Serviced accommodation in London

A serviced apartment is a furnished home let by the night or the week, with bills, wifi and usually cleaning included. Guests are typically corporate travellers, contractors, relocation families and leisure visitors. The property earns hotel style rates without hotel staffing, which is exactly why it goes wrong when it is treated like a normal let.

Furnished serviced apartment living area with sofa and dining table

How the money works

Revenue is occupancy multiplied by average nightly rate. Both move constantly, which is the point and the problem. A standard let gives you one number for twelve months. Serviced accommodation gives you a different number every week, and you are the one who has to react to it.

Start from the costs, not the rate:

Mortgage or rent, plus any lender or landlord consent fees for short letting
Utilities, wifi, TV licence and council tax, or business rates if the property qualifies
Furnishing, equipment and the depreciation that comes with guests
Cleaning and laundry per turnaround, not per month
Platform commission, which varies by channel and by how you list
Insurance written for paying guests, not a standard landlord policy
Compliance: gas safety, electrical installation condition report, EPC, fire precautions, alarms
Void periods, and the fact that they cluster in January and November
Your own time, or a management fee if someone else carries it

Only then does the nightly rate mean anything. A property that looks like it earns double a standard let can net out to less once turnarounds and quiet weeks are counted.

The permissions people forget

Your mortgage lender. Many buy to let products prohibit short lets or require consent. Letting without it can breach the loan.
Your lease, if the property is leasehold. Head leases often restrict lets under 90 days, and some prohibit paying guests outright.
Planning. Short letting a whole flat in London can raise use class questions, and boroughs treat it differently.
Council tax or business rates. There is a self catering threshold based on nights let per year. Check the current position with the valuation office before you build a model around it.
Your insurer. A standard policy will not cover paying guests, and if something happens you find out at the worst possible moment.

What running one actually involves

The booking is the easy part. The work is everything around it: pricing decisions most mornings, guest messages within minutes, cleaning that has to happen between an 11am checkout and a 3pm check in, linen, consumables, maintenance calls, and reviews that decide whether next month is full.

It suits someone who likes systems and does not mind being reachable. It does not suit someone who wants property income without operational involvement, unless they are paying for management.

Who it suits

Flats and smaller houses close to transport, hospitals, exhibition space or corporate demand
Properties you can furnish properly without a full refurbishment
Owners who want control over the property and are comfortable with variable income
Anyone in a borough where the licensing and planning position is clear

Who it does not suit

Leasehold flats where the head lease restricts short lets
Properties funded by a mortgage that forbids them
Owners who want a fixed monthly figure and no involvement
Areas with no genuine short stay demand beyond one season