Improved membership plans to reward long-term members and invest into a sustainable future

Pricing membership is an interesting topic and something we always happy to adjust.

The new model is based on feedback from coop members that we should raise prices to cover additional services and allow for future investments to grow and on the other hand our desire to keep coworking members in our community for longer periods, even when they are not in Bansko. And to offer the best value compared to other amazing nomad locations and premier coworking/coliving communities worldwide.

The major changes are:

• Memberships rates will go up a little to cover the additional effort with shorter term members, while long-term members are rewarded with free add-ons for mail and storage. With most members being nomadic not everyone has a place in Bansko to store their stuff or receive mail. Also the add-ons for mail and storage are getting a little bit cheaper for everyone.
• Instead of being an add-on for some members our gondola location will now be available for everyone. So there is no second class membership with access to limited facilities, but everyone can use all areas. This will also help to deal with capacity issues by spreading members through multiple locations.
• It is now possible to pause memberships for up to 3 months, so long-term members can take advantage of the long-term discounts and add-ons, even if they run out of their 90 day visa-free stay or want to travel for a bit.
  So e.g. someone with a 3 month membership could stay in Bansko one month, then pause their membershhip to travel for one month and then use the remaing 2 membership months.
• Long-term members will get vouchers to bring friends. We already have a paid bring a friend for a week add-on that allows members to bring non-members to social events, but in the future we will encourage this even more by allowing to bring some friends for free for a week.
• We are introducing a new “Elders of Bansko” advisory group, so that members that commit to the coworking space also have a higher impact on policies and plans. Will need to figure out what this exactly means, but the failed coop initiative has shown us that there are several members that want to be engaged more in governance. And the donations to our garden project proved that they are happy to raise additional money toward specific causes. Plus members that take annual memberships even if not here for the whole year show us that they understand that building Bansko into a nomad base is a joint effort that requires funding year-round.

This new pricing will be in effect from July 1st, 2019. Existing members can decide to renew their membership at legacy plan conditions or switch to the new model depending on their preference.

We will continue to be the most affordable coworking community for digital nomads among our worldwide peer group for everyone, this is possible because Uwe and Matthias still run the space as a philanthropic hobby without drawing dividends or salaries — and because a lot of our members are generously share their skills, organize activites and sometimes donate to special projects. #banskomagic

What we won’t change, despite it being brought up from time to time, is introducing a monthly “social only” membership. Coworking Bansko is a community first not a serviced office and being part of our community as well as developing Bansko into a base for nomads is the main value that we provide. The idea that not using a desk should be significantly cheaper doesn’t value what we build in Bansko and we rather have generous than stingy people around us.
The other aspect is that “social only” wouldn’t allow members to build the same connections with others. Working next to each other, having a quick chat over coffee and eating out for lunch as well the myrad of other serendipitous interactions that members have here won’t happen when people just to join our formal events or want to party. A monthly “social only” membership would attract the wrong people and weaken our community instead of strengthening it.

But we aim to continue to be accessible for everyone where money is an issue: We will continue with our Nomad in Residence program where we support one early stage nomad with free accomodation and coworking in exchange for 1 hour per day helping in the coworking space for a month. We will continue to provide free volunteer tickets for our events and will continue with our unpublished individual discount policy for a select few members that have significantly less than most of our members.

Some members have brought up the idea of supporting female founders or other groups that are underrepresented in the startup/nomad scene and could use some help to get started. This could be a member-sponsored scholarship fund or maybe an incubator for nomads backed by member investments. If our members are doing something like this, then the coworking space will also match any donations to the cause.

And we won’t introduce summer/winter pricing. While Bansko as a resort has a high and a low season, our community is pretty active year round. Yes, the costs in winter are higher due to heating and the winter in Bansko in general is more expensive for tourists, but we have many members staying year-round or even specifically coming for the “low season”; seasonal membership rates don’t really reflect the experience of our community.
So the same membership rate around the year.