Got quoted $850 for a coworking desk in Bali and nearly choked

Was browsing options for next month's trip to Ubud and stumbled on a place charging $850 a month for a hot desk. That's more than my rent back in Ohio. I had to double check the currency. Found it on some digital nomad Facebook group where people were actually defending the price. Has anyone else noticed coworking prices getting ridiculous in popular spots?

3 comments

3 Comments

morganmartinez6d ago

Got a buddy who moved to Chiang Mai last year hyped about paying $150 a month for a solid coworking spot. He messaged me last week all pissed off because his same desk now costs $400. The place added a "curated community experience" or some marketing nonsense and jacked the price up. He said half the people there are just influencers filming content anyway, not actually working. I guess when places get popular on TikTok they think they can charge whatever they want. Makes you wonder if these spots are even worth it when a local coffee shop does the same job for a few bucks.

angela_morgan6d ago

Dude, that is exactly what happened to my favorite spot in Lisbon last year. Started at $200 a month with basic wifi and coffee, then they got featured in some "digital nomad paradise" blog and suddenly it was $500 for a "curated workspace experience" with kombucha on tap and mandatory networking events. I stopped going when the front desk girl tried to sell me on a $50 monthly add-on for "priority access to the quiet room." Like, what even is that? Now I just rotate between three different cafes and buy a pastry at each one, costs me maybe $3 a day and nobody asks me to join their "intentional community.

wendy_lee486d ago

Yeah the "curated community experience" thing is such a scam. I ran into that in Medellin last year where my go-to spot jumped from $180 to $450 and added some mandatory weekly workshop I had zero interest in. What actually worked for me was finding one of those co-living apartments that had a decent table and solid wifi already in the unit, cost like $50 extra a month total and I could work in my underwear if I wanted. Also started texting the owner of a local cafe that had super fast internet and basically became a regular, he let me sit there all day for the price of one coffee and a sandwich. Way better than paying for some "intentional community" nonsense where you have to make small talk about your crypto portfolio.