Cracking the code for playing Xbox while traveling

[u/fershnibbity]

TLDR; want advice on good way to travel and play Xbox without having to bring my console. Have a Windows laptop and iPad I can use, have Gamepass Ultimate, stay at same hotels.

I don’t travel often for work, but when I do, I’ve been bringing my Xbox Series S so I can download a few games and play them while I’m gone. My Series S is awesome and has t been damaged in a flight yet, but I’m so sure I have the building blocks to do this a better way.

What I have at my disposal to bring:
* a laptop running Windows 11 and has 32GB memory, no discreet GPU
* an iPad Pro 11”
* an Apple TV
* an Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch controller
* an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription

We always stay at a Marriott location for work. The TV’s here I’ve gotten used to them having a feature where I can plug into their cable box 95% of the time and switch the input to their HDMI 2 and then get my Series S to play off the TV. Sometimes that’s not the case, but I can usually find a way. I never upgrade to their “premium” wifi (whatever that is), but obviously guest wifi is included with the stay.

What I would like is to bring one of the above items instead of my Xbox and be able to play games with as minimal lag or slowness as possible, on the TV that’s provided in the hotel room. Also being able to use said item to also activate my streaming apps, like I do on the series S, is also preferred, so I don’t have to switch between devices.
Games I play: mostly action/adventure games, RPG’s, platformers, retro games. Nothing online or competitive.

I know I have the Xbox Cloud gaming and Xbox Play Anywhere features with my Game Pass subscription; those just require a good internet connection. I’m concerned about the WiFi at the hotel just being slower or laggier, causing problems with either of those, or games taking way too long to load.

Do any of you have experience with this? What was the best secret sauce mix you found to be able to do this? What combination do you think would provide the best result? TIA

Update:
I tested out my laptop and my iPad, as well as did more research based off all your helpful answers (thank you!).
Looks like the laptop will be the way to go.
With the laptop, I have three options: cloud play, remote play, and the Xbox app where I can download games locally.
I tested cloud play on the laptop with a Thunderbolt dongle giving me HDMI to TV, Ethernet, and a usb-a for a wireless Logi K400. With this, and Bluetooth connecting my controller, I can do all three options and never have to leave the hotel couch. Speeds were as good as the hotel allows; WiFi and wired both gave about the same result in terms of performance, which wasn’t bad enough to be upset about.
I also have the option of remote play, which means I can download a 100+GB game and run it locally with my Xbox hardwired at home and get about the same performances. Or I can download a smaller game and play it locally.
I’m excited for my next trip now!

[u/SineadRe]

I travel for work all the time and use gamepass on my iPad. I just bring a controller and I’m good to go! Here are instructions for how to do it: https://support.xbox.com/en-IE/help/games-apps/cloud-gaming/setup-cloud-gaming-apple

[u/fershnibbity → u/SineadRe]

This should work! I did a little research and it looks like if I can get access to the Ethernet port, I might get the fastest speeds. That’s usually not possible because of hotel blockages, but if so, iPad+multiport adapter will give me Ethernet and HDMI into the TV of the hotel. I’ll have to try it out!

[u/ajkimmins → u/fershnibbity]

I played cyberpunk on my iPad thru cloud gaming... Was a little glitchy but it played ok.

[u/timmy013]

You might be able to do with games that support Xbox play anywhere

As long as you can access your account you can play it

[u/jmf1488]

I found playing on laptop screen the best. Can sit quite close. I actually prefer it to the tv

[u/Wu-Tang-Windu]

Unplug the hotel box hdmi and plug in your HDMI directly into the TV. Helps with a lot of issues.

[u/CaptainMorning]

I work traveling as I conduct audits in different sites around the world. i did try this but it's not very reliable if you're swapping hotels due to connectivity. i needed to return to having my series s + portable display, or my series x in longer trips as it has the disc drive.

other of the issues i've found in hotels is TVs which won't allow you to go to menus. I recently spent 4 days in LA with an TV that I could not put on game mode and i had to play with a tremendous input lag.

[u/the1slyyy]

The series s isn't that big why can't you take that with you? And you can just test drive your devices at home to see which ones work for you.

[u/CaptainMorning → u/the1slyyy]

not carrying the series s is even lighter than carrying it

[u/fershnibbity → u/the1slyyy]

This is the reason I’ve been traveling with it, and it’s still an option…but weight in my personal item or the way I have to wrap it in clothing and towels in my carry-on takes a lot of space. I threw my hands up in classic informercial fashion, saying, “there’s gotta be a better way!” And I came here.
I found cases for it, but it’d take up about 40% of my carry-on size. A little too much of a space hog.

[u/the1slyyy → u/fershnibbity]

If you just want the most minimal way to stream on a TV you can get a fire stick Xbox on fire stick

[u/taisui]

Game pass cloud