Hands-on or left alone? Picking your level of service

Some guests want breakfast laid out and the bed turned down. Others want a kitchen, a key and a fortnight of being left alone. Serviced apartments do both, but each building leans one way, and choosing the wrong one is the commonest reason a long stay ends up feeling either smothering or neglected, so work out what you want before you choose where.

Hotel-style or apartment-style

At one end are residences run like a hotel with kitchens: staffed lobby, concierge desk, daily housekeeping, sometimes room service. At the other are apartment buildings with reception in office hours, weekly cleaning and not much else. Most sit somewhere in between, and the listings give a rough steer. About half the residences we list have a reception and only a minority offer maid service, so a building with both will probably feel closer to a hotel, while one with neither gives you more privacy and less help.

Housekeeping is the part that matters most day to day. Daily cleaning sounds like the premium option, and on a short stay it is, but over two weeks or more a lot of guests find it intrusive, with someone in the flat every day and a fixed window when you either go out or put up with the hoover. Weekly service with a mid-week towel change is where long-stay guests most often land. Ask whether you can change the frequency during your stay, since the good residences will step it up for a week when family visit and drop it back afterwards.

Using the concierge (without being managed by it)

A concierge earns its keep on the things that are hard to do yourself, such as a table that isn't bookable online, a car at an odd hour or a doctor on a Sunday. It's less useful for itineraries. If you like finding places on your own, use the desk for the tricky bookings and ignore it for the rest. If you'd rather hand everything over, say so on day one, because a concierge who knows you want the full plan will do a lot more than one waiting to be asked.

On a first visit there's a middle route: ask for three restaurants within walking distance on the first day and take it from there.

Kitchen, living room and settling in

A full kitchen is what makes a long stay feel normal, with breakfast at your own table, a simple supper on nights you can't face a menu and a fridge for things no minibar stocks. Given what central London restaurants charge, it saves a fair bit over two weeks too. Check what 'kitchen' means before you book. Some studios have two rings and a microwave, whereas a one-bedroom or bigger usually has a proper oven and a dishwasher, and one-bedroom flats are the most common size in central London residences anyway.

The real difference from a hotel suite is a separate living room. One person can work while the other watches television, and friends can come over without perching on the bed. On longer stays a second bedroom is worth more than a bigger first one, and since two-bedroom flats are easy to find, the spare room can double as an office. Outdoor space is much rarer, so if a terrace or balcony matters to you, ask for it by name.

A month or more changes things again. A few residences won't take anything under four weeks, and they tend to be run for people living in London rather than visiting, with calmer buildings, weekly cleaning and staff who learn your name. For that sort of stay, ask about a long-stay rate.

Either way, the first few days set the pattern. Unpack properly instead of living out of the suitcase, find the nearest supermarket and a café for the mornings you can't be bothered to cook, and tell the front desk your routine so deliveries and cleaning fit round it. By week two the building should feel like an address rather than a stopover.