Outrageous Hotel Fees and How to Avoid Them

Chances are you’ve probably been slammed by hidden airline fees you can’t avoid often when you’re at the airport an hour before your flight. At that moment it turns out that the airfare you thought you were paying wasn’t as cheap as you thought. Well the same thing is starting to happen in the hotel industry and it isn’t pretty. All told US hotels are expected to collect about $2.1 billion in fees this year. If you’re going to stay at a hotel, Galding has a list of a few charges you could see tacked on to the final bill:

1. Charges for donations to local charities without your consent.
2. Bellhop service charges even if you didn’t use them.
3. Housekeeping charges.
4. Charges for using the business center, fitness center or other amenities.
5. Charging extra for a new set of clean towels or sheets.
6. Adding fees for using the in-room coffeemaker.
7. Sometimes guests are charged for the in-room safe, even if it’s not used.
8. Package delivery fees are applied for receiving mail.
9. Bills at some hotels now include an “energy surcharge.”
10. Paying steep fees to use the internet.
11. Early checkout fees.

There are however some things that you can do about this. First of all, always carefully look though the bill when you’re checking out of a hotel and dispute any fees they’re charging you for things you didn’t use. It is possible to have many of these charges dropped by negotiating with a manager. I think that Joe Sharkey of the New York Times offers a better solution though. Whenever possible try to stay at mid-level hotels that cater primarily to business travelers. Many of these hotels offer a wider range of services and amenities which are built into the nightly rate they advertise. You may be paying a higher nightly rate but you can rest assured that you won’t have any nasty surprises when you look at the bill when it’s time to check out.

Don’t hand over your credit card too quickly.

Churchill has short-term corporate housing available Nationwide. Please contact us at 866-255-0593 or National@FurnishedHousing.com for more information.

Ten Best Cities For Young Entrepreneurs

Here is the flip side to our recent post about the best cities for finding a job. Forbes.com and NerdWallet tallied up the ten best cities for a young person to start their own business. They compiled this list by using an equal weighting of loan data, cost of living, business activity, education and income for 42 of America’s largest cities and narrowing the list down to the top ten. If you’d rather be your own boss, here is their list of the best cities to start your own business:

10. Houston, TX
9. Omaha, NE
8. Austin, TX
7. Minneapolis, MN
6. Seattle, WA
5. Oklahoma City, OK
4. Raleigh, NC
3. Atlanta, GA
2. Tampa, FL
1. Tulsa, OK

Tulsa, OK

Churchill has short-term corporate housing available Nationwide. Please contact us at 866-255-0593 or National@FurnishedHousing.com for more information.

Churchill’s Furnished Housing is This Week’s “Real.Est. List Spotlight” Piece on BrickUnderground

BrickUnderground is one of New York City’s most trustworthy and popular sources for real estate advice. With over 65,000 visitors to their website each month, they strive to provide educational information for those seeking solutions to their real-estate and apartment-dwelling needs in the Big Apple.

This week’s piece on their “Real.Est. List Spotlight” was on Churchill’s furnished housing. It provides a great deal of detail on the ins and outs of renting one of our corporate apartments and we are grateful to have had the opportunity for our company and services be featured.

Check out the full article here to learn more about what we have to offer our clients!

Churchill has short-term corporate housing available in New York City and other cities Nationwide. Please contact us at 866-255-0593 or NewYork@FurnishedHousing.com for more information.

 

10 best places to raise your kids

MSN Real Estate and Bloomberg Businessweek provide readers with information on the 10 best places to raise your kids. This list is geared toward those considering leaving the big city to move to a more family oriented locale. Bloomberg Businessweek evaluated 3,200 places nationwide with populations from 5,000 to 50,000, looking at metrics including housing cost, commuting time, public school performance, safety, poverty, educational attainment for adults, and households with children and diversity. They also looked at the local job market, median income, and unemployment rate, making this a very studied and thorough assessment. Take a look at these locations and perhaps you will discover the perfect town for your family!

Churchill has short-term corporate housing available Nationwide. Please contact us at 866-255-0593 or National@FurnishedHousing.com for more information.

