There are basically 3 key items that differentiate corporate housing from vacation rentals: hotel quality accommodation & cleanliness; flexible lease terms for 30+ day stays; and no pre-booking of a future guest in case your stay extends.
Hotel Quality Accommodation & Cleanliness
Corporate housing units, whether apartments, condos, or single family houses, will be presented at move in very much like a hotel room. Immaculately clean and organized. You won’t find half empty condiment bottles in the refrigerator, opened spices in the cupboard, or any left-over food containers. What you will find with corporate housing is a meticulously clean, comfortable, and well appointed unit for your stay.
Flexible Lease Terms for 30+ Day Stays
True corporate housing is rented on 30-day minimum lease terms that can extend until notice to vacate (NTV) is given. While it is possible to rent a unit for a fixed period of time: 30, 45 or even something that doesn’t have a specific interval like 71 days, most leases are written as 30-day minimum month to month (MTM) agreements that extend at the discretion of the guest until 30 day notice to vacate is given. Which brings us the last and most important distinction of all…
No Pre-Booking of Units Until Current Guest Gives Notice
Corporate housing does not pre-book their units for arrivals more than 30 days from the time of booking. This means if a guest is in a unit the corporate housing supplier will not book that same unit to a new tenant until after the current resident gives notice to vacate. Employers, traveling professionals, guest with medical needs, and insurance displacement all count on the ability to extend the stay based on their needs not the landlords. Quite often it’s not possible to know how long relocation, temporary assignments, medical treatments, or home repairs may take, and it is quite disruptive to find out you cannot stay in a vacation rental because it’s already been committed to another party. When booking temporary accommodations, be sure to confirm the ability to extend and double check that the specific unit you will be staying in isn’t already pre-rented thereby creating a “hard vacate” some time it the future.
