Tag: relocation housing

With business back in full swing, we have returned to trying to find hotel or motel rooms across the country when there are fewer spaces and more people looking.

It’s one of the many areas of business where resources are scarce, but demand has increased. Fortunately, this challenge has a simple solution.

Corporate housing.

Rather than competing for overpriced hotel or motel rooms for staff, use corporate rentals instead.

You get more for less, have more flexibility in location and availability and deliver a more homely space for staff for longer stays.

It’s the answer many businesses are looking for and it’s right here.

Housing for traveling staff

Staff need to travel and be accommodated for a multitude of reasons. Training, office moves, relocations, change of duty station, projects and so many more reasons.

It could be a permanent relocation or change of station. It could be for training, development, secondment, temporary loan or something else.

It could be for a few days, a month, many months or over a year.

Different organizations have different needs and Blu Corporate Housing can cater to them all. As long as you’re staying for 28 days or more, we can help.

We work with government agencies, enterprise, Fortune 500 companies, insurance companies, medical centers, universities, the construction industry, oil and gas industries and anyone who needs high quality, low cost accommodation for a month or more.

Here are three real life examples of how Blu helped a company rehome staff.

Oil and gas workers

A leading oil and gas firm wanted to house a drill team near Austin, Texas for a period 6 months. They didn’t want a bunkhouse and didn’t want a cheap motel.

They also didn’t want to pay hotel prices or risk Airbnb.

Blu was able to find a family home with 6 bedrooms a few miles south of Austin. It had a driveway, garage, spacious lounge and kitchen and 3 bathrooms.

Everyone had their own private space and enough bathrooms to minimize any delays.

The team could also park their trucks on the driveway and had the run of the house and garden. It was the ideal solution that delivered cost savings for the company and more space for the team.

Project team

A well-known cloud solutions provider needed to house their project manager in Palo Alto to oversee an infrastructure upgrade program.

The company wanted somewhere close to the project site and local stores and amenities. They also didn’t know how long they would need the accommodation for as the project could go over schedule.

We sourced a fully furnished apartment in the city center, close to shopping, dining and entertainment and close to the office. It had private parking so their car was safe and had all the comforts of home.

We were also able to arrange the apartment with a rolling monthly contract to help the company manage their schedule without setting a strict time limit.

Army squad

An army team needed to be near Fort Hood for extended training but didn’t want to stay on base. The accommodation needed to be close enough to be convenient but cheap enough to stay within per diem rates.

The team were training over 3 months and ideally wanted to be accommodated together. This ruled out hotels due to cost and proximity, but Blu found them a single family home less than 10 minutes from the gates.

The team could travel together, stay together and eat together, just like they would in the field.

All within the price limitations of government housing rates.

Cost effectiveness

One of the downsides of a market economy is when demand increases, so do prices. Even when there’s no reason for it, you’ll always see prices rise along with demand.

That’s what we’re seeing with hotels right now.

The vacation market is back to normal and so is the business travel sector. We are seeing more demand than any time in the last 3 years and it shows no signs of slowing down.

So, you have a choice.

You can pay more for no good reason or you could pay less for a very good reason.

We know which we would choose!

It’s the same choice thousands of companies are making all the time.

On average, a corporate apartment costs anywhere between 40-80% less than a comparable hotel room for stays of 30 days or more.

All while giving more space, more privacy, (often) more amenities and a lot more freedom to come and go as you please.

If you’re housing multiple staff at once, it makes even more sense as you can accommodate multiple team members within the same property!

Reliability and consistency

The majority of hotels in the United States are reliable and offer decent quality accommodation. But you have to manage everything yourself.

There is also a difference between chains and between locations.

Use alternatives like Airbnb for Work or some of the other newer services and consistency goes right out the window!

While they make guarantees on overall standards, anyone who has stayed in Airbnb knows there can be a huge difference between what the listing promises and what you find when you get there!

Blu Corporate Housing inspects the vast majority of their corporate rentals and solicits feedback from clients to ensure all standards are maintained.

If accommodation falls below expectations, we won’t use it until those standards are met again.

