Serviced Apartments for Contractors UK: Q&A Guide

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Overview

Serviced apartments sit between a hotel and a rented flat: furnished, cleaned and billed by the night, but with a kitchen, a washing machine and usually a separate bedroom, which is why project managers and travelling trades use them for stays of a week or more. This guide answers the questions people type when pricing a crew stay: what it costs in 2026, what is included, how VAT changes after 28 days, what the rules are, and when a contractor house is the better call.

The short answer

For a working crew in 2026, serviced accommodation in regional England typically prices at £45 to £70 per person per night with one person per bedroom, against £70 to £100 per room per night for a budget or mid-range hotel before meals and parking, according to an August 2026 cost analysis by the contractor-housing provider TeamStay. England's hotels averaged a £165 daily rate in August 2026 (VisitBritain), with revenue per available room of £82 outside London, so the gap widens in cities with strong leisure or event demand. Serviced apartments are usually cleaned weekly rather than daily, include utilities and Wi-Fi, carry minimum stays of three to seven nights, and after 28 consecutive nights VAT is charged only on the service element of the bill rather than the whole price (HMRC VAT Notice 709/3, section 3).

What the sector looks like in 2026

The Association of Serviced Apartment Providers (ASAP), the Gloucester-based trade body, represents around 130,000 apartments across 25 countries and more than three million bed nights a year, and runs the Stay With Confidence directory that corporate buyers use to find accredited operators. HVS's July 2026 review of the European sector found occupancy at about 80 per cent across its 13,000-unit sample, with average rates softening in nearly every market during 2025; in the UK outside London the pullback was more in occupancy than rate, so operators in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Bristol have mid-week nights they would rather fill at a sensible long-stay rate than leave dark. HVS also counts roughly 19,800 new rooms due across Europe in the next five years, with the UK taking 22 per cent, so supply in the big cities is loosening and the leverage on price for a four-week or longer stay has moved towards the guest.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a serviced apartment, an aparthotel and a contractor house?+

A serviced apartment is a self-contained flat let by the night or week with cleaning, linen, utilities and Wi-Fi included, usually in a residential block or a building run by an operator. An aparthotel is the same product with a reception desk, 24-hour staff and often a gym or lounge, and is usually priced higher. A contractor house is an ordinary three or four-bedroom house furnished for working guests, let as a whole to a crew and cleaned weekly or at changeover. Apartments suit one to four people who value privacy and a city-centre address; houses suit four to eight people on one project who want parking, a big kitchen and the lowest per-head cost.

How much does a serviced apartment cost per night for a contractor in 2026?+

TeamStay's August 2026 analysis puts serviced houses and apartments for contractors at £45 to £70 per person per night across regional England, within a wider market range of £25 to £75 depending on city, notice and length of stay. London and short-notice bookings sit well above that. Prestige Apartments' July 2026 comparison found serviced apartments typically cost up to 25 per cent less than a comparable hotel room, with pricing that improves as the stay lengthens. For what crews actually pay by city, see the 2026 price guide.

Do serviced apartments cost less than hotels for a work crew?+

Per person, almost always, once you count food and parking. TeamStay's worked example for ten contractors over eight weeks (560 person-nights) compared serviced accommodation at £55 per person per night with hotel rooms at £95 per room per night: £30,800 against £53,200 for the rooms alone. Adding a £30 per day hotel food budget against £15 per day self-catering took the combined saving to about £30,800 on the project; even the lowest-cost scenario showed a £22,400 difference. The hotel wins only for one or two people on a one or two-night stay, where minimum stays and cleaning fees make an apartment uneconomic. There is a fuller comparison in contractor accommodation vs hotels.

What is included in a serviced apartment rate, and how often is it cleaned?+

As standard: a fully equipped kitchen, bed linen and towels, utilities, Wi-Fi and a weekly clean with a linen change for stays over seven nights; short stays are cleaned at departure only. Most operators offer daily cleaning on request at extra cost. Parking, early check-in, extra beds and pet stays are usually chargeable extras. Confirm whether the quoted rate is per apartment or per person, and whether VAT is included; business quotes are frequently shown net.

What minimum stay do serviced apartments require?+

Three to seven nights is typical for operator-run apartments, and rates generally step down at seven, 14 and 28 nights because operators price by length of stay. Contractor houses tend to start at seven nights or a Monday-to-Friday block. If you need a single Monday-to-Thursday week, the choices narrow and hotels become competitive again; the Monday to Friday guide covers that pattern.

