Book short stay apartments and beat the VAT increase

Book short stay serviced apartments before January to beat the VAT increase that becomes effective during the first week of January 2011.  The standard rate of VAT is currently 17.5% and affects all short stays (28 days or less) in UK serviced apartments booked with Serviced City Pads. The VAT rate is charged at a reduced rate for continious stays from day 29 onwards, so VAT is less of an issue for long corporate stays in serviced apartments. The standard rate of VAT will increase to 20% in January 2011.

Chris Rose, Managing Director at Serviced City Pads, the specialist serviced apartment booking company commented, “The VAT hike is bound to have some impact on apartment pricing in 2011 as apartment operators and booking companies alike already work with tight margins. I would expect to see some pressure that leads to small increases in prices for short stay UK city breaks and accommodation for stag and Hen weekends. It’s a competitive market but something has to give. At Serviced City Pads about 40% of our business is made up of what we call corporate clients, with the remaining 60% made up of regular and first time leisure bookers. We are working towards that becoming a 50/50 split in 2011 with the corporate market becoming more and more important to Serviced City Pads.

Customers who are considering booking a short stay apartment with Serviced City Pads may benefit from making that reservation before the VAT rise hits in January. They could end up saving money before prices rise.

Ordinarily, the week between Christmas and New Year is a relatively quiet trading period for us but this may be different this year. Infact, business really takes off for us during the second week of January. Many couples get engaged over the Christmas period and then start to plan the UK hen and stag weekend accommodation as soon as they are back in work. These people know that weekend accommodation in places like Liverpool, apartments in London, apartments in Edinburgh and Bristol becomes booked up well in advance. You need to book your stag weekend apartments well in advance!

Companies may find it a little more difficult to book their serviced accommodation early. Often, budgets will need to be set and spending signed off. In reality, this doesn’t happen before New Year with so many people in different departments on holiday.

Families can be more flexible when it comes to organising their short break in London or a weekend in Edinburgh and the reservations team at Serviced City Pads expect to be busy throughout the festive period.

With our FREE Christmas hamper promotion running through to December 15th, we also expect that customers looking for the chance to win an extra Christmas treat, will book earlier than normal. We understand that Christmas becomes a major focus for everybody in December, whether that is buying presents or ordering the Christmas turkey, but we are urging customers to book their accommodation early this year to save money with Serviced City Pads.”

Serviced City Pads has short stay apartments listed in many locations across the UK. We feel that serviced apartments offer a great alternative to staying in a hotel room for both the family and the corporate guest. If you are interested in booking a serviced apartment in London or any other UK city, or if you would just like to know more about serviced apartments, feel free to call us on 0844 335 8866 or email us at info@servicedcitypads.com. We are always delighted to help.