With ever-increasing stay options far beyond just hotels, selecting the right accommodation for your business travel needs is no easy task. In today’s interconnected world, the range of accommodation options available for business travellers has expanded significantly. 

Business travellers tend to look far beyond traditional hotels. There are a range of alternatives, such as serviced apartments, extended-stay properties, vacation rentals, and co-living spaces, just to name a few.  

This abundance of choices can make the task of selecting the right accommodation for business travel challenging. 

This is why serviced apartment travel management companies, like myresidence, exist, we help bridge these challenges for you. 

When selecting the type of accommodation that best suits your business travel needs, there are many factors to keep in mind. By carefully considering them and utilising our available resources, we can help you make informed decisions that ensure a comfortable and productive business stay. 

With the right accommodation selected, business travellers can focus their energy on their professional endeavours, knowing that they have a suitable home away from home to return to at the end of a busy day. 

To ensure that you have the right serviced apartment for your business travel needs in Africa, we take the following into consideration: 

Cost 

Without a doubt, private rentals and other alternatives are cheaper than renting a hotel room. For business travellers, remaining within your company’s corporate travel budget is fundamental, so finding moderately priced accommodation is key in what we do. 

Amenities 

Basic amenities, like tea and coffee, toiletries and a hairdryer are a given. But nowadays, business travellers expect digital convenience as essential. Examples of these are business-specific facilities such as free Wi-Fi, outlets and USB plug options, as well as a designated work area, make it a point to source the serviced apartments which offer these.  

Location 

For convenience and ease of navigating a new city or country, finding accommodation near to the location of your work trip is of high importance, be that an office, fair, event, construction site, etc. Our team will find the best and closest serviced apartment for you. 

Flexibility 

Many factors come into play with business travel that cannot be avoided. We work with property partners who offer flexible cancellation options, helping you to save costs and prevent complications in the face of unexpected situations. 

Safety and Security 

When selecting your form of business travel accommodation, we place the utmost focus on security and safety options. Your safety is one of our top priorities.  

Group Travel 

Business travel often calls for the meshing together of groups, rather than solo travellers. Our team can help assist you in finding a serviced apartment option that best suits your group’s needs. 

The Pros and Cons of Business Travel Accommodation Types 

For business travellers, there is a mixture of benefits when staying in serviced apartments compared to hotels, let us look at a few of the main ones below: 

The pros of serviced apartments for business travellers: 

• Typically, more cost-effective 
• Wide range of accommodation options available to suit diverse needs 
• Ideal for group travellers, providing opportunities for team bonding 
• Flexible check-in and check-out times for added convenience 
• Offers a more personal and immersive experience compared to traditional hotels 

The cons of hotels for business travellers: 

• Staying in alternative accommodations like hotels can be less personable compared to serviced apartments, as they may lack the personal touch and direct interaction with a host 
• Having fewer kitchen facilities and living room areas can result in a less comfortable environment for long-term stay business travellers 
• Group travel may be less of a bonding experience due to limited shared spaces or opportunities for collaboration 

After reading the above, it should be clear that serviced apartments are the most beneficial for long-term or extended stay business travellers, and if you would like to find out more about how our team can help you in Africa, then please click on the link: 

https://myresidence.africa/contact-us/ 

The post How to Choose The Right Accommodation for Your Business Travel  appeared first on My Residence Africa.

When Should You Partner with a Serviced Apartment Travel Management Company?

For fast-growing businesses, everyday decisions are often a moving target. Your needs today might be very different from your needs a month from now. 

This begs the question, when is the right time to bring in a partner to manage your accommodation for your business travel? 

Why Partner with a Serviced Apartment Travel Management Company? 

Companies like myresidence gives a business the structure and support that you need to handle a large volume of serviced apartment travel bookings across the African continent. 

They’ll give you access where travellers, travel arrangers and travel managers can book business accommodation. They’ll provide support when your travellers need it on the road if travel plans don’t go as planned.  

A serviced apartment travel management company will transform scattershot bookings into a strategic lever to help you save, build your company culture, gain a competitive advantage and even give you a leg up on attracting and retaining talent. 

When is the Right Time? 

The short answer is NOW!  

If you’d like to streamline business travel spending while enhancing the travel experience for your employees, then it’s time to bring in a serviced apartment travel management company.  

And for fast-growing businesses, it makes even more sense to get systems in place, with details such as a travel policy and approval processes, before an onslaught of new hires makes it exponentially more difficult. 

At myresidence, we often talk to companies that ask…  

“Am I not too small to receive a benefit from partnering with a serviced apartment travel management company?”’ 

Our answer is simple… 

“If you are looking for cost savings, travel management process improvements, or an amenity that creates a hassle-free experience for your business travellers, then YES, you can benefit from our services in Africa. 

What is the Next Step? 

