Got a laptop and a good wireless signal? You’re at work—poolside in Tucson, in a tiny Hungarian Village, or snowed-in in Vermont.

Marisa Mayer famously mandated a return to corporate offices at Yahoo a few years back, believing that collaboration suffers when team members aren’t in the same room every day. Stash CEO Jeff Low consciously made the opposite decision when founding Stash, hiring a team based across the U.S. from Miami to Idaho, and encouraging everyone to get out of the office.

Why?

• The best person for the job might not be near the head office. True, our developers tend to cluster in super-caffeinated Seattle, and some of our deep hospitality expertise can be found massing on South Florida beaches after hours, but other members are based in Idaho, Silicon Valley, Pittsburgh, or Manhattan, where it makes sense for them to be for business or family reasons. Breaking out of a bricks and mortar office mentality allows us to grab—and hold on to—the best talent.
• Skype and the imperfect-but-essential GoToMeeting create a virtual office space, not possible a few years back.
• Regular team meetings give us face-time and bonding time—but instead of little paper cups at the water cooler, it’s over café au lait at Bourbon Orleans Hotel in the French Quarter or cedar plank salmon at The Resort at Port Ludlow on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.
• We grew up on the road.  Stash was founded on a wild, Diet Coke and M&M-fuelled 10-month road trip by a group of loyalty veterans hell-bent on making it easier for people to stay at great independent hotels. We’re still hard at work doing exactly that—and inspired travel isn’t created when you’re leashed to the same cubicle day after day.
• It’s a good complement to our No Vacation Policy. Sometimes you want to be off the grid, sometimes you want to get stuff done—where you can be most efficient. We trust our team to decide what work environment suits them best, whether it’s a public library in Vermont or a Starbucks on the top floor of a Seattle skyscraper.
• “Employees are far more likely to have new ideas on days when they feel happier,” according to Harvard researchers in the New York Times.

But don’t take Harvard’s word for it:

“I got to be in Hungary for my grandpa’s 93rd birthday, without taking time off from work. How does that work? I just work odd hours. Very odd hours! Like 6pm to 4am. But, I have all the time in the world to mow the lawn in my grandparents’ garden every day between 10am and 6pm and still sleep 6 hours! Work productivity? Pretty good if we leave internet speed out of the conversation. My neighborhood now has dial-up so what can I complain about?” – Agi Gerner, Hotel Partnerships

“My remote office in Tucson came with a desert view and was just steps from a private backyard pool. So I played frisbee with my dog on my lunch break, something that’s just not possible to do in April in Seattle.” – Mary Miller, Marketing

“Being in a different environment and getting out of my routine can help me solve a problem I’ve been stuck on.” – Dan Arrington, Technology

Feel free to visit us at the Stash Office, any of them. You’ll find us hard at work in a corporate culture built on trust and respect, creating a company that brings meaning to travel.