How to Find and Book the Best Executive Rentals

Executive rentals and corporate housing can be good lodging options for business travelers and traveling teams.

But here’s the issue:

How do you find them?

And how do you get the best deals without sacrificing quality?

Not all rentals are the same. Avoiding costly pitfalls is just as important as making sure that you book a rental that’ll work well for you and your team.

In this post, you’re going to learn about the best executive rental sites online.

We’re also going to give you the 411 on how to stay clear of any potential negative experiences.

If you’re looking for the best option for finding and securing corporate housing, this is the last guide you’ll ever need.

Table of Contents

1. What Is an Executive Rental?
2. What to Look for in an Executive Rental
3. Be Careful How You Source Your Rentals
4. How Engine Solves the Executive Rental Problem for Traveling Professionals

What Is an Executive Rental?

For those who may not be completely familiar with the term, executive rentals are basically fully furnished housing options for travelers. They’re typically available to rent for periods of 30 days or longer.

Corporate housing can also fall into the same category. Sometimes, the terms are used interchangeably.

Here are some examples of lodging options that could fall within the executive rental framework:

• Furnished condos/condominiums
• Extended stay hotels
• Furnished apartments
• Short-term rental properties
• Corporate apartments
• Lofts
• Rental units
• Temporary housing
• Vacation rentals
• Executive homes
• Luxury rentals
• Townhomes

Sometimes, executive rentals are run by property management companies who either own or manage vast expanses of real estate properties.

But sometimes, executive rentals are run by individual homeowners and property owners as investment properties — basically designed to serve as a home away from home for traveling professionals.

Both of these options have their upsides and downsides. Either way, before you rent an executive rental, you should make sure that it will meet your needs without creating unwanted problems during your stay. ​

We’re going to cover that in a moment. But first, let’s go over a few other commonly asked questions about executive rentals.

What Is Included in an Executive Rental?

Generally speaking, executive rentals come fully furnished. So, you won’t need to source things like kitchen items, furniture, bedding, linen, etc.

These rentals mostly come with free parking and may even include amenities like Wi-Fi (though this may also vary by location and property).

How Do Executive Rentals Work?

Executive rentals are pretty straightforward in the sense that they serve as a comfortable home that’s rented for at least 30 days at a time.

If you need to stay for less than a month, an executive rental probably isn’t for you.

But, a lot of traveling professionals like these types of rentals for longer-term stays because they’re more “homey” than other shorter-term options.

They bring together the best elements of a “permanent” home while also providing a temporary place to live while the individual is working on location.

Need help booking accommodations for your team’s next trip? Engine can help you score corporate hotel discounts for big savings.

What to Look for in an Executive Rental

Finding high-quality executive rentals can be a challenge.

Short-term rental demands are surging across the United States in a wide range of markets. But this honestly doesn’t come as a surprise.

Remote workers are in high demand. From traveling nurses to people working in tech, energy, and construction fields, there’s certainly no shortage of jobs that require remote workers to fill vital roles.

But finding a place to live for these traveling professionals can be problematic.

(In fact, it’s getting to a point where trying to do this all on your own can be a logistical nightmare.)

Regardless of whether your job is taking you to San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Arlington, or anywhere in between, finding qualified and service-oriented executive rental providers can be challenging.

Another challenge is that some professionals (or finance managers/traveling managers) who are new to traveling work aren’t sure what to book for their team.

Sometimes, booking such rentals can feel like throwing darts in the dark. You may get on the internet, do a few searches, and end up more confused than you were to start with.

Well, don’t worry — we’re going to help you solve that problem as well.

But first, we’re going to dig deep into four vital things to look at before choosing an executive rental booking.

1. Convenience

One of the first things you’ll notice as you start trying to book lodging for your team is that the convenience of your different options will vary wildly across the board.

In some cases, booking an executive rental will feel relatively painless.

In other cases, trying to get in touch with someone and secure a booking will feel like pulling teeth.

Unfortunately, this is what happens when companies grow so big that they get bogged down with corporate red tape. It can make it difficult to get in touch with a real person, even for something as important as an executive rental.

One great rule of thumb is this:

If the process of trying to secure the rental feels too inconvenient, you may want to pursue a different option.

