Straightening out the concept of collaborative coworking across the region, Coworking Alliance Asia Pacific (CAAP) organized a live webinar on the co-living world on June 07, 2017. The speaker, Alysia Hamilton is the founding team member for Roam Co-Living, the first global co-living provider with spaces in Bali, London, Miami, and Tokyo.
Alysia defined co-living as a new concept regarding the future housing. A co-living space facilitates people with a community, and individual slot to ensure home like environment even if it is for a short period. In a general sense, co-living is an approach to bring the community back together, have flexibility, be inspired by each other, and to not have so much stuff in one place yet have the opportunity to move around.
Roam is an apartment building where everybody has their private space at the same time has access to different community events. It welcomes families, travelers, and people who love the idea of moving from place to place and having the sense of community and home. It is the first global co-living provider who serves on three different continents.
Countering to the idea of competition with coworking space, Alysia explained that Roam offers space for week or month at a time. Therefore, people have more exposure to the community. Though Roamers(members of Roam) use co-living for different purposes, they need that option of a coworking space where they can solely work. Thus, the managing group at Roam integrated their experiences as Roamers and initiated a coworking space dedicated to the members only.
Talking about the challenges faced in the field, Alysia pointed out that Roam does not purchase the property but comes in as an operator. Consequently, it requires the team to have all the right licenses according to the region, which is often a very time-consuming process.
In the case of addressing customers, Alysia revealed that initially, they tried to attract people who were into their careers, who knew their needs and what Roam can provide. To filter their members, Roam has now initiated an application process which includes face to face interviews. The idea here is to find out people who value the idea of diversity and co-living.
“It comes down to that if people are taking the time to fill the application or their friend refer them, we know that they understand what they are signing up for.”
Alysia added that they have members who have visited all of Roam’s properties. The setting is different, but the operating system remains the same. As a result, It is like a new and familiar experience all at the same time. Someone who has already been a member of one of Roam’s properties can quickly sign up and explore other properties that the brand holds.
When asked about the pricing system, Alysia assured that concerning long time accommodation or a short time accommodation their price is average or below and often it includes different perks and benefits.
“People who stay with us they say they got more than what they paid for.”
Billions of individuals are coming on the internet, and they can work from wherever they are. One of the prominent aspects of co-living is that it brings home and works together with global freedom. The notion of co-living has already become popular, and in future, Alysia believes, people are going to look for something that relates to humanity and connection and sharing space or communities.