How to get more value for each ￡ you spend on accommodation

Getting value for money is a phrase that we hear banded about a lot these days. Whether for business or pleasure we want to get something better for our budget. This gets increasingly hard to do when staying in hotels. Hotels will have their set prices and even with a big of shopping around using comparison sites, they still will take a chunk out of your travel and subsistence budget.

Better value doesn’t have to mean poorer quality, so sow do you get better value for your budget? The answer lies in serviced apartments. In this article, I outline six ways to foster better value. 

Lower nightly rates

The average rate for a single room per night in a hotel in the UK is ￡100 (source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/515740/average-hotel-room-rate-in-uk-cities/), which can add up over the course of your stay. If staying alone, there is often an additional single person occupancy to bring into the mix too.

Serviced apartments are generally cheaper without sacrificing the quality. You can find serviced apartments for ￡50-500 per night, with no hidden single person occupancy.

Share the space without sacrificing privacy

In addition, where the cost of serviced apartments gets really interesting is, they often have more than one en-suite bedroom. So, if travelling with others you can get much more value from a serviced apartment by splitting the cost, without sacrificing your privacy

More space for what you spend

We’ve mentioned in a previous blog that Research by the Association of Serviced Apartment Providers (ASAP) shows a typical one-bedroom serviced apartment is around twice the size of the average hotel room. Who wouldn’t be happy with a bit more space to relax at the end of a long day for the same price or sometimes even less?

Eating in

A huge cost benefit of serviced apartments is being able to cater for yourself. Serviced apartments have their own private kitchen, allowing you to eat whatever you want, whenever you want for a fraction of the cost. So, whether you are paying for your own subsistence or it’s a company expense there are savings to be made. Obviously, you can still eat out if you wish (when restaurants fully open up again) but the great thing is, the choice is yours.

Stay longer

To really get value out of serviced apartments, you need to stay a little bit longer. Stays of two nights or more is when you truly start to see the value, but longer stays are better. Many serviced apartment providers will offer special rates for block and long stay bookings.

Reduce that VAT bill

This one is probably more applicable to corporate clients or clients who require long stays. Stays of 28 days or more, can get a reduction in VAT from 20% to 4%. This is definitely one to capitalise on.

In summary, serviced apartments are much more cost effective than hotel rooms, especially for longer stays with more than one person. You can get more space to relax in and so definitely delivering good value for money. The flexibility of being able to cook for yourself and not having to go to a restaurant or use the hotel restaurant has clear cost savings on top. For corporates, longer term bookings with the reduction in VAT is not a cost saving to ignore.

For your next trip away, get in touch and I can see if I can help you find a great serviced apartment.