1. Ask for a speed test upfront

One of the best things you can do to save yourself some headache during a week-long workation is explicitly asking for a speed test upfront.

And I want to be explicit: In the beginning I kept asking "how the WiFi" was. And of course I kept getting responses like: "Oh, the WiFi is working great."

Of course it didn't. I had to learn this the hard way.

So after a while I came up with this template that I would send before booking to potential apartment hosts:

Hey $NAME, I am planning to come to $CITY for a week in $MONTH.

I would not only like to enjoy the beautiful city, but we also want to work remotely during that week. So fast WiFi is important for us.

Can you confirm that WiFi works and kindly run the Ookla Speedtest app with the local WiFi in the apartment?

In your reply, kindly spell out numbers like this: Download: One hundred and twenty three Mbps, Upload: Ninety nine Mbps, Ping: Eight ms.

(Feel free to customize the text for your needs or make it more personal based on your trip.)

Mind here, that AirBnB blocks out all URLs and digits so you can't sneak in alternate means of contact. So your host will need to spell out the numbers.

It's also important to get the upload and ping numbers from the speed test. In the modern world of video calls and cloud backups, the upload and also the ping have become very important, but are often still overlooked by less technically minded people.



2. Check the pictures for a desk

Fortunately, AirBnB has this filter option to filter for apartments with a dedicated workspace.

Unfortunately, not all apartments really have such a useable table for that purpose.

So be careful to look at the pictures and check what the table(s) are like in that apartment.

Do you really feel confident about working from that table for a week (or more)?