If your company has to send employees places on a regular basis, you will know how expensive it can be. If it really can’t be avoided, you want to save as much money as possible. You want to provide a safe place for your people to stay while not bankrupting yourself doing it. That’s where corporate rentals come in.
It isn’t often that you get more for less, but in this case you really do. For stays over a month, renting a furnished apartment offers some of the best value for money out there. Even hotels are waking up to the competition, which is why many are slashing their long-term rates. However, unless they begin to offer suites as part of the deal, they simply cannot compete.
Take the average furnished apartment. It will be somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 square feet, fully furnished, in good condition, will have nice furniture, decent appliances and all the comforts of home. All for anything up to 20 percent less than a hotel room. Which would you rather stay in for a month? A single room in a hotel, or a furnished apartment?
Hotels do have a distinct advantage in being able to offer room service, laundry, turn-down and housekeeping. However, after a few days, how appetizing is the overpriced, often poor quality food?
A furnished apartment is more work. Your people will have to cook for themselves or eat out. They will have to make their own beds, wash their own clothes, but will have somewhere nice to do it. In terms of morale, it’s a no brainer.
Hotels are perfect for a few days. They offer a nice change and the opportunity to be waited on hand and foot for a while. This can free the mind to concentrate on the reason for being there, working for you. However, for longer stays, hotels begin to work against you. Who doesn’t want to be looked after for a while? It’s natural to want this for a time, but can soon become tiresome.
Being stuck in a room for a long period of time, having to mix with the same people in the bar, having nothing much to do and no space to do it can cause some people to go stir crazy. To get the most out of your people, you need to give them space to breathe. That’s exactly what a furnished apartment offers.
It could be something as simple as having a decent-sized wardrobe to hang clothes in, a desk to work, or as important as space to entertain. You will know far better than us what motivates your people and what it likely to being their morale down.
What we can tell you is that using a furnished apartment for longer-term stays is guaranteed to make someone feel better, increase morale and offer far better value for money than a comparable hotel room.