Marketing Serviced Apartments and Short-Lets in London

Serviced apartments and short-lets sit in an awkward marketing position. They compete with hotels on the upper end and with Airbnb and traditional lettings on the lower end. The audience is fragmented: corporate relocations, business travellers, leisure visitors, families on extended stays, and locals between homes. Each segment has different decision criteria and different marketing channels. The operators that get this right run profitable, well-occupied portfolios. The operators that get it wrong burn marketing budget on the wrong channels and never quite figure out who their customer actually is.

This post covers the practical playbook for marketing serviced apartments and short-lets in London.

Defining the audience first

The single biggest decision in serviced apartment marketing is who you are marketing to. The categories:

Corporate relocations and assignments. Employees moving to London for 1 to 12 months for a specific assignment. Booked by the relocation manager or HR department, not the individual. Decision criteria are around proximity to office, budget compliance, and ease of booking through corporate accounts.

Business travellers on extended stays. Visiting executives, consultants on long projects, project teams from out of town. Booked typically 2 to 6 weeks in advance. Decision criteria are around location, amenity, and price competitiveness with hotels.

Leisure travellers on extended stays. Families visiting London for 2+ weeks, retirees on longer trips, people between renovations. Booked through travel platforms or directly. Decision criteria are around space, location, and value relative to hotels.

Locals in transition. People between homes (renovations, moves, divorce, family changes). Booked direct or through letting agents. Decision criteria are around availability, length flexibility, and cost.

The marketing channels for these audiences are dramatically different. A serviced apartment operator that markets generically captures none of them well. The operators that segment and market specifically to one or two priority audiences capture significant share.

Distribution channel strategy

Serviced apartments have an unusually complex distribution landscape. The major channels:

Direct. Your own website, taking bookings without intermediary. Highest margin per booking. Lowest volume unless the brand is well-established.

OTAs (online travel agents). Booking.com, Expedia, Vrbo, Airbnb, Plum Guide. Higher volume, lower margin (commissions of 12 to 25 percent). Most operators rely on OTAs for 40 to 70 percent of volume.

Corporate aggregators. TheSqua.re, SilverDoor, Synergy Global Housing, BridgeStreet. The B2B channels that connect operators with corporate relocation teams. Lower volume per booking but typically longer stays and higher predictability.

Specialist platforms. Sonder (operator), Cheval Collection (own brand), Native Places, Beaufort. Each has its own audience and inventory standards.

Long-let marketplace. Spotahome, HousingAnywhere for medium-term stays bridging into traditional rentals.

The right channel mix depends on inventory location, price point, and target audience. A premium serviced apartment in Mayfair leans on direct, corporate aggregators, and specialist platforms. A mid-market apartment in Stratford leans on OTAs and Airbnb. The mistake is using the wrong channels for your inventory.

Direct channel marketing

Direct bookings are the most profitable. Building direct demand is the long-term strategic priority for any serious operator.

The direct channel mechanics that work:

Strong website with clear inventory, transparent pricing, and a frictionless booking flow. Most operators have weak websites that send users to third-party platforms by default. Fix this first.

Local SEO and Google Business Profile for each property or grouping of properties. Same fundamentals as for any local business: complete profile, regular posts, photo updates, review collection.

Google Ads campaigns targeted at brand searches and high-intent local searches. "Serviced apartment Mayfair" or "long stay London hotel alternative". Not generic "London accommodation" which is dominated by OTAs and Booking.com.

Email marketing to past guests. Stays of 1+ months produce strong relationships with guests. Post-stay communications, anniversary check-ins, and direct booking incentives drive repeat business and referrals.

Direct booking incentives. A 10 to 20 percent discount on direct versus OTA, free amenities included on direct bookings, longer cancellation windows on direct. The incentives have to be meaningful enough to overcome the ease of OTA booking.

OTA channel optimisation

For most operators, OTAs are essential for filling inventory. The optimisation matters because the commission structure punishes poor performance.

