What is a Serviced Apartment?
By Mark Harris
Apartments serving the business market
usually provide a working area, a desk &
an office chair, internet access & direct
telephone and/or fax lines. Public areas
are usually limited to a hall and the
communal lounge/dining area and
urban locations may provide a small
meeting room or meeting rooms.
The services provided include once or
twice-weekly (sometimes more in the
higher end product) cleaning, laundry
and reception. High end properties may
provide laundry equipment in each
apartment, whereas properties of a lower
standardmay provide access to shared
laundry facilities.
The term corporate
housing was coined in
and is still used mostly
in the US
Apartments serving the business market
usually provide a working area, a desk &
an office chair, internet access & direct
telephone and/or fax lines. Public areas
are usually limited to a hall and the
communal lounge/dining area and
urban locations may provide a small
meeting room or meeting rooms.
The services provided include once or
twice-weekly (sometimes more in the
higher end product) cleaning, laundry
and reception. High end properties may
provide laundry equipment in each
apartment, whereas properties of a lower
standardmay provide access to shared
laundry facilities.
Extended stay properties rarely offer a
restaurant or bar, but will usually have a
roster of partner establishments in the area.
Corporate housing
These are residential apartments which
are up-graded for shorter term rental and
packaged together with services such as
cleaning, utility charges, local taxes
telephone and TV for stays of 30 days or
more. This type of product also works as
company apartments for either regular
visitors or those on extended projects.
The term corporate housing was coined
in, and is still used mostly in the US.
There are two types of corporate housing;
apartments let and maintained by the
operator on an on-going basis, and
those rented specifically for a particular
housing requirement and length of time,
after which they are handed back to the
owner. The latter category is also referred
to as virtual housing.
Source: The Apartment Service Global Survey 2008