I think that this a lucrative section of the market and if you have the ability to invest and manage it effectively then it will work really really well for you.

We travel a lot and even though we don’t live in Australia per se’ we regularly transit either via Sydney or Brisbane and usually take the time to follow up business or take time for a bit of R&R. Being veteran suitcase people, we prefer the home comforts of a self contained apartment any day compared to a hotel room and as our stay usually lasts anywhere from overnight to a week or more, my booking preference is always for convenience and preferably self contained. Hotel rates in the CBD of Sydney and Brisbane have sky rocketed in the last six months and even the short term bargain places like Rates to go and Lastminute.com do not offer much of a discount for a weary traveller who just wants basic amenties for reasonable charge.

My first stop for booking short term in Sydney or Brisbane is now stayz.com and in there, are hundreds of accommodation offered for this very demanding and lucrative market. Three weeks ago, we had to come to Sydney for business for six days and as I like to keep costs down, my budget is usually 100 – 120 per night if at all possible and self contained. Travelling so much we like to be able to eat food of our choice at our jet lagged hours, which can mean a steak at 3.00am in the morning. Unfortunately, Dick Cheney was in town and there was hardly anything reasonable to stay in and all my normal apartments were booked out. Needless to say, we were so unhappy with our accommodation after moving twice we wrapped in three days and left for Noosa to recover.

Anyway, I suppose after losing myself throughout the above post, as a frequent traveller I recommend that if you have the facility or ability to offer a short term one bedroom rental within a couple of klms of the CBD for say 100 per night then I am sure that you will have no problem with too many vacancy periods. The stayz calendars are also wonderful as you can offer customers an online/live calendar that shows them your free days and they can book direct which will help you and cut your costs.

If you like to see proof of the above you can have a look at stayz and look up one bedroom apartments near the darling harbour precinct that advertise for average 100 per night. Their calendars are almost always booked out way in advance.

Onoiki