Aparthotels in Britain ★★☆
Serviced flats, residence hotels, Aparthotels, and other townhouse suite lodging in the U.K.
A "residence hotel"—sometimes called an ApartHotel, serviced flats, condo hotel, or an all-suite hotel—is a cross between an apartment building and a hotel.
An aparthotel a serviced apartment available for short-term rentals, usually with a hotel-like front desk and some level of maid service—kind of like the all-suites hotels in America beloved by business travelers (and savvy traveling families).
Accommodations are at least studios with kitchenette, if not full-blown mini-apartments, and might sleep anywhere for one to six people.
Guest quarters tend to be a bit functional and bland, with a focus more on basic comfort and amenities rather than style. I've noticed that many residence hotel properties do not seem to refresh things as frequently as hotels, so they tend show their age more—this is far down on my list of what I care about in my accommodations, but I thought you should know.
Residence hotels are usually used mainly for longish stays. A few have three-night or one-week minimums, though most allow you to stay for as few as 3, 2, or even 1 night.
Maid service is rarely daily. They are usually cleaned weekly, though sometimes more frequently.
Essentially, it's a bit like getting a time share just for the week or month—only without the whole annoying sales pitch.
Residence inns are often used by folks in town on business for an extended period, but that doesn't mean travelers can't shack up in them as well.
For example, when I studied abroad in Rome, Italy, a "residence" near the school (the Residence Medaglie d'Oro) served as student housing for the program. (As it happened, I became friends with the girl who lived in the mini-apartment above mine, and as I write this—nearly 25 years later—I can hear her in the yard outside my home office window, playing with our kids. So yeah, I'm a big fan of residence hotels.)
Speaking of which, all-suite hotels are a godsend for traveling families, since you can use the kitchen to treat meals more flexibly and cut down on dining costs. (Also, they tend to be bigger—if duller—than your average hotel room.)
The reason this page is separate from that on how to rent an apartment is because I consider apartment rentals to be where you are getting a private apartment in a building surrounded by flats inhabited by actual local residents, whereas in one of these "residence" hotels, everyone is a visitor from out of town.
Top serviced flats in the U.K.
- Booking.com - More than 120 residence hotels, aparthotels, condo hotels, and townhouse suites in the U.K.Partner
- Hotels.comPartner
- Adagio-city.com - More than 290 residence hotels all across the United Kingdom.Partner
- Sacoapartments.com - Some 80,000 serviced flats in 160 locations around the world, including in 95 cities and town across in the U.K.
- Staybridge.com - Staybridge Suites condos from London to Liverpool, Birmingham to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.Partner
- Gonative.com - 20 serviced flats in London, and partnerships with aparthotels in other UK cities.
- Homeaway.com - So many places it doesn't even bother listing rentals past the first 5,000—and that's just in London.Partner
- Vrbo.com -
VRBO stands for "Vacation Rentals By Owner," a worldwide virtual classifieds section devoted to villas, apartments, cottages, houses, and other places to lay your head fromas little as $400 per week in England. There are a stunning 33,761 properties available in England, 4,896 in Scotland, and 5,123 in Wales.
Though designed to allow villa and vacation home owners to rent to the public directly—ostensibly cutting out the extra costs involved in working through a middle-man rental agency—in my experience plenty of small-fry local rental agencies use it as well (not that there's anything wrong with renting through those folks; just wanted to let you know that not every property listed is truly direct from the owner).
Partner - Booking.com - More than 10,800 apartments across the United Kingdom, including more than 4,300 in London.Partner
- Rentalo.com - Another sizeable database for one-stop shopping, with more than 2,600 properties across the U.K. They also handle everything from standard hotels to B&Bs, agriturism, and even castles.Partner
- Hotels.com - Good generalist booking engine with plenty of "Apartments" options in the filter screens for each destination.Partner
- Interhomeusa.com - 966 rentals in the U.K., of which 212 in London. Partner
- Villasintl.com - Around 770 rental homes and flats of all sizes across the U.K., mostly in England (561 in London) with about 100 in Scotland.
- Belvilla.com - 386 holiday cottages across the U.K., inlcuding 15 flats and homes in London.Partner
- Airbnb.com - Tens of thousands of listings—but caveat emptor. Anyone can post a listing, so trust only the ones with lots of reviews.