How to Win Corporate and Relocation Contracts

The short answer: Corporate and relocation bookings, employees relocating, contractor teams, insurance displacement cases, are the highest-value booking type in serviced accommodation, and no OTA can deliver them. Winning them requires accreditation (ISAAP or ASAP), a corporate-specific page on your own website, and a direct relationship with relocation agents, insurers and corporate travel managers who run their own approved-supplier rosters. It is a sales process, not a listing optimisation.

Corporate and relocation bookings are the booking type most serviced accommodation operators want and fewest actually win, because the sales process looks nothing like the one they already know from OTAs and direct leisure bookings.

We covered why this segment pays better in our guide to three-tier pricing for corporate bookings: longer stays, reliable invoiced payment, and a VAT advantage from night 29 that no leisure booking can offer. This post covers the other half: how to actually get in front of the people who place these bookings, and what it takes to win the contract once you are.

Why no OTA can deliver this segment

Corporate travel policies require pre-approved suppliers, documented insurance, and a GDPR-compliant data processing agreement before a booking is placed. Relocation agents and insurers managing displacement cases need an invoice against a purchase order, not a card charge, and often need a placement confirmed within hours. None of that fits an OTA’s booking flow, which is built for an individual paying with their own card on their own schedule.

That is precisely why this segment stays available to operators willing to do the direct sales work. A large share of your OTA-listed competitors have never built the accreditation pack or the direct relationships this segment requires, which means the operators who do it face less competition here than in the crowded leisure search results on Booking.com and Airbnb.

The demand is real and durable. relocationapartments.com, a global corporate housing directory we built the organic content strategy for, reached 856,856 organic pageviews and 236,471 visits in a consecutive twelve-month period, almost entirely from people specifically searching for relocation and corporate housing rather than leisure stays. That is a distinct search population with its own intent, not a smaller slice of the same leisure traffic every OTA is already competing for.

Get accredited before you approach anyone

ISAAP and ASAP accreditation exist specifically to signal to corporate buyers and relocation agents that a serviced accommodation provider meets a baseline standard. Alongside accreditation, keep fire and safety certificates, gas and electrical safety records, and a GDPR-compliant data processing agreement current and ready to send as a single pack.

This is not paperwork you assemble after a relocation agent asks for it. It is the minimum standard that determines whether the conversation happens at all, so build the pack once, review it on a fixed schedule, and treat an expired certificate as a live risk to a relationship you have already spent months building.

Build a page that answers a procurement question, not a leisure one

Most serviced accommodation websites are built for a leisure guest deciding where to stay for a weekend. A corporate booker or relocation agent is asking a completely different set of questions: What are your invoicing terms? What is your minimum and maximum stay length? Are you accredited, and with which body? Who do I actually call?

A dedicated corporate and relocation page on your own website should answer every one of those questions in one place, with a named contact and a direct enquiry path that does not route through a generic contact form built for leisure enquiries. Corporate bookers will not book through an OTA, and if your own website cannot answer their questions either, the enquiry stalls before it starts.

Find the actual approved-supplier routes

Relocation agents, insurers handling displacement accommodation, and corporate travel managers each maintain their own supplier rosters, built through direct relationship management rather than public search. Getting onto one starts with identifying which relocation agents and insurers are actually active in your area and reaching out directly, with your accreditation pack ready and a clear, specific answer to what kind of stays you can accommodate and how quickly.

This is a sales process with its own rhythm: an initial conversation, a site visit or property information pack, a trial placement, and then, if the trial goes well, inclusion on the preferred list for future bookings. Treat the first placement as an audition for the relationship, not as the goal itself.

Speed of response is a genuine differentiator

Insurance displacement cases in particular often need a confirmed placement within hours of the initial enquiry, because the person needing accommodation has often just been displaced from their home. A serviced accommodation operator who can confirm availability, terms and move-in details quickly builds a reputation that larger, slower-moving competitors cannot easily match.

This is one of the few genuine advantages a smaller operator has in the corporate segment. A relocation agent or insurer who has been kept waiting once by a supplier is unlikely to place a second booking with them, and word travels between agents faster than most operators expect.

The relationship outlasts the first booking

A successful placement is the opening of a relationship, not the end of a transaction. Confirm directly with the agent or insurer that the placement went well, ask plainly whether you are now considered for future bookings, and keep your accreditation pack current so the next enquiry is never held up by an expired certificate.

Operators who treat corporate and relocation work as a genuine account relationship, rather than a one-off booking, are the ones who end up on a roster that sends repeat, commission-free business for years rather than a single stay. If you want the rest of your direct booking setup built around this kind of higher-value demand, our short-let marketing cheat sheet covers the practical steps in order, and it is worth pairing with the pricing structure in our corporate pricing guide.

Frequently asked questions

What accreditation do I need for corporate and relocation bookings?

ISAAP or ASAP accreditation is the standard most relocation agents and corporate travel managers check for first, alongside current fire, gas and electrical safety certificates and a GDPR-compliant data processing agreement. Without these, most approved-supplier conversations will not proceed past the first enquiry, regardless of how good the property itself is.

How do I find relocation agents and insurers to approach?

Start with the relocation agents and displacement insurers active in your specific region, since supplier rosters are usually built regionally rather than nationally. Direct outreach with your accreditation pack ready, followed by a trial placement, is the typical path onto a roster. This is a relationship-led sales process, not something that happens through a listing or directory submission.

How fast do I need to respond to a corporate or relocation enquiry?

As fast as possible, and for insurance displacement cases specifically, often within hours rather than days. Response speed is one of the clearest differentiators a smaller operator can build against a larger, slower competitor, and a slow first response is one of the most common reasons an operator is not considered for a second placement.

Can I run corporate and relocation bookings alongside my existing leisure and OTA business?

Yes, and most successful operators run both. The three-tier pricing model is built specifically for this: leisure nightly bookings stay OTA-compatible, while corporate and relocation stays run direct with invoiced billing. The key requirement is a direct enquiry path and the accreditation to be considered at all, not a separate business.

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Ready to build the direct booking infrastructure corporate and relocation contracts need? Grab our short-let marketing cheat sheet for the practical steps in order.