When you come to a new city for an extended stay, whether for business, pleasure or a project of some kind, it’s always a challenge to find an affordable place to stay. Reserving a hotel room may be the most convenient route, but it’s also one of the most expensive options. As an alternative, consider renting a furnished apartment from a short-term housing agency. They are generally much cheaper than hotels, and for longer stays, they provide an environment that feels much more like home.
Why are hotels more expensive?
What makes a hotel stay (even at an extended-stay hotel) so much more expensive than renting short-term housing? There are several factors in play:
You’re paying for unneeded amenities and luxuries.
The cost of a hotel room is about much more than keeping the lights on; it’s also about all the extra premium amenities they make available to you, many of which you probably never use. You’re paying for the on-site restaurant and room service, for the fitness center and pool, for the concierge, and for the wages to pay all the people who provide these and other services. Meanwhile, you forfeit other things you might otherwise like to have — like a living room and an actual kitchen. You don’t have room service or door-to-door dry cleaning at home, so why pay for them at a hotel? (Most people prefer their own cooking, anyhow.)
You’re paying for convenience.
The simple fact that it’s so quick and easy to rent a hotel room drives the cost upward. Just as you pay twice as much for cough syrup at the convenience store as you would at WalMart, you’ll pay more for the same bed in a hotel than you’d pay in a furnished short-term apartment.
Hotels are catering to a different crowd.
You’re in town for an extended stay, which means you’re probably there to work. Hotels are more geared for vacationers and short-term business trips — people who expect to pay more for a quick, easy place to say, and people who want the types of amenities you get on vacation. You’re not on vacation right now, so why pay vacation rates?
Unless you have a generous expense account, you obviously don’t want your hard-earned business profits eaten up just by the cost of a hotel stay. Likewise, if you’re a business owner or corporate executive flying people in to help you with your project, you don’t want to pay for services and conveniences that really won’t benefit your employees, anyway. Not only are short-term housing agencies cheaper than hotels, but they also provide comfortable, fully furnished apartments that will make an extended stay far more pleasant and homelike.
If you need short-term housing in Atlanta or Jacksonville, we’d love to help! Give TP Corporate Lodging a call at 800.428.9997 for information on current availability.