The "Free Membership" Trap That's Harming Coworking Spaces

I just witnessed something that gave me a headache: a brand-new coworking space offering 50 free six-month memberships to anyone who signs up quickly enough.

Here's the brutal truth about why this strategy backfires:

Free devalues everything you've built.

When you give away half your capacity for free, you're essentially telling the market that your service isn't worth paying for.

You've just trained potential customers to wait for the next discount instead of seeing real value.

Free attracts the wrong crowd.

People who chase free offers aren't community builders—they're deal hunters.

Without financial investment, they have no skin in the game and won't contribute to the collaborative culture that makes coworking spaces thrive.

I've seen this play out in London, where a shiny, investor-backed space rolled into town, undercut everyone, disrupted the entire local coworking ecosystem, then raised their prices with just one week's notice.

The damage to community relationships? Irreversible.

The lesson: Your pricing strategy isn't just about revenue—it's about attracting people who value what you're building.

When you give it away, you attract people who don't.

Your community deserves members who choose to invest, not just show up for free.

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