From Individual Bookings to a Trusted Corporate Accommodation Relationship

The client

Our client is a global investment management firm with an established presence in London.

Over time, different people within the organisation have approached London Serviced Apartments to arrange accommodation for different employees and guests.

The requirements have varied considerably. Some stays have been relatively short, while others have involved extended periods in London. Different apartments have been selected for different travellers, but one requirement has remained particularly important: finding suitable accommodation in and around Marylebone, with convenient access to the company's London office.

This has developed into something more valuable than a series of unrelated reservations.

It has become an ongoing corporate accommodation relationship in which different members of the organisation can approach LSA with a new requirement and benefit from the knowledge built up through previous bookings.

The requirement

Unlike a company that repeatedly books the same apartment for each employee, this client's requirements have called for different solutions.

The traveller changes. The length of stay changes. Availability changes. The preferred apartment may not always be available.

Individual guests can also have particular preferences that need to be incorporated into the search.

What remains consistent is the importance of understanding the company's requirements and, particularly, the value it places on the Marylebone area and convenient access to its London office.

This means that when another requirement arises, LSA is not necessarily starting with a blank sheet of paper.

We already have experience of the organisation, the locations that have worked for previous travellers and the types of accommodation that have been considered before.

How LSA supported the client

Why this relationship is different

There is no single apartment that defines this account.

There is no single traveller.

And there is no single person within the company through whom every reservation has to pass.

Instead, the continuity comes from the corporate relationship itself.

Different colleagues can approach LSA. Different employees can travel. Different apartments can be selected. The duration of the stay can change from one requirement to the next.

But the accumulated understanding of the client's accommodation history does not need to disappear each time.

That becomes increasingly valuable as a corporate relationship develops.

The outcome

Over time, individual accommodation requirements have developed into an established relationship supporting different people across the same organisation.

The client has been able to use different serviced apartments according to each traveller's requirements while retaining a consistent accommodation partner behind the bookings.

LSA's role has included:

• sourcing accommodation around an established location preference;
• considering individual traveller requirements;
• liaising with different serviced apartment operators;
• supporting longer stays and extensions;
• finding alternatives when availability or circumstances changed;
• facilitating property viewings where appropriate; and
• remaining available when an issue arose during a stay.

The result is not a fixed accommodation programme.

It is something more flexible:

an ongoing corporate accommodation resource that can adapt as the people, dates, apartments and circumstances change.