Cowool Avignon

If you’re a non-French speaking digital nomad, I’d steer clear. While the facilities are ‘fancy’, I did not at all enjoy my time at Cowool. I’m honestly surprised by the positive reviews here. There is no sense of community, especially if you don’t speak French; people just stick to themselves. I was there for an entire month and didn’t get to know anyone. Their use of the term “co-living” is rather misleading I felt. To go in to more detail: Facilities: the building and facilities are pretty good and modern. Everyone has a private studio apartment with their own bathroom and kitchen. The kitchen is small and difficult to cook in though, only featuring a small stove, fridge and microwave. I feel they focused too much on looking it look ‘fancy’, rather than focusing on being comfortable and useful. Be aware there is also no cleaning of the rooms during your stay. They didn’t really provide enough materials such as detergent, rubbish bags or toilet paper (they didn’t even provide hand soap), so you have to go and buy some (and end up with too much if you’re only there for a month). There is a gym, it’s decently large, but worth noting they don’t have any weight machines or barbells - only dumbbells. Location: the location is rather poor. There’s nothing other than a shopping centre nearby and it’s a 30 minute walk from the town. It’s also in a rather dangerous neighbourhood (although the building has good security). The tram stop is close and convenient, but you’re rather disconnected from the main town. It’s also next to a busy intersection; while the doors to provide good sound insulation, if you open the door for a breeze it’s very loud with frequent sirens going past (needed as the rooms get stuffy). Staff: I had rather little interaction with the staff and they were friendly and spoke English, but not overly helpful. I had one or two requests early on, like asking if they had other pillows (the ones I had were disintegrating) but they were never attended to. I ended up buying a pillow elsewhere. Community: this was the biggest let down for me. Their website and marketing talks about sharing and togetherness, but they’re empty statements. In the co-working area no one talks to each other and in the evening everyone stays in their rooms. I think the co-working and ‘co-living’ are rather disjoint too; many locals seem to use the office while guests don’t use it. During the weekend the building is dead. It’s not like other co-living places where they foster a community and have communal areas to meet people. The average age of guest was probably 35 - 50. Also, very importantly, know that everyone is primarily only speaking French; I only heard English a handful of times. I had to just go and meet people in the rest of the town through apps like Bumble BFF. If I could get the time back, I’d have cancelled my stay and have gone somewhere else.