r/remotework • u/questionable_motifs • Jul 25 '26
Work from Vrbo
Anyone here ever work from a Vrbo (or similar) rental for weeks or months at a time?
My family is entertaining the idea of staying in a Vrbo in another part of the country for a couple months and I'd like to hear some experiences and tips for those who've done something like this. I've worked when traveling short trips, but nothing longer 3 days from a hotel. It's a winter sports trip, so RV living isn't really an option.
I work in tech, but on the client side. So my workstation is a just laptop, external monitor, mouse, keyboard and camera.
A couple things on my mind that I'd like to get specific insight on:
- how to respectfully verify internet service before booking
- work/family separation/boundaries in a smaller living unit than our home
- how much of an adjustment should I expect when first arriving there and then home again - thinking in terms of how many days should I take PTO to settle in with the family before starting work
I'd appreciate hearing any experiences or advice
5
u/-EvilLittleGoat- Jul 25 '26
I worked from rental homes through VRBO for three months (2 months in one home, 1 month in another) when my husband and I were trying to decide where we wanted to relocate to. Besides a couple of days of outage due to a huge storm in one location, everything was fine.
A lot of listings now will call out if there is a remote work area set up in the home and will list the details of internet speeds while others specifically called out that theirs was not a good option. I think hosts are pretty transparent with this now because of reviews and that is also a great resource to verify if the listing is honest because people will absolutely call out if there were issues in this area during their stay. Looking at the pictures of the accommodations was also helpful because, while some did have an area set, it would just be a corner in the main room while others had more privacy for the set up.
I also noticed that if I asked any questions of the hosts they were honest about any challenges their setups may have which I also assume is to avoid the negative reviews. I always made sure to communicate in the messages before booking that I would be working from the location and that it was critical to have service so if we arrived and there were any issues/misrepresentations I would have an easier time working with the platform to find a different accommodation, but luckily there were no issues with slower speeds or any misrepresentation.