Two nights in town, four fewer train rides

A lot of hybrid workers now spend Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the office with a long train ride at each end of each day. Two nights in town can replace four of those journeys and turn the middle of the week into proper working days, provided you pick the right nights, the right rail ticket and somewhere sensible relative to your terminus.

Nights, tickets and where to stay

Tuesday to Thursday are the busiest days on the Tube, because that's when most hybrid offices fill up. The usual pattern is to travel in on Tuesday morning, stay Tuesday and Wednesday nights and go home after work on Thursday, which gives you three office days for one return train journey. The catch is that Tuesday and Wednesday are also the nights business travellers compete for, so central residences tend to be fullest midweek. If you know your office days a month or more ahead, send all of them in one request instead of booking week by week; the residence can see the whole run of nights and is more likely to offer a better rate or keep the same apartment for you each week. Ask about early check-in on your Tuesday arrivals too, since on this pattern you'll want to drop your bag before the working day starts.

National Rail's Flexi Season gives you any 8 days of travel in 28, at any time, without picking the days in advance. Travelling in on Tuesday and home on Thursday uses two travel days a week, or exactly eight in four weeks. Whether it beats Anytime returns depends on your route, so run your station pair through the season ticket calculator on the National Rail website before you commit, and keep receipts for the rail ticket and the apartment if your employer pays back either.

Pick one end of the journey and stay close to it. If you come into Paddington, Bayswater and Marylebone put you a short walk or taxi from the platform, and the Elizabeth line runs straight on to Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon and Liverpool Street. If you come into Liverpool Street or Waterloo, it usually makes more sense to stay near the office and walk in. Nearly every residence we list is within about ten minutes' walk of a station, but the station that matters is the one on your line, so check that rather than the nearest roundel on the map.

What it costs, and when a monthly booking works

The typical starting price is around £270 a night, so two nights a week comes to a bit over two thousand pounds over four weeks before extras. That makes this something employers fund for senior staff or a busy quarter rather than for everyone all year.

A monthly booking only adds up if the apartment is used most nights. It works for a team, say two colleagues on different office days sharing a two-bedroom on rotation, or a manager who alternates weeks with a deputy, and it also ends the one real irritation of short midweek stays, which is carrying the same laptop bag, gym kit and shirts in and out every Tuesday. On short stays, ask whether the residence will hold a suitcase between visits before you plan your packing around it, as policies differ.

The best argument for staying over is the evening. A client dinner, a team drink or an 8am breakfast meeting are easy when home is ten minutes away and impossible when your last train goes at 9.40pm, so put them on Tuesday and Wednesday and keep Thursday evening for the trip home.