Roomex adds self-catering accommodation with 172,000 new properties

Workforce travel platform Roomex has moved into self-catering accommodation at scale, adding more than 172,000 apartments, houses and quirkier properties for businesses whose people work away from home for weeks or months at a time.

The new inventory sits alongside the two million hotels and bed and breakfasts already bookable through the platform, and is aimed squarely at longer project stays, mobile teams and travel to locations where hotel availability is limited.

More space and a steadier routine on longer stays

Hotels remain a sensible fit for the classic overnight trip. The calculation changes when an assignment stretches into weeks, and a room with no kitchen and little space to live in starts to wear thin. Self-catering properties typically provide extra living space and cooking facilities, which Roomex says helps travellers settle into a more practical routine, and can make stays that span months feel more homely.

For employers, the wider choice makes it easier to match accommodation to the length and purpose of a trip, the size of the travelling team, the demands of the project and the budget. The range runs from standard apartments and houses to more unusual stays, and the thinking mirrors a shift already visible in the capital, where the extended London stay has outgrown the hotel.

Self-catering accommodation as a cost control tool

The timing is deliberate. Trends for 2026 point to tighter cost control and greater flexibility across business travel, with companies more selective about which trips go ahead and more willing to adapt bookings to what travelling staff actually need.

Roomex research found that 80 per cent of workers across sectors admit they regularly pay work travel costs out of their own pockets. A kitchen cuts the need to eat in restaurants and cafes or order room service, trimming out-of-pocket spend for the traveller and subsistence bills for the employer.

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The out-of-pocket problem is well documented. Separate analysis has shown outdated expense systems cost UK employees £6 billion a year in business travel reimbursements, while subsistence spending carries tax, National Insurance and reporting obligations for employers under HMRC’s travel and subsistence rules. Fewer meals bought on the company’s behalf means fewer receipts to chase and less to reconcile.

Keith Watson, president at Roomex, said: “Workforce travel is rarely one-size-fits-all. A hotel may be the right choice for an overnight trip, but someone working away for several weeks may need more space, cooking facilities and a routine that feels closer to home.

“Adding more than 172,000 self-catering properties gives travel bookers more ways to match accommodation to the practical needs of each assignment. It also provides more options when project dates change, hotel availability is limited or teams need to stay together, while allowing employers to keep bookings and travel spend visible in one place.”

One platform for bookings, payments and reporting

The self-catering range is searched and booked through the same Roomex platform as its hotel inventory, keeping accommodation, payments and reporting in one system rather than scattered across consumer rental sites and expense claims. The platform is free to use, and the company says it offers the largest selection of workforce-suitable hotels in the world, with tools to book, manage and analyse workforce travel in one place.

It is also the company’s second move this year on giving bookers a clearer view of their options, following its research on the lack of comparable carbon data holding back workforce accommodation bookings.

For SMEs with crews on site for a month, or a consultant embedded with a client for a quarter, the practical question has long been whether to accept weeks of hotel living or go outside company systems to find an apartment. Bringing self-catering into the managed booking flow, with payment and reporting attached, removes most of the argument for either.