If you book accommodation for several weeks or months, one question should not be missed: is there a discount for a longer rental period? The answer is yes for most providers of fitter apartments – but how high this discount is and from what period of time it differs from landlord to landlord. Anyone who knows and actively asks for this can save a noticeable sum during longer stays.
Why landlords give discounts at all for long-term rental
From the landlord’s point of view, a long booking is economically more attractive than several short ones. An apartment that is rented for three months in one piece causes less administrative effort than twelve individual weekly bookings – no repeated cleaning between occupancy, no constant re-marketing of the unit, no vacancy risks between two bookings.
This advantage is usually passed on to the tenant, usually in the form of a reduced price per night. Are there discounts for longer stays? In practice, the answer is yes from most specialized providers of fitter accommodation – if you don’t ask for it, you may still pay the full price.
When is a stay as a long-term rent?
There is no uniform definition. Some landlords speak of long-term booking from two weeks onwards and offer correspondingly reduced prices. Others only set the limit for one month or longer. If you are unsure about the duration of the question, you should simply ask directly – the answer costs nothing, while not asking, in the worst case, costs money.
how big the price difference can be
The actual discount varies depending on the provider and region, but is in the order of ten to twenty percent of the weekly price for many fitter apartments. With a stay of several months, this quickly adds up to a noticeable savings.
An example makes this clear: If you book accommodation for three months at a full weekly price, you pay significantly more at the end than with a monthly rent with a reduced rate. Depending on the location and equipment, the difference can make up several hundred euros over the entire period – money that can be saved with a simple demand when booking.
What affects the discount
In addition to the pure length of stay, other factors play a role as to whether and to what extent a landlord offers a discount:
- What is the capacity of the accommodation for the desired period?
- Is it a single booking or a booking for an entire team?
- Is the period flexible or fixed?
- Is booked directly with the landlord or via a portal?
If you ask directly and signal that you book over a longer period of time or come back regularly, you usually have the best chance of a good price.
Long-term rent for teams – double savings effect
For companies that accommodate a team over several months, the savings effects of a long-term rent are also increasing. Not only the price per night decreases with longer rental periods, the costs per person are also reduced if several employees use a shared apartment instead of individual rooms.
In the end, a multi-bedroom fitter apartment booked for a team over three or four months can be significantly cheaper than the same number of individual bookings over a shorter period of time. Whoever uses this combination of long-term discount and group price saves on both levels.
What is important for teams when requesting
In order for a landlord to make a realistic offer for a long-term team booking, the following information will help:
- How many people should be accommodated over the entire period?
- Does the team size remain constant, or will it change over the course of the project?
- Is the entire period already known, or will it only be cleared up in the course?
The more precise this information is, the more precisely the landlord can calculate a price offer with a long-term discount.
Flexibility despite discount
A legitimate concern of many fitters and companies is the concern that long-term booking with a discount offers too little flexibility. What happens if the project ends earlier than planned? Good landlords have clear regulations that should be discussed before the booking is made – such as a pro rata billing for early departures or a flexible extension option if the stay is extended.
Those who clarify these points in advance benefit from the discount on long-term rent without being financially disadvantaged in the event of unexpected changes to the plan.
The difference between discount and flat rate
Some providers do not communicate an explicit discount, but offer a flat rate for longer stays from the outset, which is already calculated at a reduced rate. The result is similar, but the communication is different. If you want to get the fairest price, you should always ask specifically how the price changes with different lengths of stay – instead of relying on the first price mentioned.
Worth asking
Whether explicitly shown as a discount or in the form of a reduced flat-rate price – with a long-term renter apartment, it is worthwhile in almost all cases to actively ask about better conditions. Raumschmide Apartments offers fair prices for longer stays at all locations, which are based on the actual rental period. If you plan to stay longer than a few weeks, you should mention this directly when you ask – the savings are not automatic, but usually uncomplicated when asked.