Reviews
DO NOT host an event here. While planning an event, we set upon an agreed upon price and halfway through booking they tried to upcharge me hundreds of dollars extra on account of "renovations". After going back and forth quite a bit, they agreed upon the original price and everything was fine until the day of the event my high school graduation party. On the day of the event the manager or person in charge, I'm not sure, Mr. Leslie Tita, followed my mother and I around while we were busy and stressed setting up asking again and again for a card to pay a security deposit with, which was never mentioned before. Finally I gave him my debit card, as it felt he was relentlessly harassing us and i just paid the deposit. The event was almost 6 months ago, and I have yet to receive my $300 deposit back despite leaving the hall in clean and pristine condition. Every attempt to get in contact with them through email or phone call goes unanswered or gets hung up on. Would never ever host another event here, and I would recommend the same for anyone else! I am not a person who ever leaves reviews, but I felt the need to as they essentially stole $300 from an 18 year old going to college.
I/O spaces is a very welcoming and delightful place to be in. I was impressed by the space they are able to have practically downtown Silver Spring Maryland. The Space has different rooms and areas for different needs : the open space, the conference room, offices for groups, and more. There is even a vending machine with all kinds of snacks for the workaholics who are too busy to step out to eat. Definitely a space to check out.
HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE! Don't waste your time making an appointment to tour the place! I waited outside the locked space for 25 mins. I circled the entire building just to ensure I didn't have the wrong door since they don't provide information on how to access the space in your confirmation email. No one answered the phone, and you aren't given a direct contact email of who you're meeting with. No one contacted me to cancel the appointment, in fact I actually got a confirmation at 5am the same day. So disrespectful of my time and business.
At this point, I/O Spaces has become a staple of the Silver Spring community. It is a unique, flexible, creative and collaborative event space. If you can think of a concept, or a function, the I/O spaces team is willing to work with you to pull it off successfully. Over the years, I have seen entrepreneurs--from artists, designers, vendors, photographers, and even students--utilize the space for a myriad of functions. While Silver Spring is already diverse, having a unique hub to showcase, incubate, encourage, network, and promote communities, most especially diverse immigrant ones is a necessity one didn't think Silver Spring needed until you see I/O Spaces. I highly recommend.
it, but it small and only accommodate a party of 40.
I was very much so interested and hoping to utilizing this space for my pop up shop and day party event. However, the owners lack of tact and professionalism has left me no choice but to take my business elsewhere. I was on time for my tour and the fact that the owner was running late for a previous one should not have affected our scheduled tour time. At minimum, the courtesy to allow me to wait in the lobby area would have been better than allowing me to wait outside in the heat. Now I have wasted my time and my resources. I hope that if you are considering the space for your event that you save yourself the time and trouble and take your business elsewhere. Not only did the owner allow 30 minutes to elapse after the scheduled tour time but he didn’t bother to call or text me to make me aware of the situation. The communication was very much so poor and for a first impression to be lasting that was terrible!
If you’re planning on booking this space, please save yourself the time and money. I tried getting a tour of the building with Leslie last week and he informed us we could come anytime before 5 PM that specific day because he would be leaving at that time. We arrived at 4 PM and the building was locked and closed. I tried calling Leslie multiple times and he would not answer the phone. The voicemail box is also completely full so we had no option of leaving a message. I tried to show grace to this situation because the meet-up was spontaneous and unplanned. Next, I called Leslie on Monday to properly schedule a tour. He confirmed our on-site tour for Tuesday @ 3 PM. I arrived at 2:55 and again the building was locked and the building was closed. I waited outside in outrageous heat about 90 degrees. I called Leslie NUMEROUS times, in fact, I called over 15 times and there was no answer. I sent multiple emails explaining that we were waiting outside and called with no answering of the phone — no responses! At about 3:45, we received an email from a representative of I/O spaces that they didn’t have their iPhone handy would send us a video of the building Keep in mind we had a scheduled on-site building tour for 3 PM. Not only did we not receive this video, we continued to wait outside until about 4:00—waiting a full hour in heat— and there were no additional email responses nor did anyone answer the phone or call back. It is now a day later, and we still have NO email responses or call backs. I have tried calling Leslie today and there are again no responses with a full voicemail box. We will NOT be pursuing a booking with this venue and I urge all of you to do the same if you have plans of booking for future events. They are unreliable and beyond unprofessional.
I/O Spaces is a life-saver for the bootstrapping entrepreneur and creative! They are conveniently located in the heart of Downtown Silver Spring with access to all the necessities transportation, food, entertainment, etc. The space itself is inviting, clean, and modern and definitely designed with the techie-spirit in mind 3D printers on-site! There is ample open area space to sit down with a laptop and books, have an impromptu team meeting, or just sit and daydream! I have been in the space often for meetups and large collaborative information/workshop sessions--the community is great I *always* leave events sharing and gaining knowledge and meeting exceptional entrepreneurs! I have never used any of the private rooms--but they seem like a great option for privacy.
I’m very disappointed to write this review because the place met my expectations and everything was smooth with my event. But this business is ran poorly the professionalism and the dishonest is horrible factors to have for a business. As a business owner they want their money and deposits paid on time on a certain day. So I paid my security deposit day of as noted and weeks went by and I asked for a update to ask when I will receive it back. The owner said he will look into it because “ he thought I was there past my time slot” I wasn’t and I have proof then more weeks go by I had to have a police escort me to the venue to wonder why I haven’t heard anything back. I call the owner while there he says the deposit was sent on a certain day IT WASNT I asked for proof HE COULDNT PROVIDE then the next day he sends my deposit smhhh. Why all the lies ????
The team at I/O Spaces, the concept, the events they organize, the new space, amenities; I could go on and on. This space truly is the best. I am currently looking to use the space to host my own events/talk show and that is because I am totally in awe of the new space. I first visited this space in 2017 for a fashion event. At the time, I was just blown away by the concept and liked some of the art but the common spaces were not as many. Their new space, which I recently visited in March, takes it up to a new level and I must say, there is no rival in the area. I just am in total love with the place. So much more space to work in and a bevy of options for events. I just love going there.
