Sending a team to London? Book the flat, not the rooms

Three consultants in London for a month don't need three hotel rooms. One three-bedroom serviced apartment usually does the job better, with one front door, one kitchen, one invoice and a table big enough to spread a deck across the night before the client meeting. This guide is for whoever's organising that sort of trip, whether it's the onboarding fortnight, the six-week project or the fourth visit this year.

Bedrooms first, then bathrooms

Start with head count, then work out who can share. Two- and three-bedroom flats are easy to come by across the residences we list, and a decent number go to four or more, which is exactly the size where hotels struggle, because a suite with a real second bedroom is rare and priced to match. Sharing only works if everyone gets their own bathroom, so ask how many bathrooms that particular apartment has, not just how many bedrooms. Plenty of two-bed layouts have one en suite and one shared.

For senior staff, a one-bed each in the same building is often the better call, since they keep their own front door and you still deal with one reservations team. On cost, the typical starting rate here is around £270 a night, so divide a three-bed rate by three before you compare it with a hotel room.

Longer stays, the right line and repeat visits

Stays of two to six weeks are where an apartment pays its way. With a kitchen, breakfast and the odd weeknight dinner happen at home instead of on the expense report, and a sitting room gives the team somewhere to talk through the day that isn't a hotel bar. Laundry matters more than people think, and not many residences have it on site, so for anything over a week check whether each flat has its own washer-dryer or the building runs a laundry service. Ask about housekeeping too. Daily is standard in hotels, while serviced apartments often clean weekly on longer stays and charge for extra cleans, and the team ought to know which before they unpack.

Put the flat on the same line as the office rather than in whichever postcode sounds smartest. Mayfair to Canary Wharf is an awkward commute, whereas Paddington is under 20 minutes from Canary Wharf on the Elizabeth line, and for a City client it makes sense to look around Bank, Farringdon or Liverpool Street. Almost every residence is a short walk from a station anyway, so the useful question is which station, and which line.

If someone's in London every month, booking the same building each time saves more hassle than any amenity. They know the key system, the nearest chemist and the quirks of the shower, and they arrive already settled. Enquiries through London Residency go straight to the residence's own reservations team, so the same people see every booking and its history, and direct guests are sometimes offered repeat or long-stay rates if they ask. Make a note of the apartment number they liked, too; a residence can usually honour the request, though it can't always promise.

Agree this before anyone flies

Settle these by email with the residence before the first person travels, then forward the answers to the team.

• Whose name goes on each booking, and whether the company settles the bill directly with the residence
• Check-in and check-out times, and whether early access after an overnight flight can be requested
• Bathrooms per apartment, not just bedrooms
• How often housekeeping comes, and what an extra clean costs
• Wi-Fi speed, and whether each bedroom has a proper desk or it's the dining table
• Who answers out of hours: some residences have a reception, others use a phone line or an on-call manager