How do you verify if a short-term rental is remote-work-friendly?

I’ve been working remotely while traveling solo for the last couple of years mostly staying in Airbnbs.

The biggest consistent friction? Trying to figure out if a place actually has a real workspace. Hosts often mark “dedicated workspace,” but that could mean:

- a kitchen barstool

- a folding chair at the end of the bed

- or in one case… an ironing board

As a solo traveler who prefers working from the Airbnb itself (vs co-working or cafes), I’ve spent hours scanning listings, zooming into photos, and messaging hosts, just to make sure the chair isn’t plastic and there’s a table I can sit at for 6+ hours.

So I’m curious:

How do you vet this before booking?

Do you stick to hotels? Use other platforms? Any filtering hacks?

What’s the worst or most misleading “workspace” setup you’ve encountered?

Would love to hear your tactics, trying to deeply understand how other remote workers navigate this.