with some trips to other places for relatively long stretches of time and haveing a wework membership in certain cities makes finding a good place to work from much more easy and convenient.
When I'm in a place without a wework I generally do go to a local place, but most large cities have wework available and its just less stress to have to always sign up with a new place, or have to negotiate rates if I'm not staying for a full month or so.
But it's an interesting model, at least. Many local credit unions are also part of a shared ATM network, for example, and often science museums will have reciprocal memberships across the world (via the ATC Travel Passport program).
But yeah, I hear you. It's the same reason Starbucks is popular everywhere... consistent reliability + availability is a big perk that locals have a hard time matching.
If you haven't seen it before, it's a great way to find (and use) small local spaces. It's basically the Classpass of coworking.
They wouldn't even necessarily need to rent out the private rooms (which would have higher housekeeping costs, and later check-ins, if they were dual-purposed as work areas) but maybe just a lobby-like or breakfast space or two. That helps the community too, so everyone's not just tucked away in their own little rooms.
However, probably a lot of small indie hotel locations are franchisees with some access to capital but probably limited participation in techie/hipster/young nomad circles (which is mostly what I see in coworking spaces). Usually those small local hotels, in my experience at least, are family-run and maybe not equipped to deal with either the infrastructure side (they almost all have shitty wifi, as a rule) or the customer service side (a constant stream of of people going in and out, not just during check-in and checkout... but then again, that is their bread and butter, so maybe?).
In my recent travels I did come across a cool outdoorsy chain though with more modern attitudes (repurposing old motels into fun community stays with regular rooms, hostel beds, camper van spaces, shared cafes and kitchens, etc.): https://www.logecamps.com/home Something like that could probably easily pivot, but then again, that's often a different demographic than the typical coworking space user. I dunno. These days they're all kinda blending together though :)
Still, all in all a cool idea. Wish I had the capital to start something like that!
The Hilton one doesn't actually show any day rates when you search, just regular room nights.
The Marriott one shows no day rate availability in any city I checked.
Were these experiments they ran in the past but gave up on, or am I doing something wrong?
This is the way!