Business trips are an essential part of every top corporate employee and an entrepreneur’s life.
With domestic business travel predicted to reach 483 million by 2020 in the US alone, corporate trips shouldn’t just be another thing you add to your to-do list.
While there are a lot of finances to consider when planning a trip, a chunk of your budget will go to the accommodations. This is why it is not a decision that you should take lightly.
Unfortunately, choosing a place to stay during your visit can be challenging to say the least.
Because there are so many possible options to choose from, you often end up flabbergasted. Even with online sources like TripAdvisor to help you.
This is where blogs like this one come in.
Though we won’t be able to choose accommodation for you, we will help you narrow down your choices and decide whether it’s better for you to select a hotel or stay in an apartment.
Before we can proceed, you need to know that while there is just one type of hotel, you can choose between the following apartments for your business trip.
Aparthotel: These apartments are similar to hotel rooms with an average size between 200-360 sq ft. (18-35 m2). They are typically studio apartments with a kitchenette included.
Serviced Apartment: These types of apartments are fully equipped and are usually located in an urban environment. Their average size is 260 sq ft.(24 m2), which is ideal for comfortable living, especially when you’re staying for a longer time.
Furnished Apartment: The one thing that separates the furnished apartment from a serviced apartment is that you need to be comfortable with self-catering facilities. A furnished apartment’s average size will vary between 200-360 sq ft. (18-35 m2), so it is ideal for long-term trips and comfortable living.
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What to consider when choosing accommodations for Business Travel
Now that we have covered the topic of the types of apartments you can choose from; let’s look at the things you should be looking for when deciding on business lodgings.
Convenience: First and foremost, you need to make sure that the place you’re choosing to stay at is near the location where most of the business meetings will be held. If you don’t want to spend extra time and effort in traveling to and from the hotel or apartment, consider this critical feature.
Comfort: Don’t make the mistake of choosing an accommodation that’s overly crowded, noisy, or uncomfortable. Because you’ll be working on crucial agreements during the length of your stay, it is recommended that you select a hotel or apartment that makes you feel at home.
Amenities: Finally, depending on your particular needs, you need to look for places that have all the facilities you require. For instance, if you’re going to be traveling a lot, you’ll need to look for a hotel that has a shuttle service or private drivers.
Once you know what you should be looking for, the hunt for business trip lodgings will be made a lot simpler.
Now let’s dive straight into the topic of hotel vs. apartment. Here, we’ll be looking at the pros and cons of each so you can decide for yourself which option would be best for you.
Business Hotels vs Apartments: What’s best?
Hotels
With corporate travelers taking more than 480 million business trips, hotels are the most common places where they like to stay for the duration of their trip. Hotels offer a lot of conveniences, pocket friendliness, and a range of other benefits. Which is why they are sometimes preferred over apartments.
Today, we’re going to be looking at hotels objectively. By listing the pros and cons of hotel spaces, we’ll decide whether it can be a feasible option for your business trip.
Pros
Convenience
One of the biggest benefits of staying at a hotel is that it is conveniently located. Most corporate meetings are held in the downtown area, and this makes it possible to reach them without having to catch the metro or travel long distances in a cab. Moreover, if you’re responsible for setting the place of the meeting, you can call other members to the hotel because it will usually be at a central location that’s easy to reach.
Services Readily Available
Another reason why most corporate travelers prefer getting a room in hotels is that they can count on service availability. Everything from meeting to conference rooms is available, and you don’t have to worry about the cleaning, laundry, or ironing that needs to be done. You will also get access to free and high-speed internet/WIFI so you can complete all your corporate assignment on time.
Budget-friendly
This benefit depends on the hotel where you decide to stay. For instance, while staying at Four Seasons wouldn’t be the best idea if you’re trying to save some money, there are plenty of budget-friendly options you could choose from. While they may not be as luxurious as five-star hotels, they will provide you with the basic business amenities you may need for a business trip.
Cons
Limited Privacy
Privacy is one of the biggest issues for corporate travelers who decide to stay at a budget-friendly hotel. Because these places are often filled from room to room, you’ll not get much privacy even when you’re inside your room. This will make it difficult for you to work on your assignment and to catch a snooze between the back-to-back meetings. The only way you can get rid of this problem is by staying at a suite, which will poke holes in your pocket.
Food Expenses
Apart from the actual accommodation costs, food expenses usually take a major chunk out of your budget. Because you will be eating out or ordering in for most of your trip, the sum of all those meals will be a lot more than you expected. And let’s face it, restaurant food is expensive because even if you’re just ordering a salad, the original price combined with the tax will be hefty.
Even if you decide to stay at a bed-and-breakfast, you have to count in the lunch or dinner meals you’ll be consuming. Altogether, food expense can reach thousands if you’re not careful about where and what you eat.
Not Suitable for Longer Trips
Finally, while you should be okay to stay in a hotel for a couple of days or week at most, you will start feeling claustrophobic if you plan to stay for a longer time. No matter how comfortable, a hotel cannot provide the same sense of contentment as an apartment, and this is why people don’t prefer staying in one business trip that last more than a couple of weeks.
Apartments
Apartments and Airbnb’s are gradually becoming a favorite for corporate travelers, especially as far as millennials are concerned. With spending expected to grow more than 7% in 2019, people are looking for ways to cut costs so they can really start focusing on their startups.
So, let’s look at some ways renting out an apartment could be beneficial for your business trip.
Pros
Privacy
Apartments are preferred over hotels because above everything else, they provide privacy. After a long hard day with back-to-back meetings, it gives you the chance to unwind, relax, and feel at home. It also increases your productivity because you don’t need to work while hearing unwanted noises outside your room. It pretty much offers you a home away from home.
Negligible Food Expenses
All apartments have a kitchenette that’s provided with the room, along with other amenities. This means that you can buy groceries and cook your own food, which will save you a considerable amount in food costs. You also have the opportunity of cooking your own healthy meals instead of consuming unhealthy, fast food from outside.
Perfect for Longer Durations
Instead of feeling like you’re stuck in a constricted space, you’ll feel like you are home. Apartments are 10x more comfortable when compared to hotels because they have everything from you need in the space where you stay. You don’t necessarily need to stay in your room but can step out and walk around the apartment as well.
Cons
Convenience
One of the biggest reasons why people prefer staying in hotels as compared to apartments is because of their location. While hotels are usually located in prime downtown areas, aparthotel and apartments are usually situated in residential districts, which are far away from where meetings are held. So, you have a meeting in the city, you will need to factor in the traveling costs too.
Services
People like hotels for business trips because they don’t need to worry about cleaning up after themselves. On the other hand, staying in an apartment means you will need to spend time doing your own laundry or cooking for yourself. But this is something that can be solved if you decide to stay in a serviced apartment.
Slightly More Expensive
Finally, you may opt out of staying at an apartment because they can be a little more expensive if you’re looking for low-budget lodgings. However, they’re still better priced than some 3 or even 4-star hotels.
Verdict
Business travel can take a chunk out of your business budget if you’re not careful about where it all goes. So, make the right decision after looking at the pros and cons of each of these options, and you can bet that you’ll be making an informed decision.
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|ES| Hotel vs apartamento – ¿Cuál es mejor cuando se viaja por negocios?
