Finding affordable short-term housing can sometimes feel like a big project.
Sometimes, it even feels like there really aren’t that many short-term housing options available these days.
But the truth is that there are actually quite a few options—if you know where to look.
It’s true. Obvious affordable short-term housing options sometimes tend to be elusive at best—nonexistent at worst.
And yet, if you dig just a little bit deeper, you’ll find quite a few unique and useful options hidden right below the surface.
In this blog post, you’ll learn about 5 different affordable short-term housing options for crews that can actually work.
Let’s dive into it.
1. Corporate Housing
Corporate housing is a type of housing (usually apartments or condos) that can be rented out in blocks of time ranging from 30 days up to a year in length.
They’re commonly called ‘corporate housing’ because they’re so popular with corporations looking to house employees for short-term work stays.
With this type of housing, you get a fully furnished apartment with all utilities included. It’s a super easy method for renting out space without needing to use a hotel or jump through all the hoops associated with getting your own apartment furnished.
2. Blocks Of Hotel Rooms
Some companies tend to rent blocks of hotel rooms for their work crews on location.
In fact, if you rent rooms by block (in other words, many at a time), then you can usually get better deals on them.
In fact, companies will often reach out to several area hotels in an effort to get a ‘bid’ for how much it would cost to house a larger number of people on-site.
This is a super convenient option for traveling crews. Hotels, however, can become an expensive option for longer stays.
3. Extended Stay Hotels
Extended-stay hotels are sometimes difficult to find in some locations—but they tend to offer some of the most convenient housing options at the most affordable prices.
One of the best things about extended-stay hotels is that they come with maid service already built-in. And you generally get the option to rent rooms by the week instead of by the day—which just makes it that much more affordable.
4. Short-Term Housing
Short-term housing is a term that generally refers to any type of housing option (it could legitimately be a house, or it may be a room in a house, or it may be an apartment or condo) that you can rent on a short-term rental basis.
These types of rentals usually have 1-month minimum stays, but they don’t require you to sign a six-month or year-long lease—making them a lot more flexible and better suited to work crews than regular apartments or rental houses.
Finding these can be tricky. You can use the internet and do some in-depth local searching to find the best hidden gems.
5. Man Camps
If you’re wondering exactly what a ‘man camp’ is, Hotel Engine does a great job of describing it:
“A man camp is workforce housing that provides temporary shelter for oil field workers and work crews tasked with working on large projects, such as the building, repairing or maintaining of pipelines, powerlines and railroads.”
These types of housing options are only available if the company makes them available—and generally speaking, this is usually only the best option if the work crew needs to remain out in the middle of a very rural area for an extended period of time.
In areas where there are already housing options available, man camps are usually a bit on the ‘expensive’ side.
But in areas where there just isn’t any other option—they can be a genuinely viable alternative. And in such cases, they can offer a comfortable place for crews to live while working abroad.
Conclusion
Now you know about all of the best, most affordable short-term housing options for work crews.
Regardless of whether you’re a business owner, a worker, or even a travel manager—knowing these options may be crucial if you want to house your crew on-site and get more work done faster.
So give some of these options a try. Good luck!
