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Comment by mianos | Hacker News Reader

That is the good part about We-Work. Regus is very old school. The one I went into earlier in the year seemed to have been fitted out with plastic wood grain panels from the 70s. That's said, Regus is still running and WeWork is in Chapter 11. Plastic wood grain is fine for the price and the lack of bullshit add-ons like an extra stool.

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I can only speak for Regus locations in Europe, but all of the ones I’ve visited have been new and modern, if a little office-drone boring. But frankly after being at a WeWork beforehand, I prefer the Regus blandness to the fake enthusiasm and brightly colored furniture.

How are they in general to deal with? I was in touch with them last week and there were red flags abound. They don't respond to emails, but would rather spam my phone. The price kept increasing from the first point of contact, and they finally wanted me to pay a bill where fees again were unspecified. When I asked for a detailed, itemized bill, they ghosted me.

Their mother company iwg PLC has less than stellar reviews on trustpilot.

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/iwgplc.com

Am I missing out by looking elsewhere? They were by far the cheapest and most flexible, but I don't have time to deal with administrative bullshit and protecting myself against predatory sales.

They squeeze you on some various fees - you can rent an office, never use it, and be charged a 300 or 400 cleaning fee etc. you get charged a separate fee for access to coffee etc. pricing isnt online you work w a salesperson. Square footage is hard to find. I’m sure if you were very careful you could pick up on all this but not greatest

I haven’t had any issues, but I just did everything in person. It isn’t as streamlined as WeWork, though.

I have heard negative experiences from people renting an entire office, but I only rent a desk.

Editing to add a few more details: their app and tech stuff is a little clunky and not as good as WeWork's. You have to pay via an invoice system (at least in my EU country) which is again a little clunky. Otherwise I haven't had any issues with billing, etc. – but I reiterate that I only talked to the guy on the phone to set up a meeting, and then did everything else in person.

Competition from WeWork seems to have gotten Regus to up their game. Like you said, it's still bland and corporate, but the quality of the spaces is pretty good.

They also seem to have a relationship with a nicer service called Spaces, but I’m not sure what the connection is exactly. Spaces seemed like a direct WeWork competitor to me.

I work with a company that has a spaces subscription and their location in Prague has so many weird rules and ways to squeese money out of both the workers and the company that I find the office to be downright unpleasant.

You're not allowed to eat food or bring your own drinks into the common areas because they want you to pay for their overpriced coffee and sandwitches. The coworking space closes at 5 and you have to leave. It opens at 8:30 and you can't enter before then. They will randomly close half the common area because someone rented it for a party. In the private office there are no power outlets at the desk. There is exactly one hookup place in the middle of the floor and we have extention cables everywhere. Despite paying (way above market) for a private office only a limited number of preaproved people are allowed to use it, anyone extra has to have a spaces subscription too. Despite allegedly renting the private office we are not allowed to use our own furnature, or electronics, or place anything on the walls (we can, but this would be paid extra).

Overall, it looks nice and has a nice view but once you see the rulebook it becomes an extremely unwelcoming experience.

My protip for anyone who has arbitrary food or drink restrictions is to come with dietary restrictions - as soon as you ask for a low sodium vegan gluten free sandwich the company will give you a hall pass to bring your own food in.

I've shared this tip with so many people after actually going vegan and noticing that airplane food is less intolerable.

I asked around and apparently the same is true for all "special" meals, I thought it was interesting. Finding some related data to analyze has been on the back of my mind for a bit now.

And yes, often people are just okay with you bringing your own. I guess it works everywhere except prison, based on SBF.

Yeah my only experience with Spaces is that I stumbled into one while traveling, assuming it was a Regus location. They let me use it anyway, although I think it’s technically a separate membership.

I do have a dedicated desk in a standard Regus location and for the most part, it’s fine. Unlimited access 24:7, clean kitchen, etc. Unlike WeWork, the coffee machine isn’t free and there isn’t an on-site barista, but I don’t care about that anyway. No weird rules about food or anything else.

Spaces is/was a Dutch WeWork clone, but they are now owned by the same parent as Regus and they've been integrating the two. My office is in a Spaces in Amsterdam and I like it, but I think the Spaces facilities outside The Netherlands are a bit of hit or miss. I think they've been quickly assembled to show a growth curve but are not all up to the same standard.

The parent company of Regus owns Spaces.

> That's said, Regus is still running and WeWork is in Chapter 11.

Not really:

https://globalinsolvency.com/headlines/iwg-plans-set-regus-i...

2020, during the pandemic. They seem to have recovered.

WeWork is still running too… chapter 11 is a bankruptcy where you restructure debt and keep the lights on, not where you shut down.

Yes, you are correct. Maybe I should have said there is more certainty about the future of Regus. I am not even sure of that.

I do agree, a lot of the media is saying this is a tactical move to re-negotiate a lot of expensive leases and they plan to get out of chapter 11 when they do.

This is just plain wrong.

Guess which other companies filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy? Sears, BedBath&Beyond, and Circuit City. I don’t see them coming back at all.

Not saying that there is no possible comeback from chapter 11, there is. But seeing a chapter 11 filing and assuming the company will get out of it just fine is a bit preposterous.

Most of the time, the whole point of “reorganization” under chapter 11 is to keep generating whatever cash flow they can in the process, to make sure the creditors recoup as much of their investment before the (most likely inevitable) shutdown and the operations are wound down as gently as possible.

> "Guess which other companies filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy? Sears, BedBath&Beyond, and Circuit City. I don’t see them coming back at all"

General Motors, American Airlines, Marvel Entertainment, Hertz ...

And yet, chances don’t seem that good. The highest possible estimate for survival rate from chapter 11 bankruptcy that i managed to find was quoting about 25%[0].

0. https://www.forbes.com/2008/09/25/chapter-11-bankruptcy-ent-...

It’s not “plain wrong”. Sure, most chapter 11 companies don’t make it - but by filing chapter 11 instead of chapter 7, it means they’re still operating and trying to make it. Chapter 7 is “turn out the lights and liquidate”.

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