Flexible offices are desks or rooms you rent on short agreements, usually with furniture, internet, cleaning and reception included in one monthly price. The most common flexible options are an office hotel (a serviced office centre, called kontorshotell in Swedish) and a coworking space. The opposite is a traditional commercial lease, where you rent your own premises for several years. The short answer on which fits: flexible offices win when you are small, growing fast or unsure what you will need in a year. Your own office wins when you are stable, want to shape the space yourselves and have time to run it. Below we go through the differences in detail.
What are flexible offices?
Flexible offices (also called flex offices or serviced offices) is an umbrella term for arrangements where an operator has leased the premises, fitted them out and runs them, while you buy space inside on shorter terms. In practice there are three variants.
Office hotels (serviced office centres)
An office hotel is a building or floor divided into furnished rooms rented by different companies, with a shared reception, kitchen, meeting rooms and often mail and phone handling. You get your own lockable room, which gives more privacy than coworking, but you share everything else. Agreements typically run month to month or for one or two years, and the price is quoted per room or per workstation rather than per square metre.
Coworking
Coworking is an open shared office where you buy access to a desk, either a fixed desk (the same one every day) or a hot desk (first available). Many coworking operators also offer small private rooms, so the line between coworking and an office hotel is blurred. Coworking suits freelancers and small teams who want a social setting and a low threshold.
Flex office in a dedicated area
The third variant is your own enclosed part of an operator's premises, for example a corridor of ten rooms or a whole floor, with its own entrance but the operator's services. It gives more identity than a room in an office hotel and suits companies of perhaps 10 to 50 people who do not want to commit to a traditional lease.
Alongside these three variants there is the virtual office, where you rent a business address with mail handling and can book meeting rooms, but have no workspace of your own. We cover what it costs and which rules apply in our guide to virtual offices.
What is a traditional office?
A traditional office means signing a commercial lease directly with the property owner under Chapter 12 of the Swedish Land Code (jordabalken). You rent empty or adapted premises, usually for three to five years, pay rent per square metre per year and handle furniture, internet, cleaning, alarm and often electricity yourselves. The law gives a commercial tenant a notice period of nine months for agreements running longer than nine months, and after nine months of tenancy you get indirect security of tenure (a right to compensation if the landlord refuses to renew without an acceptable reason). We cover the lease terms in the checklist for renting a new office.
Office hotel vs your own office: comparison
| Office hotel and coworking | Flex office (dedicated area) | Traditional lease | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost structure | All-in price per desk or room per month | All-in price per area or desk | Rent per sqm per year, plus operations, furniture, IT and services |
| Term | From one month | Often 1–3 years | Often 3–5 years |
| Notice | Short, often 1–3 months | As agreed | Nine months by law unless longer is agreed |
| Move-in | Days | Weeks | Months (search, negotiate, fit out) |
| Flexibility | High, resize within the building | Medium | Low during the term |
| Identity and brand | Limited, shared entrance | Medium | Full, own signage and interior |
| Services | Included (reception, cleaning, coffee, IT) | Included | Bought in or handled yourselves |
| Cost per person | Higher per sqm, but no upfront cost | In between | Lowest per sqm at a stable size, but high upfront costs |
The table is a generalisation. Terms vary a lot between operators and landlords, so always read the agreement.
Cost: why comparing per square metre misleads
An office hotel often looks expensive per square metre, but the price includes a lot that a traditional lease does not: furniture, cleaning, reception, internet, coffee, meeting rooms and sometimes electricity. You also avoid upfront costs such as moving, furnishing and any tenant improvements.
Compare the total cost per workstation per month over the whole period you expect to stay. Include:
- Rent (for a traditional office: sqm × SEK/sqm/year, plus any supplements for property tax, electricity and heating)
- Operations and services (cleaning, internet, alarm, coffee, waste)
- One-off costs (furniture, moving, IT installation, fit-out) spread over the term
- Unused space (empty desks you pay for during the lease)
The last point is often decisive. A traditional office is cheapest per square metre when it is full, but if you sign for 30 desks and only use 18 for two years, you have paid for twelve empty ones. We look at market rents in different areas in what it costs to rent an office in Stockholm.
Term and risk
Flexible offices move the risk from you to the operator. The operator has signed the long lease with the property owner and charges you for not having to. That is worth paying for when:
- you do not know how many you will be in a year
- you are waiting on funding or a large order
- you need an office quickly, for example when setting up in a new city
- you have a project team with a known end date
Also consider what the agreement actually is. A coworking membership is often structured as a service agreement rather than a lease of premises, and a tenancy that ends before it has lasted nine consecutive months carries no security of tenure (Chapter 12, section 56 of the Land Code). For most people choosing flexible space this matters little, but it does mean you can be asked to leave with the notice the agreement states.
Identity, culture and control
Here your own office has a clear advantage. You decide the layout, acoustics, colours, furniture and who comes and goes. For companies that receive clients, handle sensitive information or want to build a distinct culture, that carries weight. We write more about how the space shapes work in office design and productivity.
In an office hotel or coworking space you share the entrance, kitchen and meeting rooms with others. That brings networking and life, but less control: you can rarely rebuild, and meeting rooms need booking.
Who suits which option?
Coworking suits freelancers, sole traders and teams of up to a few people who want to start immediately, pay little and sit among others.
Office hotels suit small companies of roughly 2 to 10 people who need a lockable room for calls and materials but do not want to run their own office. They also suit foreign companies setting up in Sweden that need an address and a base quickly.
Flex offices with a dedicated area suit growing companies of 10 to 50 people who want their own entrance and some identity but do not want to commit for five years.
A traditional lease suits established companies with a predictable size, often from around 15 to 20 people upwards, who want to shape the space and lower the cost per desk over time. It also suits operations with special requirements such as labs, showrooms or high security.
Many end up with a combination: their own head office sized for a normal day, plus flex desks or office hotel rooms in other cities or for temporary peaks.
Hybrid work and flexible offices
Hybrid work has made the question more pressing. When people are not in every day you need fewer desks, which makes both flexible agreements and smaller own premises more attractive. We show how to work out the right size in office space per employee.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between an office hotel and coworking?
In an office hotel you rent your own lockable room and share reception, kitchen and meeting rooms with other companies. In coworking you buy a desk in an open shared office, fixed or flexible. Many operators offer both, so the difference is mainly how private your space is.
What is a flex office?
The Swedish word flexkontor is used in two ways. Among office operators it means a flexible office: furnished space with services, rented on a short agreement. In workplace design it means an office without assigned desks, where employees take a free desk each day. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Is an office hotel more expensive than your own office?
Per square metre almost always, but not always per workstation per month. The office hotel price includes furniture, services and operations, and you avoid upfront costs and paying for empty desks. For a small or uncertain team an office hotel is often cheapest in total; for a stable larger team your own office is usually cheaper.
What notice period does a flexible office have?
It depends on the agreement and is often one to three months for office hotels and coworking. Under the Land Code, a traditional commercial lease running longer than nine months has at least nine months' notice unless a longer period has been agreed.
When should you move from an office hotel to your own office?
A common point is around 15 people, with predictable growth and a wish to shape the office yourselves. Calculate the total cost per desk over three to five years, including furnishing and operations, and compare it with what you pay today.
Find the right office
Whether you lean towards an office hotel, a flex office or your own lease, we put the options together for you. Tell us what you need and we will match you with the right office within 24 hours.