How does VAT work on a serviced apartment stay longer than 28 days?+

HMRC's VAT Notice 709/3, section 3.1, allows "the charge for the actual sleeping accommodation element of the supply to be relieved from VAT when a guest stays for over 28 consecutive days." From day 29, VAT is charged only on the part of the payment that is not for accommodation. Where the operator makes an inclusive charge, section 3.2 says it must treat at least 20 per cent of the remainder as being for facilities and charge VAT on that, or on the true value of the facilities if higher. In practice a £2,000 monthly bill that would attract £400 of VAT at 20 per cent carries roughly £80 of VAT once the rule applies; the stay remains taxable, only the value is reduced.

Does the 28-day VAT rule apply if a company books the apartment and different workers rotate through it?+

No. Section 3.3 of the notice states the rule "does not apply to bookings by companies where the accommodation is used by a succession of short-term occupants, and each stay is less than 29 days at a time." The relief follows the individual occupant's continuous stay, not the booking. A guest who is away at weekends keeps continuity if the room is held and paid for, but someone who stays three weeks every month and leaves in between restarts the clock each time. The same section also makes clear there is no reduced value rule at all for holiday accommodation (section 5.8), so it does not apply to a lodge or caravan park let.

Can I invoice a serviced apartment to my company and reclaim the VAT?+

If the stay is for business travel and your company is VAT-registered, the operator's VAT invoice is reclaimable in the usual way, subject to the normal rules on business use. Ask for the invoice to be addressed to the company, to show the VAT number and the apportionment after day 28, and keep the booking confirmation with it. Neither operators nor this guide can give tax advice; your accountant can confirm the treatment for your circumstances.

Does a serviced apartment count for the CIJC lodging allowance?+

The Construction Industry Joint Council's Working Rule Agreement sets a lodging allowance of £53.69 per night from 20 July 2026 for operatives required to live away from home. The allowance is paid to the worker and is not tied to a type of accommodation, so a serviced apartment, a contractor house or a hotel room all qualify. The tax relief and lodging allowance guide explains the HMRC side.

How do I find a serviced apartment for six or eight workers?+

You can book two or three two-bedroom apartments in the same block, which works in city centres but multiplies cleaning fees and pushes the per-head cost towards a hotel. Or you switch product and take a whole house, which is what most crews of six or more do. A third route is a reverse marketplace such as Offer2Stay, where you post the dates, crew size and the price you want to pay, and verified hosts of apartments and houses within reach of the site send their best offers; it is useful when you are not sure which product the area actually has. For a start date inside seven days in a big city, operator-run apartment blocks with live availability are the quickest route; four weeks out, a house will almost always cost less. The contractor accommodation search lists what is live by town.

Is parking available at serviced apartments?+

City-centre blocks often have none, or one allocated space for the whole flat, and public car parks add a nightly charge on top (TeamStay puts hotel parking at £5 to £20 or more per vehicle per night, and city car parks are no different). If your crew arrives in vans, filter for off-street parking before you look at anything else. Suburban apartments and contractor houses nearly always include it, which is one of the main reasons trades favour a house on the edge of town over a flat near the station.

What should be in the booking terms for a crew stay?+

Check five things: the cancellation window and whether it tightens for long stays; whether you can shorten the stay if the project finishes early, and on what notice; the deposit and how damage is assessed; occupancy limits per apartment, which insurers enforce; and whether the operator may substitute a different apartment mid-stay. Get all of it in writing before paying. The negotiation guide has a checklist you can paste into an email.

Are serviced apartments regulated in the UK?+

Partly, and it is changing. In England a national registration scheme for short-term lets was confirmed in September 2026 for launch in March 2027; owners will register, pay a fee and quote a registration number when advertising, and councils will use the data to manage local supply. Many entire-home lets in London are already limited to 90 nights a year without planning consent. Scotland runs a nationwide short-term let licensing scheme, so a Scottish operator should be able to quote a licence number. ASAP membership is the closest the sector has to a kitemark for corporate buyers.

Can I negotiate the rate on a serviced apartment?+

For stays of 14 nights or more, yes, and operators expect it. HVS puts occupancy across the European sector at around 80 per cent with rates that softened through 2025, so a four-week mid-week booking is valuable to them. Offer a fixed figure per night for the whole period, ask for the weekly clean to be included, and ask for the 28-day VAT apportionment to be shown on the quote. On Offer2Stay you set the price when you post the enquiry and hosts send offers against it, so the negotiation is built into the booking rather than done afterwards by phone.

Which UK cities have the most serviced apartment supply for workers?+

London by a distance, then Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Bristol and Liverpool, where branded operators run whole buildings. Outside those cities supply thins quickly and the product shifts to converted houses and small blocks run by local operators, which is where posting an enquiry and letting hosts respond saves the most time. The city guides for Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Newcastle cover each market on the ground.

Serviced Apartments for Contractors and Working Crews in the UK: Every Question Answered

Overview

The short answer

What the sector looks like in 2026

Tell hosts what you are looking for

Frequently asked questions

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