An Honest Review of The Wing: A Freelancer’s Perspective on the Women’s-Only Community Space

The first thing you notice when you walk in is the look. The aesthetic. The Wing is an undeniably gorgeous space, clearly designed to photograph well and draw “oooohs” from anyone who sees images of any of their locations from an Instagram feed.

That’s not a bad thing (although I do go back and forth on whether the focus on looks is great branding, or obnoxiously predictable and eye-roll-inducing for a women’s-only professional space).

It is, however, something that any freelancer, entrepreneur, or remote worker who needs a coworking space — emphasis on the working part of that — should be aware of before making The Wing their new home-office-away-from-home. Looks are the priority. Actual functionality leaves something to be desired.

I’ve been a member of the Boston location for a few months now, and I’ve gathered enough info and insights to put together an honest review of The Wing that might help other women interested in using the space for coworking.

Here are the details of my experiences so far.

Why I Joined The Wing in Boston

My interest in The Wing started when I realized I hadn’t left my home in about 4 days. I questioned whether I would be mistaken for a small, pale, hunched-over-from-too-much-time-at-the-keyboard troll the next time I ventured into the wilds of our urban neighborhood.

(To be fair to my little troll-like self, we live in an apartment in managed building. We have access to common spaces; the gym I go to is on the bottom floor of where we live. So I did manage to actually leave my apartment during that time period — I just didn’t actually leave the building. Still pretty bad, I know.)

4 days of living exclusively indoors is not good. But when I get extremely busy with work or the weather is crummy (as it is at least 5 months out of the year in Boston), I don’t have much incentive to lug all my stuff to a coffee shop and then try to strategize how much coffee I have to buy to justify my presence for 6 hours/how I’m going to manage bathroom breaks without doing the annoying “hi can you watch my stuff really quick” to a stranger who did not ask for the responsibility of eyeballing my laptop while I pee.

Plus, you can go stir-crazy being in the same place all the time (regardless if you manage to actually leave the house for a walk or an errand each day). And while routines are nice, it’s easy to feel like you’re stuck in a rut when there’s no viable option for a change of scenery that also allows for a productive workday.

I wanted to find a coworking space that gave me a reason to get up, get dressed, and go into “work” a few times a week. That was my primary goal: have a dedicated workspace that was just for work.

My secondary goal was to not spend an obscene amount of money, and this is where I initially wrote off the idea of joining a coworking space.

In Boston, a WeWork membership can start at $425 (or even more) for a “hot-desking” setup with no dedicated space just for you. Industrious, another coworking option, is even more expensive.

Because I do have a workspace at home, an additional coworking space was a luxury rather than a requirement — so price mattered.

The Best Part About The Wing Is, Surprisingly, the Price

It took about 6 months after hearing about The Wing to actually look up their membership and pricing options.

I assumed the cost would be right in line with the other options I already shopped, so I got really excited when I realized you could pay $185 per month for an annual Wing membership or $175 per month if you paid for the year upfront. (The Wing requires an annual commitment either way.)

Or at least, that’s how it looks on paper. A small thing that really rubbed me the wrong way learning that The Wing charges a $200 initiation fee — that appears suddenly after you commit to joining.

The initiation fee wasn’t discussed or mentioned anywhere until after I already signed up and paid my annual fee. I then got a surprise bill for $200 extra dollars.

Perhaps this was just bad luck. Maybe it should have been mentioned in some material and it wasn’t.

Or maybe it was lack of due diligence on my part; there could have been some fine print that I just missed.

Still, it left a really bad impression that made it harder for me to not get upset with later small nuisances — like the fact that the space frequently closes for staff events or that the entire location was closed for 7 days from Christmas to New Years.

I understand this was to give employees that time off and I don’t begrudge a company that’s trying to do right by it’s workers… but it highlighted the lack of key-card access for members who may not have been taking time off and could have used the space.

Other coworking spaces I’ve been a part of have offered building access for members even on days with limited or no staff, and doing that at the The Wing seems like a huge benefit to members.

Anyway — even with this added fee (which was also seemingly pointless; it was never clear why this was being charged), I think The Wing remains a good financial deal when compared to other options.

Relative to the cost of other coworking spaces in Boston, $175 per month (plus another $16.66 if you averaged the initiation fee out over the year) is a fantastic deal.

For this reason alone, I do think it’s worth looking into as a workspace if you’re in a similar boat with me:

• You don’t have to have outside-your-home-office-workspace, but it would be really nice to have the option.
• You have a flexible schedule and working hours and have autonomy over your calendar (so you can come and go from the space as you please).
• You don’t have a ton of phone/video meetings as part of your work (or you can at least control when people schedule them).

Here’s why I think these are important caveats.

Great Setup for a Social Club; Not So Hot for Normal Workdays

If you only think of The Wing as a social or community club, then I think it should meet your expectations fairly well. The space excels in providing a cozy, private space for women to meet up and converse.

