Serviced or holiday apartment? – (Not) a difficult question for business travelers

Ever more agencies and travel departments around the world and noteably in Germany, have become keenly interested in corporate housings.

Ever more agencies and travel departments around the world and noteably in Germany, have become keenly interested in corporate housings. They book the serviced apartments for business travelers, artists, or exhibition staff. The main reason: those apartments are an interesting alternative to a common hotel room. They have comparable services and without any problems, are up to 30 percent less expensive, while offering more space.

Some travelers might ask if renting a holiday apartment could not be a great alternative to a hotel as well. And while remembering their last vacation they think of the nicely equipped and comfortable holiday apartment.

When advising business travelers, the following five arguments should be considered:

Holiday apartments are seldom centrally located: Holiday apartments are as the name already suggests – apartments for holidays. The average vacationer associates calmness with the nicest days of the year. Therefore, holiday houses are where this quietness can be found. In the middle of nowhere. So, it might not be the best choice for business travelers that want to stay close to their client or to their temporary work.

Holiday apartments are only really inexpensive when fully occupied: They are mostly laid out for two persons or more. Thus, for families or groups, they are comparably less expensive than hotels. Right: only if several people are staying. Managers, project staff members, or artists are ususally traveling alone and thus cannot really enjoy the price advantage of a holiday apartment.

Taste may (not) be open to debate: Who has ever stayed in a holiday apartment knows the problem – often, the furnishing is quite out-dated. Or, though new, it is not really “nice.” Therefore, many business travelers would rather rent places that offer a more or less neutral and timeless look and feel.

Limited or no services and staff members: When renting a holiday apartment, one often has an immediately “closer” relationship to the landlord. Even the simple arrival to the apartment can become stressful if the traveler is delayed. If besides a long and exhausting working day one is seeking additional little services such as cleaning, shopping, or ironing, one is easily stranded in a holiday apartment.

The worse is yet to come: The final cleaning. In holiday apartments in many countries, at least a basic cleaning done by the guest is absolutely normal. Honestly, which business traveler has time enough and feels like swinging the feather duster on his departure day? The only alternative is a separately charged cleaning. This way, the apartment that was supposed to be a bargain gets more expensive.

No doubt, business travelers are well advised if they are offered a hotel room. Or, possibly even better if they are suggested a serviced apartment – for a bit more space and privacy.

www.apartmentservice.de/en

Contact: Boardinghouse Consulting, Berliner Allee, 36 13088, Berlin, Germany, Tel: +49 (0)30 96 06 09 49-11, Fax:+49 (0)30 96 06 09 49-20, EMail: [email protected] , Web: www.apartmentservice.de , www.boardinghouse-consulting.de

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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