Convenience matters a lot, especially with an executive rental. Let’s face it; you can’t really afford to be jumping through hoops just to get your team a place to land once they arrive.

Plus, inconvenience during the booking process may also translate to a lack of customer service later on.

2. On-Demand

This is another issue that can pop up with executive rentals.

Sometimes, these rentals can be difficult to secure because they’re in such high demand.

This is why on-demand housing has become a more talked-about thing in the executive rental arena.

The idea of on-demand housing is basically this:

Being able to get housing where you need it, when you need it, on a timeline that works for you.

As a finance manager or travel manager booking rentals for your team, you know that you just can’t deal with lodging that doesn’t meet your needs.

Therefore, it’s always a better idea to forgo problematic scheduling issues and to stick to executive rental options that actually give you on-demand service.

3. Pricing

Sometimes, pricing isn’t as big of an issue as service or convenience.

But it’s still an issue.

After all, small businesses (and large ones, too) need to stick to an employee travel budget.

This is especially true if you have a set per diem and need to make sure that it’ll cover your team’s living expenses as they travel.

But simply put, this is what you want:

You want to find an executive rental option that fits into your budget while also fulfilling your team’s basic housing needs and providing the kind of service they need in order to be successful.

Need some extra information about per diem? Check out this guide: What Employers Should Know About Per Diem and Employee Rights.

4. Customer Service

Customer service can vary widely when it comes to executive rentals.

If you want extra amenities like Wi-Fi, regular fresh linens, washer service, room service, etc., then an extended stay hotel option may be a better bet.

But if you’re looking more for an actual ‘home away from home,’ like a condo, an apartment, a house, etc., then a short-term rental may be the way to go.

Really, it all comes down to what you want as far as lodging goes.

Now, regardless of what level of service you choose, you’ll also want to make sure that the quality of that service is absolutely top-notch.

There’s nothing as stressful as not being able to get a hold of customer service in the event of some kind of problem with the rental.

This is true both for hotels and for short-term rentals.

You can get a pretty good sense of how customer service will perform by asking some questions and digging deeper into rental details before signing the contract.

Don’t be afraid to ask tougher questions and to insist on speaking with a real person over the phone.

Using this mindset, it’ll become apparent if this particular executive rental company has what it takes to deliver true high-quality customer service.

Be Careful How You Source Your Rentals

We’ve heard no shortage of horror stories from travelers who’ve tried to book executive rentals through less trustworthy avenues.

For example:

We’ve heard of people using Craigslist for short-term rentals and executive rentals.

And with all due respect to Craigslist, traveling professionals would do better not to rely on an online private listing site for an executive rental.

It’s so important to be careful where you source your housing. There’s no end to how bad things can turn out if you get into a bad unit or something goes wrong with the company.

This is why we only advocate using services that specialize in business lodging procurement, like Engine.

(And even then, it’s good to learn how to identify scam booking sites.)

Not only does this make things easier, but it also helps you to avoid unwanted and costly business lodging pitfalls.

On the flip side, Engine can help you to solve your corporate executive rental problems.

Let’s talk about that for a minute.

How Engine Seeks to Solve the Executive Rental Problem for Traveling Professionals

Engine specializes in hotels for traveling professionals. This could mean salespeople, construction workers, workers in tech and energy fields, traveling nurses, etc.

And sometimes, hotel rooms make a suitable alternative to other executive rental options.

Engine basically works like this:

1. You sign up for free.
2. You gain access to more than 700,000 hotels worldwide.
3. Book with zero booking fees, no contracts, and no minimums.
4. Engine will help you to find and secure the types of bookings you actually need.
5. Get 24/7 US-based customer support.
6. Save big on business lodging when you book through Engine.

The truth of the matter is that Engine believes every traveling professional deserves to lay their head somewhere comfortable at the end of the day. That’s why we’re passionate about what we do.

Sometimes, a hotel room can be more like an apartment or condo than you might imagine. Plus, you get housekeeping service, free parking, W-Fi, and sometimes even extra amenities — like access to a gym, continental breakfast, a spa, and more.

Conclusion

So, there’s everything you need to know about executive rentals, how to find them, how to make sure that you’re renting the right ones, and how to make sure that your team is set for their next work trip.

Now, all that’s left is to get out there and make it happen!

Happy trails — we’ll see you on the open road.

‍