28 Feb Who Wins? Corporate Apartment vs. Hotel Accommodation

You may be thinking it’s better to stay in a hotel, because of the round-the-clock service it provides, but if you already expect to stay longer than 30 days, you know what’s best for you.

Just in terms of affordability, the corporate apartment will be more flexible in its price. But beyond that, what are the marked differences between staying in a hotel in relation to the corporate apartment?

Let us state the obvious:

A hotel accommodation gets you a room.  It will have the basic amenities you will need during your stay, because a hotel is meant for short stays. Yes, it can be impersonal only in the sense that most of what you’re used to seeing in a home is not there; the most obvious one being the kitchen.

Granted that the hotel has the best service and amenities all round, you go back to a room–perhaps a small one if you’re saving money–because it needs to serve its purpose—for sleeping in.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  It’s designed that way.

With corporate apartments, though, you get the works. You should be getting a fully furnished apartment, complete with a kitchen and utensils, even perhaps a pool that you can see from the living or dining room.

You’ll find that you have more space—and you’ll need the space, because you’re in it for the long haul. If your company relocated you, you should expect to be placed in a corporate apartment and not in a hotel where you may find yourself feeling like a transient.

Even if you don’t cook, seeing a kitchen gives you a homey vibe. But you’ll want to cook for yourself—or for guests and new friends you will want to entertain in your dining room or area.  Also think about the money you will save cooking or preparing your own meal.

The last thing you’ll like about staying in a corporate apartment, you can choose to stay in a non-touristy neighborhood, somewhere close to your job perhaps, or even out of the city, whereas a hotel can be smack dab in the heart of the busiest and most hectic areas. Think of the hotels close to Times Square in New York, for instance.

The point of corporate housing, of course, is to make it easy for you to transition to your new city or location, to make you feel right at home. (DC)