Planning a Workation Properly: The Complete Guide

Workation sounds like marketing, but it is a distinct format with its own rules. Plan it like an extended offsite and you get neither rest nor work done. This guide covers what actually works, drawn from hosting groups in our own houses since 2007.

What separates a workation from a retreat

The difference is not length, it is the ratio of programme to work. In a retreat the programme is the point: workshops, strategy, team building. In a workation normal working life continues, just somewhere else. Nobody blocks three days in their calendar – people still have meetings, deadlines and video calls.

Almost everything else follows from that. A workation does not need a dense agenda, it needs infrastructure that works. It fails on weak WiFi and too few quiet corners, not on a weak programme. If you are unsure which format you actually want, our comparison of offsite, retreat and workation lays it out.

Who the format suits

Workations work best for distributed teams who otherwise never meet. The real gain is not the mountain view, it is the incidental conversations: breakfast together, coffee between two calls, a walk after work. Exactly what a distributed team structurally lacks.

It suits teams who already share an office every day far less. For them, a short, focused offsite with a clear goal usually beats two weeks of scenery.

The four things that actually matter

1. Internet, honestly measured

Do not ask whether there is WiFi – everyone says yes. Ask for the actual bandwidth and whether it holds up with twenty people in video calls at once. A house with a fibre line and an access point per floor is a different thing from a single router on the ground floor. Get it in writing before you book.

2. Enough workspaces – and different kinds

Twenty people do not need twenty desks, but they need choice: one large table for focused work, two or three small rooms for calls, a corner for informal chats. The classic mistake is a single common room where seven people are on the phone simultaneously from ten in the morning.

3. Somewhere to retreat to

Two weeks with the same people is a long time. Anyone who cannot close a door behind them in the evening is exhausted after a week. Single rooms cost more, but on longer stays they are the better investment. Three days in a shared room is fine; two weeks is not.

4. Catering without the organising

Nothing drains energy like the daily question of who cooks and who shops. When food is provided, an entire source of friction disappears. It also structures the day: shared meals at fixed times are the one reliable anchor in a workation.

Length and rhythm

Under a week the effort rarely pays off – the first two days go into settling in. Beyond three weeks it gets organisationally hard for most teams as private commitments collide.

The range we see booked most often is one to two weeks. What works well is shaping the start and the end deliberately: a shared opening on the first evening, a proper close on the last. In between, normal working days with one shared item per day – a hike, dinner outdoors, nothing more.

What it costs

With us a workation starts at around CHF 180 per person per night with accommodation and breakfast. With full board, workspaces and on-site support the usual rate is about CHF 280. On longer stays the maths shifts compared to a short retreat: activities matter less, accommodation dominates.

You can get a rate for your actual group size and duration from the price calculator in about a minute.

What to sort out beforehand

Two topics get forgotten regularly and are unpleasant to discover afterwards:

• Social security and posting. Travelling from the EU to work in Switzerland can require an A1 certificate depending on the setup. It is routine, but it takes time.
• Permanent establishment for tax. Usually unproblematic on short stays, but for several weeks with senior staff involved, have one conversation with your tax adviser.

Both are solvable, but neither is something you settle two days before departure.

The most common mistakes

• Too much programme. A workation is not a retreat. Scheduling an activity every evening produces exhausted people.
• No rules for calls. Decide where people take calls. Without that agreement, the common room suffers.
• Too remote. A house reachable only by car rules out spontaneous trips and excludes anyone without a licence.
• No contact on site. When the heating fails in week two, a call centre number does not help.

How we handle it

Our houses in the Swiss Alps belong to us – we do not broker them. Concretely that means: when we say the internet handles twenty simultaneous video calls, we have tested it ourselves. And if something comes up during your stay, someone from our team is in the region.

Have a look at the houses, or send us your group size and timeframe – you get a concrete proposal with a price within 48 hours.