As hotel RFP season ramps up this Autumn, many travel and procurement teams are busy negotiating rates, confirming contracted rates, and finalising preferred hotel partners for the year ahead. But while hotels remain an essential part of any accommodation strategy, a growing number of companies are realising they need more diverse offerings, especially when it comes to extended stays, relocations, and project-based assignments.
That’s why now is the perfect time to add a temporary housing provider (also known as a corporate housing partner), like SilverDoor and Synergy, to your hotel RFP. Doing so can strengthen your travel programme, reduce costs, and improve traveller satisfaction across the board.
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Rethinking the Traditional Hotel RFP
The traditional hotel RFP process was designed for transient business travellers: short stays, quick trips, and predictable booking patterns. But the modern workforce looks very different. Today’s employees are travelling for multi-week projects, long-term relocations, temporary assignments, and hybrid roles that blend work and personal life. These travellers have different needs — and hotels aren’t always the best fit.
Corporate housing, or serviced apartments, fill that gap. They provide the space, comfort, and cost predictability (and often savings) that hotels can’t always deliver for stays of a month or longer. By including a temporary housing provider in your RFP, you can secure both variety and consistency across your accommodation strategy.
Serviced Apartments vs. Hotels: Understanding the Difference
Hotels are well-suited for short business trips or transient travel, offering conveniences like daily housekeeping, on-site dining, and widespread brand familiarity. For brief stays, they remain a practical and convenient option within most corporate travel programmes.
But when stays extend for more than a few days, potential challenges emerge. Incidental costs like parking fees, resort or facility charges, laundry, premium Wi-Fi, or room service quickly add up. Smaller rooms can also impact comfort and productivity over time. As a result, travellers often struggle to maintain routines or feel truly settled in a traditional hotel environment.
Temporary housing providers, on the other hand, specialise in extended-stay comfort and practicality. Corporate housing delivers furnished accommodations with separate living and work areas, full kitchens for meal preparation, and laundry facilities — allowing travellers to live more normally while on assignment.
They also deliver significant cost savings on stays of 7+ nights, with predictable pricing structures and transparent pricing. For assignments of 30 days or more, companies may also benefit from tax advantages depending on the market. And because corporate housing is managed by vetted providers like Synergy and SilverDoor, companies gain stronger duty of care, compliance, and reporting — all while improving the traveller experience.
Why Adding a Temp Housing Provider Strengthens Your RFP
- Optimised Spend Hotels often appear cost-effective on paper but become expensive when extended beyond short-term use. By integrating temporary housing into your RFP, you can benchmark and negotiate long-stay rates, leading to lower average nightly costs and fewer unexpected charges.
- Better Fit for Longer Assignments Not every business trip is the same. Short-term meetings and conferences fit the hotel model; multi-week projects and relocations do not. Including a temporary housing provider ensures your accommodation programme aligns with each traveller’s needs, offering the right type of stay for the right scenario.
- Improved Traveller Experience Extended stays in hotels can take a toll on productivity and morale. Temporary housing offers more space, privacy, and independence — all factors that improve well-being and help employees perform at their best. When travellers feel comfortable and cared for, it reflects positively on your organisation and helps strengthen retention and satisfaction.
- Duty of Care and Compliance Although both types of accommodations focus on hospitality, temporary housing providers will ensure compliance with corporate travel policies and regional regulations. That means peace of mind for your travellers and accountability for your programme.
- Greater Flexibility Across Markets Including a temporary housing provider adds agility to your travel programme. Whether it’s a project in a secondary U.S. city, a long-term client engagement in a regional hub, or a group assignment requiring multi-bedroom apartments, a corporate housing partner can fill coverage gaps where hotels may be limited or cost-prohibitive.
Integrating Temporary Housing into Your RFP
Adding a temporary housing provider doesn’t mean overhauling your RFP process — it simply means expanding your scope. Consider these practical steps:
- Define your stay thresholds. Identify when hotel stays should shift to temporary housing (e.g., any stay longer than 14 nights).
- Include temporary housing as a separate line item. Invite bids from a corporate housing provider alongside your hotels.
- Evaluate total cost, not just rate. Factor in taxes, laundry, internet, meals, and productivity impacts when comparing hotels and serviced apartments.
- Ensure duty of care and reporting standards. Require the same level of compliance and data transparency from all accommodation partners.
- Pilot in key markets. Test the model in one or two priority regions — particularly where extended stays or team assignments are common — and measure the impact.
Addressing Common Concerns About Adding a Temporary Housing Provider
When reviewing your accommodation strategy, it’s natural to have questions about incorporating a temporary housing or serviced apartment provider into your hotel RFP. Below are some of the most common concerns — and why forward-thinking travel programmes are choosing to take this step.
- “Our existing hotel programme already works well.” Your hotel programme remains a vital part of your travel ecosystem. However, it may not fully address longer-term or project-based stays where travellers require more space, privacy, and cost efficiency. Adding a corporate housing provider does not replace your hotels — it complements them by filling the extended-stay gap and providing a more tailored accommodation option for specific traveller segments.
- “Serviced apartments and corporate housing seem more expensive than hotels.” While nightly rates at hotels may appear lower, total spend often tells a different story. For stays of 30 nights or more, serviced apartments typically deliver better overall value by minimising ancillary costs such as dining, laundry, and parking. The ability to cook meals, do laundry, and live more independently can significantly reduce total expenses and enhance traveller satisfaction — a win for both finance and HR teams.
- “We don’t have a high volume of long-term assignments.” Even a small number of extended stays can create outsized costs and operational challenges when using hotels. By including a temporary housing provider in your RFP, you ensure readiness and flexibility when those needs arise. You also demonstrate a proactive, traveller-centric approach that aligns with modern mobility, relocation, and project travel demands.
- “We’re concerned about complexity and compliance.” Partnering with an established provider simplifies this process. Our dedicated account teams integrate seamlessly with your travel programme, ensuring compliance with duty-of-care requirements, data reporting standards, and local regulations. With vetted apartments, transparent pricing, and consolidated billing, SilverDoor and Synergy make it easy to manage both short- and long-term stays under one unified framework.
Why SilverDoor and Synergy
With more than 25 years of global experience, SilverDoor and Synergy both deliver flexible, fully furnished housing solutions designed for business travellers. From major U.S. cities to key RTB markets, we provide end-to-end service — from reservation to guest care — backed by local expertise and compliance standards trusted by leading Fortune 500 companies.
By partnering with us, you’ll have access to:
- A global portfolio of serviced apartments and corporate housing options
- Cost-efficient long-stay solutions optimised for project teams, relocations, and hybrid assignments
- Local guest support and 24/7 service
- Reporting and analytics to demonstrate ROI and traveller satisfaction
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Make This RFP Season Work for You
This RFP season, expand your options beyond hotels. By adding a temporary housing provider like SilverDoor and Synergy, you gain a strategic partner who can fill coverage gaps, improve traveller comfort, and deliver measurable savings for longer-term stays.
Don’t wait until your next project team or relocation request reveals a gap in your programme. Future-proof your travel strategy — and your travellers’ experience — by including SilverDoor and Synergy in your RFP this year.
Contact us today and find out how we can help.
