Hotel, traditional lease, or managed apartment: how to choose when housing an employee in Paris

To house an employee in Paris, three options always come up: a hotel, a traditional lease in their own name, or a furnished apartment managed by an operator. Each has its strengths. Here is an honest comparison grid, with criteria you can verify, and an explanation of why many companies switch to the third option as soon as the stay exceeds a few weeks.

The three options, criterion by criterion

The cells in the last column reflect what Belvie states on its corporate housing page. Those for the mobility lease come from ANIL: from 1 to 10 months, no security deposit, with one month's notice for the tenant. For a traditional furnished lease, the Paris ADIL gives a term of one year.

When a hotel remains the right choice

For a few nights, a hotel is hard to beat: no formalities, one booking, leave whenever you like. It also keeps its edge on very short or unpredictable trips. The picture changes as the stay gets longer: a hotel bills by the night, and is nothing like a home of one's own.

When a managed apartment makes more sense

• The stay exceeds a few weeks: housing rented by the month tracks the duration better than a string of nightly stays;
• Several employees need housing: a single point of contact and a single invoice, rather than multiple bookings;
• The employee needs a real home: a kitchen, a space to work, a familiar neighborhood;
• The assignment may be extended or cut short: you avoid being locked into a one-year contract for a need lasting a few months.

A budget benchmark: the Urssaf ceilings

For comparison, Urssaf publishes exemption limits for 2026. For a long-distance business assignment (grand déplacement) in Paris, the “accommodation and breakfast” ceiling is €76.60 per day for the first three months, then €65.10 and €53.60. For an employee on a job transfer, temporary accommodation is capped at €85.10 per day, for up to nine months. These are limits for exemption from social security contributions, not prices. We cover them in housing an employee on assignment in Paris and employee transferred to Paris.

A concrete case: three consultants for four months

Take a team of three consultants assigned to a Paris-based client for four months, with no certainty about the end date. In a hotel, that means three rooms billed by the night, with three bills to reconcile at the end of the month. With three individual leases, that means three files, three contracts, and three notice periods to manage, and a commitment that is often longer than the project. With a managed apartment, the company receives a single invoice, deals with a single point of contact, and the stay ends when the project ends.

What this changes for HR, mobility, and procurement

• Fewer expense reports: the housing is invoiced to the company, the employee advances nothing;
• A single supplier to onboard, rather than a hotel for each trip;
• Simpler tracking: one duration, one cost, one contact, for each stay.

The five questions to ask a housing provider

1. Who signs what, and under which regime? Mobility lease, lease in the company's name, simple provision of the property: the consequences are not the same (see renting to a company).
2. What minimum duration is required, and what happens if the assignment ends early?
3. Who invoices, and with what documents?
4. Which services are included: linens, housekeeping, assistance if there is a problem.
5. Who is my point of contact, and within what time frame do they respond?

Key takeaways

1. A hotel remains ideal for a few nights, but is expensive over time.
2. A traditional lease requires formalities and a commitment: application file, contract, notice period.
3. A managed apartment combines a real home with the flexibility of a service: company invoice, a single point of contact, linens and housekeeping included.
4. Compare on the actual length of the assignment, not on the first night's rate.

This article is for informational purposes and does not replace legal advice. The Urssaf amounts are those for 2026 and depend on the employee's situation: check with your accountant or Urssaf.

Official sources

• What is a mobility lease? — ANIL (in French)
• Civil Code lease and the Law of July 6, 1989 — ADIL de Paris (in French)
• Business expenses, long-distance business assignment, and job transfer (2026 amounts) — Urssaf (in French)