Corp. Housing Industry Seeks To Avoid NYC Minimum-Stay Extension

The corporate housing industry, often overlooked in corporate travel but key for savings for many corporate travel buyers, is asking for buyer support as it seeks to prevent legislation its leaders said would hinder its ability to operate.

One of the biggest challenges is being faced in New York, corporate housing supplier Furnished Quarters president Gary Brown told a group of buyers gathered at a New York City Business Travel Association meeting in May. Facing complaints from some New Yorkers with raucous neighbors staying in temporary apartments, some city officials last year sought to extend the legal minimum stay at apartments from 30 days to 90 days.

The average length of stay in corporate housing is around 90 days, Brown said, but most contracts are signed only for 30 days because travelers are not able to lock in for longer. Essentially, the legislation would have put New York corporate housing suppliers out of business, he said.

"Our industry is under the radar," Brown said. "Elected officials don't know who we are and are proposing legislation knowing very little about what we do."

Erin Barth, vice president of global travel management for JPMorgan Chase Bank, said her travelers—particularly in training programs and relocations from India and the Philippines—make frequent use of corporate housing in New York, and the average stay was 58 nights. "We drafted letters saying we will not do this business in New York and will have to look outside, in Jersey City or Westchester," Barth said.

Brown said industry leaders, after retaining law firms and lobbyists, struck a deal with the administration assuring the city government that corporate housing suppliers would strictly abide by the 30-day minimum and would perhaps face some licensing requirements. The deal, however, was struck with New York Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, who no longer is with the administration, so Brown said the issue, while currently resolved, continues to be a focus.

"The fight's not over, but we're in a pretty good place right now," Brown said.

JPMorgan only recently developed its current policy around corporate housing, Barth said. "We had not been capturing this data, and we had people signing their own leases at rogue housing providers," she said. "It's incorporated in our travel program now, and it's been a huge success."

Brown said the industry also would like buyer support as similar issues arise. For example, some officials in Jersey City seek to levy taxes on corporate housing, as New York already does. "We're organizing to fight that battle," Brown said.