Most reviews in this industry are useless.
They're glowing, vague, and written by someone who was never going to say anything critical. You finish reading and you still have no idea whether the thing is right for you.
So when Sanne Wesselman, who writes at Spend Life Traveling and has joined a lot of coworking trips with a lot of different organisers, came on our Gotland trip, we asked her to write whatever she actually thought.
She did. Including the parts that aren't flattering.
It's worth reading in full, and we'll link it at the bottom. But here's what stood out to us.
What she said we're actually good at
Her headline conclusion was this: Feel.Travel is about community and experiencing a destination together, and less about professional development or productivity.
That's exactly right, and we'd rather people know it before they book than discover it on day three.
She described the social aspect as very strong. She talked about working alongside other remote workers during the day, eating together, exploring together. About how the small group often felt more like a little family.
And she summarised the whole concept better than we ever have: creating a temporary community of people who happen to be working remotely in the same place.
We might borrow that.
The accommodation surprised her
One of her favourite things about the trip was where we stayed.
Our TripLeader on Gotland, Ella, and her husband live in a beautiful old rectory next to a church. They bought it and made it their home. They actually live there. It isn't a property rented out for retreats.
Her observation:
So we weren't staying in a generic holiday villa that happened to be used for a retreat. We were staying in someone's real home. It made the experience feel more like temporarily living in Gotland rather than simply visiting it.
That's the entire reason we work with local TripLeaders who host in their own places. The group got invited to a local birthday party. They went to a farmers' market. They got a proper tour of Visby.
None of that is on an itinerary. It happens because the person leading the trip actually lives there.
And the criticism, which is fair
She raised three things, and we think all three are worth taking seriously.
The group was small. Four participants, plus Ella and her husband. She noted the trade-off honestly: with a small group you get more intimacy, with a larger group you get more choice. She'd personally have preferred a few more people.
Fair. Group size genuinely changes the experience, and it's something to look at when choosing between trips.
Shared bathrooms. Not her preference, and she recommends checking this before booking any trip. Also fair, and worth saying that our trips vary enormously on this. Kefalonia, for example, is entirely private ensuite rooms.
Independence. This was her biggest takeaway, and the most useful part of the whole review.
The Gotland house is rural. If you wanted to go to a café or a shop alone, you needed to coordinate transport. She realised she values being able to walk out of the door on her own without organising anything.
Her conclusion wasn't that the location was wrong. It was that it wasn't the right setup for her, and that anyone booking should look closely at where the accommodation actually is.
That's genuinely good advice. A central apartment and a beautiful rural house give you two completely different weeks.
What she didn't get, and we should be clear about
She missed professional networking and skill sharing.
She's used to coliving setups where everyone brings a different expertise to the group and there are structured sessions to share it.
We don't do that on standard coworking trips. The focus is community and the destination, not masterminds and accountability.
If that's what you're after, our Amplify & Rise retreats are built for exactly that. But for a standard trip, she's describing it accurately, and it's better you know.
Would she come again?
Yes.
Her words: I really enjoyed the experience. I like the opportunity to meet people from different parts of the world, share experiences with other remote workers and get to know a destination alongside people who are also curious about it.
She joins a coliving trip once or twice a year because she genuinely enjoys that temporary feeling of community. Next time she'd pick somewhere she has a bit more freedom to move around independently.
Which is exactly how someone should choose a trip.
And one more thing about Gotland
We're going back.
A second edition is being planned for December, and the island in winter is a different proposition entirely.
Snow on the medieval walls of Visby. Short days and very long evenings. A fire going in a house that's been standing for centuries. The kind of cold that makes being indoors with people feel like the whole point rather than a compromise.
If Gotland in September was about long light and open doors, December is about the opposite. Everyone in one warm room, which is arguably when a group bonds fastest.
Read Sanne's full review here. It's honest, detailed, and far more useful than anything we could write about ourselves.
👉 spendlifetraveling.com/are-coworking-trips-worth-it-my-review