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Work from resort...

SCtoNC

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Marriott Surfwatch
Hi MVC members,

As our work from home stretches on and our college kid seems likely to return to campus in August, my hubby and I are thinking about planning some fall WFR (work from resort) trips? Which resorts do you think are best for work from home? We are looking for strong internet connection and two work surfaces (table or desk). We would like to avoid flying and are looking for options on the East coast, especially SC and FL. Has anyone else tried an extended WFR yet?

Thanks in advance for your ideas!
 

gsb

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Barony Beach Club in Hilton Head has a desk in the Master bedroom that one of you could use, while the other uses the dining table. My wife and I were able to make that work for a month.
 

Steve Fatula

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I can't help you with specific EC resorts. I can say I did WFR for close to 20 years. You get better at it over time. Allowed plenty of time for fun and exploration. Since I had my own business, only way all our trips would work. I never really stayed at a resort which didn't work, all my work was via the internet. I did programming, system admin, network management, you name it. So, internet reliability was a requirement. Despite the hundreds of articles to the contrary, did it all on an iPad pro. I would spend sometimes 12-16 hours in a day during a failure event.
 
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jmhpsu93

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MVC Grande Vista (x2)
MVC Cypress Harbour (x2)
MVC Harbour Lake (x2)
Golden Shores (Mexico)
We're going to be doing some of that this fall...not sure whether our freshman in college daughter will be joining or not. Plan as of now is Barony in November and Cypress Harbour in December. I've been WFH for about 10 years now so I'm realy used to it. I plan on buying a small, foldable table plus some extra electronic equipment so I can set up a decent desk anywhere. Biggest concern I have is internet connection, so I'll make sure to have backup cell data connection available. We use a lot of video conferencing so I do have a bit of a concern there, but I've done dozens of calls from hotel rooms over the years and it usually works fine.
 

2disneydads

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I have worked from home from many of the Marriott timeshare resorts in Florida - Grande Vista, Ocean Pointe, Oceana Palms, Crystal Shores, Lakeshore Reserve. I have had generally no issues. The Hilton Orlando area resorts have been fine, too.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 

Poette

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We have found internet service ok but cell service 'iffy' at Hilton Head resorts.
 

bbodb1

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RCI Weeks: LaCosta Beach Club, RCI Points: Oakmont Resort, Vacation Village at Parkway. Wyndham: CWA and La Belle Maison, and WorldMark.
It would be hard to guarantee the wifi would be acceptable for your needs, so why not take that factor out of play and take your wifi with you?
If you really want to do this, take a look at your cellular carrier and see what options they offer for using your cell phone as a hot spot. Or, some carriers offer a dedicated device to independently act as a hot spot. I would check into these options as well because what happens if you get to a location you intend to stay at for an extended time and their internet service goes down or is not sufficient for your needs?
 

chapjim

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Lock off units are great for WFR when only one person is working.

My main concern is my setup in a resort won't be as good as it is at home. I have a government laptop, two personal laptops, a 27" HD monitor, two printers, a wonderfully comfortable La Z Boy chair, lots of table space, and Verizon FiOS. I can't take all of that with me. Not sure how my poor old back will take working on a dining room table hunched over a 14" laptop but I'll find out the week of the 4th of July.
 

Monykalyn

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Currently at Marriott Harbor Lake for 2 weeks and WFH. I have 2 laptops, portable printer and power strip. Using the dining table as it’s a built in bench seating type and I’m set up in the corner, family will go explore during day or use pools etc on days I work. My middle kid will be starting UCF in the fall (Wr are from Missouri). I personally prefer Cypress Harbor though, and Grande Vista had a 3 bedroom available but the amenities at those resorts seemed slower to open. Walking around resort seems only 3 buildings in use. If I gotta WFH this summer why not somewhere other than just “home”? :p
 

Dean

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We have found internet service ok but cell service 'iffy' at Hilton Head resorts.
It depends on the carrier and the resort. I recently mapped the towers for Grande Ocean and based on tower locations and signal reports, it looked like T-Mobile and AT&T would have good to great coverage and Verizon iffy in places. But inside the units might be an issue with all of the phone services as well as hotspots. Looking around the rest of the island it the information looks similar other than for South Beach where it looks like only T-Mobile has any real coverage. I'm not aware of any resorts have repeaters but it wouldn't surprise me if they did. Cross referencing with the carriers coverage maps for 4G, they all show good coverage for the entire island though only T-mobile gives signal strength coverage. Now if using a MVNO it might get dicey as they sometimes don't have access to all the towers of the contracted company.

If it's a critical situation one can always call the resort and ask them to run a speedtest on their system and get an idea of which cell companies work well and which don't by asking employees and guests if they don't have the info already. The other issue is that one might have to sign in to the internet periodically. At some resorts I've had to sign in daily, at others just on any days where a reservation changed even if there were no unit move. As long as there is no video conferencing, it really shouldn't be much of an issue unless their system goes down which I've seen happen a couple of times over the years. Going from memory I don't recall any MVC resort where the free wifi was dramatically fast. You've got several Tuggers currently on the island now and coming up, including myself in a few weeks. I'd be happy to check the internet speed and gather cell coverage information for MGO as we have all 3 of the major companies covered within our group.
 

bogey21

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...Some carriers offer a dedicated device to independently act as a hot spot. I would check into these options as well because what happens if you get to a location you intend to stay at for an extended time and their internet service goes down or is not sufficient for your needs?

I have used a Verizon JetPack (MiFi) for years with great success. It has never failed me. The darn thing is about the size of a pack of cigarettes...

George
 

normab

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I agree with the cell service issues. We have stayed at all four beach Marriotts, and definitely had a big problem at Grand Ocean. Don’t recall problems at Barony, SurfWatch or Monarch. We have ATT phones.
 

n777lt

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I WFR all the time! Couldn't spend 4 weeks away in January without doing so. I haven't had wifi problems in years, but must admit I wasn't videoconferencing for work until this year. Skyping with family was no problem. However, my experience is from Canyon Villas, Lakeshore Reserve, the Palm Desert resorts and Maui (Napili Tower) - all newer than many of the East Coast properties. And I was the only one in the unit using the wifi, which would also help.
 

cissy

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I agree with the cell service issues. We have stayed at all four beach Marriotts, and definitely had a big problem at Grand Ocean. Don’t recall problems at Barony, SurfWatch or Monarch. We have ATT phones.
Same here. Grand Ocean was awful. I have T-Mobile.
 

10spro

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My husband and I have been WFH and WFR for 10+ years, just need internet, computer and phone. Even though it's just myself and my husband in the room, we always get minimum full 1BR unit so that we can close the bedroom door when one of us has a phone call or meeting. The first thing we always do when we get to a new unit is to rearrange the furniture to give the optimal view from sitting at the desk...actually, the first thing is to take a "before" picture so we can put it back before we leave. Wifi has been generally acceptable at all of the Marriott locations we've been to but rarely as good as at home...I've had to break out the Hotspot a few times but for the most part our AT&T has very consistent coverage.
 
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