Bella Vista, Ark. – Photo courtesy of: Frank Krahmer/Getty Images

10 best places to raise your kids:

1. Solon, Ohio

2. Helotes, Texas

3. Bella Vista, Ark.

4. Cranberry Township, Pa.

5. Signal Mountain, Tenn.

6. Peachtree City, Ga.

7. Ballwin, Mo.

8. Cedarburg, Wis.

9. Brandon, Miss.

10. Louisville, Colo.

6 places it pays to move to

MSN Money gives readers something to think about in their article, 6 places it pays to move to. While it seems economic recovery is still not looking as promising as we may have hoped, and many families around the country are feeling financial pressure, there are a few places that will offer you monetary incentives to live and work there. Some are offering helping paying off students loans, while others are even offering forgivable mortgages. If you have been considering a move, especially to a location where you can hope to earn a bit more and be welcomed by a community happy to add new faces, take a look at these 6 locations and maybe one will be the perfect fit for you!

Here is a list of the 6 places it pays to move to:

1. Niagara Falls, N.Y.

2. Rural Kansas

3. Milnor, N.D.

4. Detroit

5. Alaska

6. Chattanooga, Tenn.

Churchill has short-term corporate housing available Nationwide. Please contact us at 866-255-0593 or National@FurnishedHousing.com for more information.

Photo courtesy of: Chattanooga, Tennessee – http://www.city-data.com

Churchill Corporate Services Donates Furniture to Habitat for Humanity to Aid Hurricane Sandy Victims

To aide in Hurricane Sandy relief efforts, Churchill Corporate Services is donating furniture to the New Jersey’s Ocean County Habitat for Humanity. Donations include 30 dining room sets, 15 living room sets, 15 bedroom sets and many other accessories – with a total retail price of approximately $40,000. The furniture donations will go out to Ocean county areas which sustained massive damage from Hurricane Sandy.

Churchill’s Services include Short-Term Unfurnished Housing, Furniture Rental, Apartment Management and Concierge Services. Churchill has been providing these services for over 30 years, from locations throughout the East Coast in NY, NJ, MA, DC, and FL. Visit Churchill at www.churchillcorp.com.

Photo courtesy of: Churchill Corporate Services

Why Choose Churchill Furniture Rental?

We are very happy to present our readers with a brief new video providing information on Churchill’s furniture rental. Please take a moment to watch this video and contact us with any inquiries.

Churchill has short-term corporate housing available Nationwide. Please contact us at 866-255-0593 or National@FurnishedHousing.com for more information.

Real Estate – What you can buy — new — for $250,000

If you are in the market for a new home, as in brand new never lived in by another, MSN Real Estate has some great options available in their article, What you can buy — new — for $250,000. While some of these homes may require a bit more relocation then you were considering, it could be worth it for the value. Take a look at diverse markets such as Oregon City, Oregon; Vail, Arizona; or sunny St. Augustine, Florida where you can buy the house pictured below; all 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and 2,917 square feet of it for only $247,900! Good luck finding a home that size and price in New Jersey or California! Now may be the perfect time to find your brand new dream home for a more affordable price than you had ever imagined.

Churchill has short-term corporate housing available Nationwide. Please contact us at 866-255-0593 or National@FurnishedHousing.com for more information.

Photo courtesy of: LMH Solutions

America’s most expensive ZIP codes

Forbes has compiled a list of America’s most expensive ZIP codes based on several factors including median asking price and number of homes on the market. If you are in the market for a wonderfully expensive estate with a swanky zip code to match, take a look at this list and find your new luxurious address. Or perhaps you just enjoy perusing pictures of magnificent homes and wishing you could live there. Either way you will enjoy this list, use it for reference, or day-dream material. Our zip code of choice is 10075, New York, where for $90 million (surely you could negotiate the asking price?) you can purchase the historic Woolworth Mansion. Not ready to commit? No worries… the home comes with an option to rent for a mere $150,000 per month!

Churchill has short-term corporate housing available Nationwide. Please contact us at 866-255-0593 or National@FurnishedHousing.com for more information.

Photo courtesy of: Brown, Harris, Stevens; inset: 2012 Microsoft Corp.

5 Housing Markets on the Way Up

MSN.com features a new list analyzed and compiled by Housing Predictor of 5 housing markets on the way up. With home prices continuing to fall, now could be the best time for you to snatch a great deal and make a profitable investment in one of these desirable markets. Projected to provide double-digit gains in the next 5 years, these areas are known to have growing job prospects and a stronger economic environment than other areas looked at in comparison. This list is certainly worth taking a look at if you are in the market to invest in a new home.

Here is a  look at the 5 that made the list:

1. Miami, Florida
2. San Francisco, California
3. Los Altos, California
4. Seattle, Washington
5. Medford, Oregon

Churchill has short-term corporate housing available Nationwide. Please contact us at 866-255-0593 or National@FurnishedHousing.com for more information.

Photo courtesy of: MSN.com