The world took a turn in 2020, and it dramatically shifted our expectations about how and where we work. One impact has been on how we view our home, as we now must see it, at least in part, as our workspace. It doesn’t sound healthy, but neither does commuting for 70 minutes on a packed train into London.
Around half of corporate employees are now remote, and many have turned to freelancing due to businesses being more capable of collaborating from afar. Digital nomads existed before 2020, but this was the year they shot to fame.
The modern digital nomad
Today’s digital nomads represent a growing subsection of society. Head to Bangkok, Bali or even Bansko, and you’ll see laptops in all the cafés with menus in English. The average age of a digital nomad is mid-30s; young enough to be mobile and globe-trotting, but old enough to want home comforts and to not share a hostel room.
Join The European Business Briefing
New subscribers this quarter are entered into a draw to win a Rolex Submariner. Join 40,000+ founders, investors and executives who read EBM every day.
SubscribeUnlike tourists, digital nomads require reliable internet connections and dedicated workspaces. They try to find time to head to museums, but a lot of the daytime is taken up by work, meaning they avoid tourist traps because they’re expensive, and because they’re not getting much value out of that area.
Monthly rentals
Moving from one hotel to the next is a bit of a pain, especially when this is your life, not a holiday. Millennials are more likely to want their own space, but committing to a 12-month rental contract, which is historically a common minimum term, just doesn’t sit right. This is the type of static commitment that nomads aren’t always on board with.
A month is a good amount of time for a property. It’s enough time to adapt to the local pace of life, see the sights thoroughly, and get to meet the locals. If you love it, you book another month; if you hate it, you book a month at the next city.
The monthly rental has risen up as the perfect middle ground for a flexible housing solution. A month provides a discounted rate compared to nightly hotels, which must pay for cleaners, but they’re not “residential” enough to require you to set up your own broadband deals and utilities.
These are furnished properties that often have remote workers in mind. In fact, many Spotahome listings have desks, office chairs, and fast internet because they know their audience.
The economics of nomadic living
The financial benefits of monthly rentals are often understated. It’s not just a matter of being from a high-wage nation; living in a low-wage nation. It’s also the fact that monthly lets include all the bills, like electricity and internet, which are constantly rising in price. This means that the monthly rentals aren’t much more expensive than permanent local rentals after factoring in bills. In fact, they can sometimes be cheaper if you go off-season, and the landlord expects to raise prices during hot season.
When sharing an apartment, things get even cheaper. It’s not uncommon to find rooms for under 200€ in Spain, even in the face of property inflation. For 200€, you may struggle to get more than 3 nights sleep in any major Spanish city hotel. If you’re sharing an apartment with other nomads, even better, as this now becomes a networking or business opportunity!
Digital nomads are facing unique problems, in part caused by their own success. As cheaper nations get more expensive, their geographical arbitrage erodes. But, that’s not what being a digital nomad is all about, anyway – it’s the freedom to drift and the ability to travel indefinitely.