The first step in shifting to a professional company to manage your serviced apartment travel is to take stock of how you view travel and accommodation bookings. The biggest piece of advice I would give fast-growing companies switching from unmanaged long-term stay arrangements to managed long-term stay arrangements is to think of travel not as an unnecessary cost, but as an investment.  

And as an investment, think about the benefits in terms of value when you leave the arrangements to professionals. 

Thinking of outsourcing your accommodation bookings for your business travel as a strategic investment unlocks all sorts of smooth, hassle-free travel arrangements, you can also factor in elements such as traveller well-being, employee safety, culture fit, risk management, volume consolidation for negotiated rates and much more. 

The Bottom Line? 

Do not wait until a problem arises with your business travel. Take a proactive approach by partnering with us at myresidence, so you can start shaping a travel programme that will serve you not just today, but at every stage of your growth. 

To contact our experts, please click on the link below: 

https://myresidence.africa/contact-us/ 

The post When Should You Partner with a Serviced Apartment Travel Management Company appeared first on My Residence Africa.

Business travel is as important to small businesses as it is to larger organisations. The ability to attend events and trade fairs, as well as meet clients, partners, suppliers, investors, and stakeholders face-to-face strengthens relationships and fosters ideas and knowledge-sharing.  

This is vital to SMEs (small-to-medium-sized enterprises), especially after months of lockdowns and economic disruption. 

The pandemic hit small businesses particularly hard, and although video conferencing and collaboration tools were used as successful stand-ins to an extent, the importance of in-person contact time cannot be overstated. Small business travel, therefore, is a crucial part of any SMEs business operation and recovery and growth plan. 

What Exactly do We Mean by ‘Small Business Travel’? 

SMEs might need to travel for a variety of different reasons. Here are a few examples of small business travel: 

• To attend events and conferences 
• To deliver press or interviews
• To attend seminars and meetings 
• To exhibit at trade fairs 
• To give in-person presentations or talks 
• To source products and meet suppliers 
• To attend training and other educational activities 
• To participate in company retreats or away days. 

The Difference Between Small Business Travel and Business Travel for Larger Corporations 

Where global organisations might send several business travellers on a business trip at the same time, SMEs may only send one or two. Big companies tend to have bigger budgets, focus more on risk management and use a dedicated travel manager or corporate travel agency to book their business trips. 

Although SMEs usually have smaller budgets for business travel, they often end up spending more, in relation to profits, than larger companies. It’s therefore imperative that SMEs get on top of their travel planning.   

This is where myresidence can assist small businesses to arrange cost effective accommodation solutions in our large portfolio of serviced apartment stays across the continent of Africa. Due to our long-term relationships with our property partners, we can get you better prices to suit your budget and unique needs over multiple jurisdictions.  These serviced apartments cater well for those traveling together to share serviced apartments which reduced accommodation costs and an option to eat in instead of eating out for the entire stay. 

Another challenge SMEs have with small business travel is keeping an overview of where their business travellers are located, and what the various safety implications and health regulations are for each place. Businesses have a duty of care towards their business travellers’ safety and well-being, whether they are in the office or on the road. Small businesses must abide by this just as much as larger organisations. 

If there is an emergency or travel disruption when business travellers are working away, SMEs need to be able to react quickly and provide support for their business traveller. If they do not know exactly where they are and what their itineraries are at any given moment, this can prove difficult. Without having all the necessary business travel data easily accessible in one place, small businesses can lose track of business travellers’ whereabouts and unwillingly put their safety and well-being at risk. 

This is where myresidence can support small, medium, and large businesses with managing budgets for their business travellers. They cover the entire African continent for serviced apartment long-term stays for your team. 

What Other Risks do SMEs Face by not Using an Accommodation Travel Solution Provider?

Booking a business trip can be an expensive and time-consuming process.  

It can take a person an average 10 to 13 hours to book an entire business trip, going through suitable flight and accommodation options that fall within the budget. 

As well as the potential risk of duty of care towards business travellers while on the road, SMEs might also risk business travellers overspending on accommodation, car rentals, and flights, or getting confused about what constitutes a travel expense and what qualifies for reimbursement.  

Business travellers often book their business trips however they want, and then submit their receipts at the end, sometimes with a higher price tag than expected.  

All this can cost a business, both in terms of time and money, as well as in administration resources. It is for this reason that companies large and small employ a variety of business travel solutions to help organise company trips.  

Myresidence can help both your business traveller and company mitigate these risks before unnecessary expenses take place. 

The Best Way to Save Money on Your Small Business’ Serviced Apartment Travel Arrangements in Africa

Using a trusted serviced apartment travel management company like myresidence is the best way to not only save money but also ensure a smooth and responsible business traveller experience.   

We do all the work, all you must do is check-in. 

If you would like more information on how our team of experts can assist you with your business traveller accommodation needs then please click on the link below: 

https://myresidence.africa/contact-us/ 

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