7 reasons why you should stay in a serviced apartment when you have kids

Serviced Apartments have been the hospitality industry’s smart choice for both business and leisure guests for some years, but their appeal to the mass market has been slower in coming. This may be set to change as more people are waking up to the benefits of space and privacy that a fully self-contained apartment offers. But, for the as yet unconverted, here are 7 reasons why you should stay in a serviced apartment for your holiday break:

1. Serviced Apartments have more space

Serviced Apartments have much more space than equivalent hotel rooms; moreover, they're generally much more pleasant to be in. Apartments are much more like our own homes, you can usually open the windows properly, adjust the temperature more easily, and you have more space to put away your things.

2. A serviced apartment offers more privacy

If you don’t want strangers in your space on a daily basis, you can wash your own clothes, linen and towels whenever you like, or arrange weekly or fortnightly servicing at your convenience. You don’t need to send your clothes out to be washed or ironed, you can even clean the apartment yourself.

3. Eat what you want, when you want

All of our serviced apartments offer either a full kitchen, which usually means a hob, microwave and fridge. Whether you’re planning to feed a huge group, or cooking Christmas Dinner, this will allow you to prepare a wide range of meals in your apartment and will be more than enough for a break of even a couple of weeks.

You can buy the right quantities of your own food, order takeaways or groceries to be delivered, wash fruit and vegetables and ensure that all your food is prepared the way you want it, this is especially handy if you, or your companions have any dietary restrictions, or just if your kids are fussy eaters.  Also, if you just want to grab a quick breakfast and go, and not have to interact with anyone in the morning then this is perfect for you.

4. Reliable Wi-Fi

You get the WiFi code when you check in, and off you go. You can browse, stream or download to your heart’s content with no interruptions.  The importance of this cannot be overstated if you are travelling with children or, indeed, lucky enough to be holidaying with teenagers.

5. A separate area to relax or work

Being stuck in a hotel room is going to have limited appeal after a pretty short time. An apartment offers a much more home-like atmosphere to be able to sit on a sofa and eat, watch TV or just hang out in a separate area to where you’re sleeping.  Similarly, sitting cross legged on your bed with a laptop on your knee is not going to be the most productive or healthy environment for anyone. Many more of us are working from home more frequently, or just generally running our lives from our laptops, and it’s much better to have a proper space at which to sit and focus.  

6. Perfect for families with kids

Hotels with children can be overwhelming, especially if they’re young. Adjoining or adjacent rooms are often hard to come by and even if you can get a family room, you’re piled on top of each other. When the kids finally go to sleep, you’re tiptoeing between beds trying not to wake everyone up.

Even if everyone sleeps through, they invariably wake up at 5am expecting breakfast or milk. But, there’s no fridge and so your family is banging at door at 6:59am looking like the walking dead. Not, by anyone’s standards, the most relaxing way to holiday. The family who booked an apartment have a separate room for the kids; they can go to bed in their own space, allowing you to enjoy an evening to yourself. In the morning they can grab something from the fridge to whip up for breakfast at a civilized hour. 

7. You get more, (usually) for less in an apartment Given all the benefits that serviced apartments offer, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you might pay more. Well actually it doesn’t always work out like that. There are a huge amount of hidden costs in your average hotel: bar, restaurant, reception, concierge, laundry, daily housekeeping, room service, breakfast and you tend to pay for these services whether you actually need or use them. In a serviced apartment, many of these hidden, wasted costs are not there and the savings are passed onto you, this means that you can usually get a really nice holiday apartment, in a major city, for equivalent or cheaper than a hotel of a similar standard.