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Tips to Staying in a Clean Serviced Apartment

It is an unfortunate reality that some business travelers encounter unclean accommodation. While the brochures and online advertisements might make apartments look pristine, they can often be disguising the fact that their accommodation suffers from unclean bedding, germs, stains and unidentified odors. If you have experienced this before, you will know just how unsettling it can be to encounter this after a long day’s work or travelling.

A large part of the accommodation market is now catered to with serviced apartments, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend your stay fending off germs and potential bed bugs. Below are a few tips you can use to ensure you find a clean serviced apartment that is everything its brochure and online advertising claims it to be:

Research the venue – make sure you read a variety of reviews on sites, such as Trip Advisor, both positive and reviews offering constructive criticism so you can see what has been written about them. Give the serviced apartments a call to ask them questions regarding their sanitizing practices. If they are happy to answer your questions and readily have answers, they are probably more true to their word than those who skirt around the issue.

Make an assessment on arrival – if the entrance of the building is unclean and messy, chances are your room will be too. When you enter your room, quickly scan for cleanliness. You can also pull back the sheets and check for red and black spots on the linen which can be indicative of bed bugs.

Be vocal about your unhappiness – if your room is not up to the cleanliness standards you had in mind, speak to management about it and ensure they send a cleaner to rectify the issue. It is more productive to make your complaints known to the serviced apartments on arrival than to just write poor reviews about it once you have left. This will help them to make the necessary improvements.

Be proactive about cleanliness – there will always be areas where dirt can collect or be missed during regular cleaning routines of the cleaners. Pack some disinfectant wipes or sprays and simply give your room a spray to stop the spread of potential germs.

What is a serviced apartment and how are they rated?

A serviced apartment, as termed by the ASAP (Association of Serviced Apartment Providers), is a term used to describe a type of furnished accommodation available for short to long-term bookings, which provides amenities, housekeeping and a range of services for guests. A type of accommodation where most taxes and utilities are included within the booking fees.

Hotel bookings are frequently made based on star ratings of quality standards, but serviced apartments aren’t graded in the same way. So how do you decide whether to make a booking with a certain serviced apartment provider? One option is to search customer or guest reviews on sites such as Tripadvisor, Booking.com, eBookers.com or a serviced apartment provider’s reviews on their own website. Based on feedback you can make an informed choice.