On March 25, Mélanie Burnier and Claudius Krucker, co-presidents of Coworking Switzerland, welcomed operators from across the country to CV Labs in Zug. This year, Laura from our team had the opportunity to join in. 🇨🇭
Cobot has been part of this gathering for years now, and every edition brings fresh energy, familiar and new faces, and a different stage in how Swiss coworking is evolving.
It was an intimate setting. Operators running spaces day to day, working through the same questions: how to grow, how to stand out, and how to keep the community strong while managing everything else.
That made the conversations different. Less theory. More reality.
Here are a few takeaways that stood out.
1. The Swiss market is growing, but in a specific way
The morning kicked off with the General Assembly, led by co-president Claudius, covering elections, approval of the agenda, and minutes from the previous year. Shortly after, Mélanie from The Work Hub delivered the Annual Report, offering an honest snapshot of where Swiss coworking stands today.
There are two patterns:
- Strong demand in central areas like Zürich.
- Slower development in more peripheral locations.
As Mélanie put it, “Zürich is its own market, and then there’s the rest of Switzerland.”
Higher rents. Limited availability. Strong demand. At the same time, there is a shift in what people are looking for. Not large generic offices, but smaller, high-quality spaces that offer flexibility, reliability, and a strong professional image.
Flex offices in Switzerland often look like a traditional office on the surface. But the value proposition is different.
The real value is:
- Flexibility
- Reliability
- Professional image
This matters because it changes how you position your space.
It is less about selling desks. It is about offering a setup people can trust and adapt to their work and daily life.
2. Shared challenges, shared network
Mélanie also gave an overview of Coworking Switzerland's international connections over the past year. The list is impressive: the European Coworking Assembly, the Coworking Alliance Summit, European Coworking Day, the Coworking Spain Conference, the German Coworking Federation, and the Coworking Europe Conference. Six international touchpoints in one year says a lot about how active this community is.
On the challenges side, she pointed to three areas: growing the community, keeping the dynamic with existing members, and external communication. None of these are unique to Switzerland. But hearing the same challenges come up across different markets and different countries shows just how universal they are for coworking operators everywhere.
Claudius followed with a look at what members get out of the association on a practical level, from partner offers to reduced membership fees. A good reminder that networks like this are not just about the conversations. They also create real value for the spaces involved.
3. Coworking still comes down to people
Claire Carpenter's sessions brought the focus back to something fundamental.
Coworking is not about desks. It is about people.
She built on Ben Kolp's talk from Coworking Europe 2025 and the question he posed there: "How do you thrive in a crowded market?" It was great to see insights from Berlin reach a room of Swiss operators just a few months later. That is what a connected coworking network looks like.
From there, she walked through his 8 keys to boutique coworking success:
- The individual counts. It is not just numbers. Operators need to know their members and understand what they need.
- The team shapes the experience. Your team influences how people feel in the space every day.
- Events create connection. Events are one of the most direct ways to bring people together and strengthen relationships.
- Nature connects. Elements like light, plants, and materials shape how people experience the space.
- Screens matter. Simple things like screens and setups influence comfort and satisfaction more than expected.
- Wellbeing supports belonging. A space that feels good to be in helps people stay longer and feel part of it.
- Productivity is a choice. Spaces should support different ways of working, not force one way.
- Automation frees up time. Handling repetitive tasks through software gives operators more time for their members.
These are not new ideas. But they are easy to forget when operations take over.
4. Automation is no longer optional
After Claire's presentation, operators got hands-on with an interactive task: "Develop your Boutique Coworking's Offering." Each operator first mapped out their own offering before bringing it into small group and pair discussions. The discussions were rich, with spaces talking about their challenges, where they see themselves now versus in a few years, and how they manage everything. Operators of all sizes said the same thing.
Automation is essential.
Not as a nice add-on. As a core part of running a space.
When billing, bookings, and access management run reliably in the background, operators get their time back for the things that actually grow a space: talking to members, hosting events, and building an environment people want to be part of. That is exactly what Cobot is built for, and it is something we hear from operators at every event we attend.
Final thoughts
Events like this are where we learn the most. Not from slides or keynotes, but from the conversations in between. What operators are struggling with, what is working, what they wish existed. Those conversations shape how we think about Cobot and where we take it next.
The Swiss coworking community has something special. It is small enough that people know each other, and open enough that the conversations stay honest. We are grateful to be part of it.
See you next year, Coworking Switzerland.
