Farewell Flat Pricing – Dynamic Pricing Has Staying Power

Dynamic pricing is popular across industries, which is why we book flights early or grab matinee theatre seats.

Flat pricing treats every hour of every day exactly the same. We know that meeting rooms sit empty during certain hours and are oversubscribed at others. When it comes to revenue, it’s not the quiet periods that are the problem – it’s the peak periods when rooms sell out.

If you’re fixing prices, you’re not capturing the true value of your meeting rooms at peak times. Dynamic pricing  adjusts prices in real time, increasing revenue at peak times while driving demand during slower periods.

Why flat meeting room pricing leaves money on the table

Flat meeting room booking fails to maximise earnings because it assumes demand is the same throughout the day or week. As we know, it’s super uneven. So, pricing flatly means you’re underpricing your most valuable hours – those peak times.

Midweek, middle-of-the-day meeting room slots often reach capacity quickly, while early mornings, late afternoons, and quieter days go underbooked. Flat pricing charges the same regardless of demand, failing to reflect peak-time value.

Some people love WFH on Mondays, and who loves a Monday morning meeting, really?
Tuesday to Thursday typically see the highest demand. During these periods, rooms book out quickly. With fixed pricing, you just can’t capitalise on this demand – once it’s booked, the opportunity to earn more revenue is gone.

On the other hand, low-demand slots often sit empty, and flat pricing provides no incentive for members to shift bookings to these quieter periods. This leaves valuable space underutilised and revenue potential untapped.

Ultimately, when meeting rooms are priced the same regardless of timing or demand, access is effectively decided by who books first – not by who values the space most.

What meeting room dynamic pricing actually means

In simple terms, meeting room dynamic pricing is when the price is determined by when the resource is booked. The room remains the same, as does the customer booking experience. The price is the only thing that varies, and that depends on the time of day or day of the week.

Most coworking spaces experience predictable booking patterns. As we’ve said, early mornings and late afternoons are usually quieter, with the in-between hours witnessing more demand. Dynamic pricing reflects this by setting different prices for peak and off-peak windows, as opposed to charging the same hourly rate across the board.

Peak slots are priced higher, and, you guessed it – off-peak slots are cheaper. And this affordability can encourage people to utilise the space throughout the day.

It’s important to note that pricing isn’t chaotic. Meeting room rates are set based on known patterns and adjusted gradually as demand changes. Your members and customers will still see clear, predictable pricing – and you’ll be in control.

Fundamentally, dynamic pricing is a type of yield management. The same meeting room has the same fixed costs whatever the time. It’s the value that changes. In other words, when demand is high, the meeting room is worth more.

Dynamic pricing helps coworking spaces earn more from peak demand while making better use of quieter times – without adding additional space, staff or complexity.

Before vs after: flat rates vs dynamic pricing

Let’s take a simple before-and-after to illustrate the point.

Before dynamic pricing, a coworking space charges £40 per hour, all day, every day. Peak midweek slots book out quickly, while early mornings and late afternoons see lower demand.

Over a typical week, the space fills 20 meeting room hours.

After dynamic pricing is implemented, the coworking space charges £30 per hour for off-peak slots and £45 per hour for peak slots. Booking behaviour doesn’t change. The same 20 hours are booked; it’s just that the new dynamic pricing better reflects demand.

*Example uplift if peak utilisation improves (or peak pricing applies to more bookings).

If even a small portion of peak demand shifts to higher-value slots, average revenue increases.

Essentially, peak demand isn’t underpriced anymore and off-peak hours are easier to fill. Nothing else changes: dynamic pricing simply ensures that the most valuable hours generate the most revenue, without adding complexity or workload.

Real-world example

Orbit Spaces, a coworking operator with locations across North West England, decided to switch to dynamic pricing after completing the Coworking Compass. The Compass is a 10-minute assessment of coworking business operations.

Like Orbit Spaces, many coworking organisations price their meeting rooms competitively, based on the local market rate. These prices are fixed – they’re an ‘average’ – and they don’t fluctuate in line with demand. Intrinsically, it assumes demand is stable and therefore every hour has the same value.

The price might reflect market rates, but it might not capture the real revenue potential of high-demand times, or what people are willing to pay for those in-demand hours.

Dynamic pricing uses the local market rate as a base – a starting point, if you will. This rate adjusts when demand is highest and lowest. Peak hours are priced above the market average, and quiet times, like late afternoons, are priced lower in order to stimulate demand.

Dynamic pricing reduces admin, not just increases revenue

It’s not just about making more money.

Dynamic pricing cuts unnecessary workload for your staff, too. When it comes to flat pricing, staff must apply discounts manually to fill off-peak hours; this involves changing copy on the website, promoting discounts online through newsletters and socials, and so on.

As well as taking up time, this can cause inconsistency – not to mention confusion amongst members.
With dynamic pricing on your side, any adjustments are automated according to pre-set rules that ensure high-demand times are priced higher and vice versa. The same pricing logic is applied consistently across all rooms and time slots.

Staff spend less time managing bookings and fielding pricing questions.

They don’t need to calculate rates or approve discounts; members get transparent, predictable pricing. You’ll likely experience fewer disputes and less confusion about whether a discount is valid. So, it’s a time-saving tool as well as a money-making one.

When dynamic pricing works best (and when it doesn’t)

Dynamic pricing works wonders for other time-bound resources too. You can try it with hot desks and event spaces, for instance. Like meeting rooms, they both have defined time slots and predictable demand patterns, making them potentially perfect for dynamic pricing.

When implemented correctly, dynamic pricing boosts revenue while improving workspace pricing optimisation and utilisation – without adding complexity for staff or members.

Although great for meeting rooms, hot desks and even event spaces, dynamic pricing doesn’t work as effectively for resources that are rented on a weekly or monthly basis, such as private offices or full-time coworking memberships. Rates for these are more difficult to adjust dynamically, and basic demand visibility is harder to glean, so changes can undermine trust.

Pricing that reflects reality

Meeting room dynamic pricing is about alignment and isn’t complicated to use.

Dynamic pricing aligns price with real usage patterns. The result isn’t more volume, but better yield. When pricing rules are automated around clear peak and off-peak windows, revenue increases without manual intervention. Growth comes from capturing the true value of your busiest hours, and not from squeezing more bookings into an already full calendar.

When pricing reflects reality, profitability improves without adding more space, more staff, or more operational burden.