The best policy

Emerging trends are making it even more vital to include long-stay options in travel programmes

Although use of serviced apartments is increasingly common practice among corporates, they’re not always written into travel policies, but that’s now changing.

“Attitudes to including serviced apartments in travel programmes had begun to shift pre-pandemic but Covid thrust the sector into the spotlight,” says ITM Head of Programme, Kerry Douglas.

“Serviced apartments became the ideal accommodation choice to enable social distancing – and they stayed open. This introduced new audiences, and once travellers had experienced this option, they didn’t want to revert to hotels.”

Hotels will continue to play centre stage but length of stay may dictate use of serviced apartments. “Three, five or seven nights is common, and some of ITM’s buyers even have a trigger of 14 nights,” says Douglas.

Professional services, with long days and the flexibility to work remotely, are an obvious match. Longer trips, often with family, also make apartments a good choice.

For more than 12 months, SilverDoor has seen travellers take fewer but longer trips, prompted by an increased focus on sustainability, the bleisure trend, and working from anywhere.

“It’s increasingly common for partners, family or pets to accompany travellers, or for trips to be extended with annual leave,” says VP Global Business Development Pauline Houston. “Apartments are well placed to capitalise on this trend as they offer more comfort for longer stays, room to work, exercise, entertain guests or accommodate children. It also allows them to eat more healthily, launder clothes and reduce their total cost of stay while cutting their CO2 footprint compared to a hotel stay “Overall, this supports wellbeing and employee-centred travel policies, which can result in better productivity and retention.” Shared spaces and gyms also contribute to a better experience than the traditional desk-to-bed routine.

Wellbeing plays an increasingly important role in travel policies and travel buyers should beware of ignoring that.

“Business travel and being away from home is exhausting,” says Situ Commercial Director, Rebecca Gonzaga.

“Business travellers need to find a sense of peace, somewhere to rest properly, that feels more like home. That is not possible in a busy hotel, living in one room.”

Risk avoidance

Gonzaga warns of the dangers of booking out of policy. “Everyone thinks they are a travel agent and many go off piste and make their own arrangements, which is a huge legal and moral risk for employers. It’s essential companies find ways to bring serviced apartments into their programmes to ensure employees’ safety by working with bona fide hospitality operators."

Wisdom should prevail: “It makes sense to look at accommodation as a whole, rather than in silos, to determine the challenges and where gaps exist between what is in place and what the business needs,” says ITM’s Douglas. “There's usually a cost benefit in moving long stays into serviced apartments, and a better traveller experience.”

Data analysis is key to see long-stay activity, concentration of spend and spend volumes by market.

Buyers can learn capabilities for long stay, geographic reach and operational models of other clients by talking to providers.

Top Tips

• Engage regular travellers to get buy-in and incorporate their input. “This will also allow you to know the potential size and shape of what you need, which should grow as you promote this programme enhancement to the wider travelling community," says SilverDoor’s Pauline Houston.

• Talk to a reputable agency provider who can identify providers, negotiate corporate rates according to volume and aggregate your serviced apartment content into one easy-to-book process, directly or via your TMC.

• Consider the total cost. Most travellers don't want to eat out every night so give a grocery allowance instead of a per diem.

• Talk to other buyers in your business. HR and mobility may have supplier relationships that can be harnessed for transient stays and add to your negotiating power.

• Don’t launch with too many apartments in your programme. It's easier to add more rather than risk diluting your spend and losing negotiation leverage in year two.

• Don’t expect to be able to manage apartments like a hotel programme or via an OBT because they can’t be loaded like hotels nor booked in the same way.