The OTA mechanics:

Photography that performs in the OTA format. Booking.com and Airbnb thumbnails are tiny on mobile. The first photo has to communicate the apartment in a 200x200 pixel image. Wide-angle, well-lit, with the standout feature visible.

Listing copy optimised for the platform's search. Both algorithms reward listings with detailed descriptions, complete amenity lists, accurate categorisation, and recent activity.

Pricing strategy that matches the platform's dynamics. Static pricing across all platforms produces poor returns. Dynamic pricing that responds to demand, day of week, and lead time produces 15 to 30 percent revenue uplift.

Review velocity. Same principles as for any review platform. Aim for high response rate and active management of reviews on the platform.

Channel parity. Inventory and pricing should be consistent across platforms. Discounts on direct should not be visible on OTAs (which violates most OTAs' terms).

Corporate channel marketing

The corporate channel is where many London serviced apartment operators find their most profitable bookings: longer stays, higher predictability, lower acquisition cost over time.

The mechanics:

Get on the right corporate aggregator platforms. SilverDoor, TheSqua.re, and Synergy Global Housing have specific application and approval processes. The setup work pays back over years.

Build relationships with relocation companies. Cartus, SIRVA, Crown World Mobility, and similar handle major employer relocations into London. Direct relationships with their property teams produce ongoing referrals.

Sign up to corporate negotiated rates. Major employers negotiate annual rates with multiple operators. Being on the approved list at HSBC, Goldman Sachs, KPMG, and similar drives volume.

Attend the corporate housing trade shows. CHPA Annual Conference, RES Forum, Worldwide ERC events. These are where the relationships are built.

Specialist sales effort. The corporate channel typically requires a dedicated salesperson focused on relationship-building rather than reactive enquiries.

Photography and content

Serviced apartment photography has specific requirements:

Wide-angle living spaces that show the full layout. Tight cropped shots fail because guests cannot tell whether the space will work for them.

Bedrooms photographed cleanly with professional staging. Beds made, towels arranged, lighting on, blinds open.

Kitchen and bathroom detail shots. Both spaces matter for extended stays and deserve their own clear photography.

Building exterior and entrance. Shows the building and the arrival experience.

Neighbourhood context. Photos of the immediate area, the closest amenities, the nearest Tube station.

Minimum 12 to 20 photos per apartment, with all key categories covered. OTAs and aggregators typically reward listings with comprehensive photo sets.

Pricing and yield management

Serviced apartments lend themselves to dynamic pricing. The variables that matter:

Day of week. Weekday and weekend stays have different demand patterns. Most apartments price weekdays higher for business travel-driven inventory and weekends higher for leisure-driven inventory.

Lead time. Last-minute bookings often command premium prices because the booker has fewer alternatives. Far-ahead bookings often discount because the operator wants to lock in revenue.

Length of stay. Longer stays should be priced lower per night because the cleaning and changeover costs are amortised across more revenue.

Seasonality. London has clear seasonal patterns for both business and leisure stays. Pricing should reflect them.

Manual pricing management for a small portfolio is feasible. Yield management software (PriceLabs, Beyond Pricing, Wheelhouse) becomes essential past 10 to 15 units.

What to avoid

Common serviced apartment marketing failures:

Generic positioning. Trying to be everything to everyone produces marketing that resonates with no specific audience.

Weak photography. The category lives or dies on visual quality. Invest properly.

Ignoring the corporate channel. Most London operators leave significant profitable bookings on the table by not investing in the corporate aggregator and relocation channels.

Over-reliance on OTAs. Operators with 90 percent OTA-driven bookings have weak unit economics and no defence if an OTA changes commission structure or removes the listing.

Under-investing in direct. The direct channel is the one that compounds. Operators who do not build direct presence over years are stuck in the OTA cycle indefinitely.

If you would like help marketing your serviced apartments or short-let portfolio, Byter's property and real estate marketing service supports London serviced apartment operators on integrated marketing across direct, OTA, and corporate channels.

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