Unfortunately, it’s a bit of flop for female freelancers looking to sit down and get productive work done during their week for a number of reasons:

• It can get quite crowded: This certainly isn’t the norm every day, but I’ve seen the space where almost every single seat was taken and it was loud. (There is a “Quiet Room” where I hang out, almost exclusively. But it’s a limited space, which makes me feel like if I don’t get there first-thing, I’m going to miss it.) I hate feeling like I have to get somewhere the second it opens to beat lines/get a seat, so the fact that this is a concern with my workspace is kind of annoying. If I’m not there first thing in the morning, sometimes I won’t go because I don’t want to jam myself in somewhere uncomfortable where it’s going to be hard to focus and get things done.
• It is not designed for long workdays: Again, the space is beautiful. The furniture, lovely… to look at. I don’t know if I’m just built weird but there is only ONE table I know of in the space that is comfortable to sit and type on a computer from for the whole day. The rest of the furniture is like coffee shop couches, chairs, and tables. Nothing is ergonomic, which doesn’t work when you’re trying to do 8 hours of focused work.
• There’s not a good space for a private conversation or phone call: The Wing has conference rooms — that you can book for an additional fee. There are no true phonebooths, only three little nooks with glass doors that aren’t soundproof. They actually have the absolute worst acoustics for talking to someone on the phone. It’s extremely echo-y and hard for the person on the other end of the line to hear you clearly. There is also no way to book these nooks ahead of time, so if you need to take a call and all 3 are taken, you’re out of luck.
• You can’t bring outside food. The Wing has a nice little cafe that serves coffee, snacks, breakfast, and lunch — and everything is great. And expensive. (Expect to pay $15-$20 for your grain bowl or salad and $8 for your dirty chai latte.) And you don’t really have another choice, as the official rule is that you cannot bring outside food or drink into the space. They do offer free coffee, which is an excellent perk, and the rule against outside food doesn’t seem to be heavily enforced (no one is going to confiscate your snacks, but I don’t think you’re going to be allowed to walk in with a freshly-ordered Sweetgreen salad either). This is an issue for freelancers and remote workers who may want to be in the space for 10 to 12 hours for an extremely busy workday; you’re essentially forced to buy a meal somewhere rather than just brown bagging it.

These reasons leave me feeling like the best use of The Wing — for me, anyway — is on days when I have no meetings, only want 4–5 hours of solid, heads-down work time before I’m ready for a break (so I can head home and eat my own damn lunch), and am going to go insane if I work out of my home office for one more day.

I can see where other members get more use out of the space if they have lots of in-person networking meetings (it’s a wonderful place to invite people to join you for a coffee meeting) or just need a space to pop in between appointments or obligations in the city.

I do love the members-only area that provides showers, hair dryers, and styling tools. I think that’s a huge perk especially if you don’t live in the city but have to be in the area all the time.

This is part of the reason for my interest in a membership, as well, since we no longer live smack in the middle of downtown.

Having a comfortable, accessible place to land when you’re running around and realize you need to kill an hour but have no where to go is really great.

The Wing’s setup can help alleviate some of the need to carry a bunch of stuff with you as they’re fully stocked with the basic beauty products and tools you’d need to shower, change, and get ready for your next thing.

How Social Is It, Really? There’s Potential, But It Seems Unrealized

The Wing promises close-knit community space for women by women… but I haven’t really experienced the benefits of this yet. This is the biggest gray area for me; I see the potential, but I just haven’t seen it actualized.

There are two major social components The Wing says it gives to members:

• Access, via networking, socializing, and an online portal for connections, to other women in your area who are interested, working in, or focused on similar interests/in similar industries as you are
• A variety of events to attend each month

The events seem like they would be a nice perk, but I have yet to go to one. And that’s not for lack of trying: no matter how often I try to check or how fast I see new events come up on the calendar, everything seems to fill up before I can get to it. The best I can do is sign up for a waitlist (which never seems to actually turn into an invite).

I know other spaces like The Wing still charge members to attend their events, so I appreciate that this isn’t just one more thing you have to pay for — but it’s kind of a moot point if there are so many members that it’s almost impossible for more people to experience those events.

On the social side, I have run into a few folks that seem really friendly and open. I think there is potential to meet people, even if it’s just staff members; The Wing’s employees have always been very friendly, talkative, and willing to strike up a conversation with me.

But most other members in the space are there to do their own thing. It’s wonderful to be surrounded by so many driven, intelligent, focused women — and the downside of that is they’re driven, intelligent, and focused women, meaning, most people aren’t wandering around with lots of time looking for idle chitchat with strangers.

Like anything else “community”-based, you have to work really hard on your own to get the value out of that. You have to take the initiative to approach people, introduce yourself, be friendly, and so on… and that’s hard because you have to do it again and again and again. It’s exhausting, and if you came to work, you may not have the bandwidth to add that to your to-do list.

Plus, not everyone is going to be receptive. I don’t think that’s a Wing-specific issue; that happens in any community space. The opportunity to connect is there, but you really have to do the work to make it happen.

The Bottom Line Conclusion on This Honest Review of The Wing

The Wing is great place to go to work a few days per week especially when you consider the value you get as compared to alternatives like WeWork or Industrious.

It’s a good option if you just need to get out of the house every once in a while, or need a place to pop into every now and then while you’re out and about.

And it’s a tiny thing — but I love and adore the fact that you get free coffee. Plain, black, drip coffee is my go-to and the stuff they have is pretty good, so it’s nice to have unlimited access to the sweet sweet caffeine of choice for me.

The Wing will fail you if your primary need is a full-time, office-like workspace, or if you’re expecting to walk into a highly-engaged community that’s going to go out of its way to welcome you.

The opportunity for socializing, making connections, and being part of a community seems to be there (or at least, I remain optimistic about it)… but it’s not magic. You have to be willing to put in some work to see the value.

If you go in with the right expectations, I think this could be a great solution for freelancers, remote workers, and entrepreneurs in Boston. Just make sure to do your research, and confirm the reality of what The Wing is aligns with your needs for the space.

Kali Roberge is the chief operations officer at Beyond Your Hammock and co-host of the Beyond Finances podcast. She lives in Boston with her husband and their two very fat cats.