It’s a simple system, but it works!

Freedom of choice

Blu has thousands of corporate rentals you can choose from, in almost every city in the country.

There are also thousands of hotels, but they are mainly in high traffic areas, close to airports, vacation spots or in industrial areas.

They aren’t always convenient for work, which is where corporate rentals come in.

The vast majority of rentals are standard apartments or townhomes leveled up to appeal to the business market.

They will be in Downtown areas, close to business or finance districts, close to hospitals or universities or wherever you need to be.

The sheer volume of properties on our books means wherever your staff are working or training, we’ll have accommodation close by.

If you prefer accommodation close to city centers or entertainment districts, no problem.

If you need to be close to a military base, university or medical district, no problem there either.

Wherever you need to be, or send staff, we have the reach to help.

Whether you’re relocating staff permanently or for extended stays for any reason, corporate rentals can help.

They provide all the comforts of home along with the space, privacy and convenience of your own house or apartment.

All for up to half the price of a hotel room for stays of 30 days or more.

If that doesn’t make perfect business sense, we don’t know what does!

Click here to browse our housing listings 

Corporate housing is one of the few real estate markets that has seen growth over the past five years. Despite falls almost everywhere else, the company rentals market has grown and shows no sign of stopping.

Furnished relocation housing is a rental provided predominantly to companies who want to house executives or traveling staff for longer than 30 days. They are generally furnished apartments or single family homes in nice areas and are of a high standard. They are designed to fill the gap between long-stay hotels and standard property rentals, and do a good job filling it.

Many corporate landlords or rentals agencies will accept non-corporate clients for longer stays, which is why we suggest they are ideal for a stress-free relocation.

List of housing companies who can help with relocation:
  • Blu Corporate Housing – Yes, we do engage in self-promotion! Contact us.
  • Travelers Haven – This is one of the top 3 corporate leasing companies in the country. Large staff and 24/7 customer service.
  • Hotel Engine – This is a little different than your typical corporate housing provider. Hotel Engine specializes in hotel stays for short, mid, and long-term rental.
  • CHBO – This is a self service provider. Think Air Bnb, only for corporate housing. Many options, including room rentals.
  • Oakwood – This may be the oldest corporate housing provider on the block. Large inventory. Pricing can sometimes be on the high side.
  • VRBO – This is technically for “vacation rentals”, but can be used for corporate relocations all the same. This is similar to the CHBO model.
  • Craigslist – If you’re looking for budget options or roomshares, this is probably your best bet. Lotsa of different options can be found here from upscale to economy.
New City, New Life

Relocating to a new city for work or to seek employment opportunity is both exciting and scary. Everything is new, you don’t know anyone, you don’t know where anything is and it takes a long time to get oriented. If you’re moving for work, it is made a little easier as you will have colleagues to offset some of it. If you’re moving to seek opportunity you may not have that.

Using corporate lodging as a base when relocating to a new city offers the perfect platform to explore your new home. Of all the things you will worry about, where to live doesn’t have to be one of them.

Finding somewhere to live in a new city is a logistical exercise that takes some sorting out. It will generally require a trip to the city in question for a visit, to check out the property and to see where it is in relation to everything else. It may require a return visit to sign the paperwork if you’re not lucky enough to do it the same day.

Corporate Housing as a Base of Operations

One of the advantages of using corporate housing is the quality. Companies who send staff around the country expect a minimum standard of living for their people. Landlords know that their property has to be a certain standard otherwise it won’t be let.

Therefore, using a corporate property assures you of a minimum standard of living. That’s something you could never guarantee with a standard rental. Anyone who spent any time in college will tell you, rented properties come in all shapes, sizes and levels of habitability!

If you’re brave, that means you won’t need an inspection visit, the arrangements can be made over the internet, post or phone, and the whole process is taken care of in one fell swoop.

Having secured somewhere to live that will be fit for habitation and won’t cost the earth is how moving to a new city using corporate housing can be stress-free. If nothing else, you have a roof over your head and somewhere to use as a base to explore your new home. There are few accommodation options that can provide that within a decent budget.