What are serviced apartments? A plain-English definition

Serviced apartments: the meaning in plain English

A serviced apartment is a furnished flat that is let for temporary stays and comes with services. Wikipedia's entry on serviced accommodation describes such properties as fully furnished and available for short- to medium-term periods, typically ranging from a few nights to several months. The services it names are residential-style: utilities, housekeeping and internet access.

Two ideas sit inside the term. "Apartment" means a self-contained home with its own entrance, bedroom or bedrooms, bathroom and usually a kitchen, rather than a single hotel room. "Serviced" means someone else looks after the property for you, from cleaning to maintenance, and you deal with an operator rather than a landlord.

The industry's own trade body uses similar language. The Association of Serviced Apartment Providers (ASAP) describes its members as offering self-contained, self-catering accommodation with more flexibility and more space. Its website cites a sector of 130,000 apartments across 25 countries.

What does "serviced" actually include?

The service element is the part that varies most. Sources agree on the broad package, which usually covers the following, but no standard fixes the details, so each operator decides what is bundled and how often it is provided.

• Housekeeping, at a frequency set by the operator, from regular visits to cleaning on request.
• Utilities such as electricity, water and heating, normally folded into the rate rather than billed separately.
• Internet access, which Wikipedia lists alongside utilities and housekeeping as a standard residential-style amenity.
• A kitchen. In aparthotels and extended-stay properties this usually means at least a sink, a refrigerator, a microwave oven and a stovetop.
• Laundry. Extended-stay properties typically offer self-serve laundry facilities, and some apartments have their own machine.
• Support from the operator for check-in, maintenance and complaints.

How do serviced apartments differ from hotels and normal apartments?

At a high level, a serviced apartment sits between a hotel room and a rented home. It is booked like a hotel, with no fixed tenancy, but laid out like a home. Wikipedia notes that an aparthotel has no fixed contracts, so guests can leave when their booking ends, subject to the operator's minimum stay.

The table gives the broad picture. It is a general guide: individual properties vary, and the sibling guides cover the comparisons in detail, including aparthotel vs hotel and serviced apartments vs Airbnb-style rentals.

Serviced apartment, aparthotel, corporate housing: are they the same?

The terms overlap, and operators use them inconsistently. An aparthotel is the version that books like a hotel. Wikipedia describes an apartment hotel as a serviced apartment complex that uses a hotel-style booking system, and lists residential hotel and extended-stay hotel as alternative names.

Corporate housing is a related category: furnished temporary housing, typically used for stays averaging a month or more, where the provider services the unit between guests. Wikipedia treats it as distinct from extended-stay hotels, describing it as housing in a residential setting.

Private holiday rentals are a different model again. Wikipedia describes a vacation rental as a furnished apartment, house or resort-condominium let on a temporary basis, and notes that owners either rent directly or hire a management company that handles housekeeping and maintenance. Some hotel-like condo complexes add front-desk check-in and housekeeping, so the borderline is blurry. The guide on aparthotel vs serviced apartment goes into the distinction.

Who uses serviced apartments?

Wikipedia describes serviced accommodation as aimed at people who need temporary lodging, often for business or relocation reasons, and names business travellers, expatriates and medical tourists as sources of demand. Its entry on aparthotels adds business travellers on extended assignments, people on long holidays and families who are relocating.

The common thread is a stay long enough that a hotel room becomes cramped or repetitive: cooking some meals, washing clothes and having a place to work all start to matter. The guides on business travel, relocation and travelling with children cover those cases.

Examples of cities to browse include aparthotels and serviced apartments in London, Tokyo, New York and Singapore. Among operators, the Australian brand Quest says on its FAQ page that it accommodates guests for one night, two weeks or many months at a time, and that most of its apartment types have a washing machine and dryer.

How can you tell a serviced apartment is professionally run?

Because the term is not regulated as a single standard, independent checks are useful. ASAP, the trade body for professional operators, runs an accreditation scheme that checks safety and quality in several ways. Accredited providers have their health, safety and due diligence evidence checked by an outside party. An accredited building is inspected on site, and a quality and comfort certification scores properties after a full assessment that includes an overnight stay.

ASAP's 2019 news release says providers must demonstrate a consistently high standard of customer care, comfort and health and safety to join its directory. Accreditation is voluntary and covers only the operators that apply, so its absence is not a warning sign. It is one signal among several, alongside recent guest reviews, a clear inventory of what the flat contains and written terms for cleaning, deposits and cancellation. Reading reviews well is a skill of its own; the checklist below covers the points worth confirming.

• Who the operator is and how to reach them out of hours.
• How often housekeeping happens and whether linen and towels are changed.
• What the kitchen contains and whether laundry facilities are in the flat or the building.
• Whether utilities and internet are included in the rate.
• The minimum stay, and the cancellation terms for your dates.
• Any extra charges payable on arrival or departure.

When is a serviced apartment the right choice?

Practical advice, rather than a rule: the longer you stay, the more a serviced apartment tends to make sense, because space, a kitchen and laundry matter more over weeks than over a weekend. The benefits and trade-offs are set out in the benefits of serviced apartments.

For a single night or two, a hotel's daily service and facilities may serve you better. For a stay of a month or more, compare against a short lease or an unfurnished rental, which the guide to long-stay accommodation helps with. In between, check the length-based pages on weekly, monthly and long-term stays to see how the rules shift.