When HR teams search for serviced apartments in Belgium, they are usually looking for one of four different products under one name: a serviced apartment, corporate housing, an aparthotel, or a furnished mid-term rental. The labels overlap, providers use them loosely, and the differences that matter to an employer — contract length, cleaning, whether the employee can register an address, how the invoice arrives — are rarely on the listing. This guide separates the four, puts them side by side, and says plainly where Globexs sits.
The four terms describe different levels of service and different contracts, not just different marketing.
Serviced apartment. A furnished apartment with some hotel-style services on top: regular cleaning, often a linen change, sometimes a reception or a 24-hour contact. The term comes from the UK market and has no legal definition in Belgium, so what "serviced" means varies from building to building.
Aparthotel. A hotel that sells apartments instead of rooms. There is a reception, housekeeping on a set schedule, booking by the night, and the guest is a hotel guest rather than a tenant.
Corporate housing. A furnished apartment or house rented to a company for the length of an assignment. The company is usually the contracting party, the stay is counted in months, and services beyond the apartment itself vary by provider.
Furnished mid-term rental. A furnished home on a contract of roughly one to eleven months, between a holiday let and a standard Belgian lease. In practice most corporate housing in Belgium is a furnished mid-term rental with a company on the contract.
The quickest way to choose is to compare what each product includes and how it is contracted.
Serviced apartment | Aparthotel | Corporate housing | Furnished mid-term rental | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Typical contract | from a few nights to several months | per night, hotel terms | one to several months, company contract | one to eleven months |
Minimum stay | varies, often a few nights | usually one night | often one month | usually one month |
What is included | furniture, utilities, some services | furniture, utilities, hotel services | furniture, utilities, varies by provider | furniture; utilities depend on the provider |
Cleaning | regular, often weekly | on a hotel schedule | depends on the property | usually none, tenant's responsibility |
Address registration with the commune | depends on the operator | generally not possible | depends on provider and owner | depends on the owner |
Invoicing | per stay or per month | per stay, hotel invoice | usually monthly, to the company | monthly, to whoever signed |
These are market tendencies, not rules. Two properties sold under the same label can sit in different columns, which is why the questions in the next section matter more than the label.
Five questions tell you what you are really booking, whatever the listing calls it.
Is this a tenancy or a hotel stay? A tenant has an address and a contract. A hotel guest has a booking. The difference decides the next question.
Can the employee register with the commune at this address? Anyone staying in Belgium for more than three months has to register, and you cannot register at a hotel. Ask in writing before signing. Details: registering with the commune in Belgium.
What exactly does "serviced" include, and how often? Cleaning every day, every week and every two weeks are three different products.
Are utilities in the price, and is there a cap? "Utilities included" sometimes means included up to a monthly amount, with the rest billed afterwards.
Who receives the invoice, how often, and for what? Finance teams want to know this before the first invoice arrives, not after.
Rent out your apartment with Globexs
The length of the assignment does most of the choosing.
Under four weeks. A hotel or an aparthotel. The services are useful, the premium is short-lived, and nothing needs registering. Our comparison of the two main options is here: hotel vs furnished apartment in Belgium.
One to three months. A serviced apartment or a furnished mid-term rental. At this length a kitchen and a washing machine matter more than a reception desk, and the monthly cost of daily services becomes visible in the budget.
Three months and longer. Corporate housing or a furnished mid-term rental that allows address registration. From here the employee needs an eID, a bank account and a health insurance fund, and all of them start with a registered address.
Teams. A house with individual bedrooms or several apartments close to the site, rather than a block of hotel rooms. See housing a project team in Belgium.
Globexs provides furnished mid-term rentals for companies and individuals: corporate housing in the plain sense, not a serviced apartment in the hotel sense. We have done this since 2002, in Belgium and in Spain.
What that means in practice:
Contracts from one to eleven months. Our minimum stay is one month.
All-in monthly price. Energy is included in the rent, with no cap in euros in Belgium.
Cleaning included in selected properties. In part of our portfolio, cleaning every two weeks is already included in the rent. Each listing says which.
No hotel services. There is no reception, no daily housekeeping and no room service. The employee lives in an apartment, not in a hotel.
Address registration when the owner agrees. Send a written request to your rental agent; we ask the owner and tell you the decision. Rent, contract and deposit do not change.
One all-in monthly invoice. Rent, energy and internet together, issued on the 15th, payable by the 1st of the following month.
No Belgian bank account needed. For an individual tenant we ask only for an ID document: no payslips, no employer letter, no guarantor.
If the brief genuinely needs weekly cleaning, fresh linen and a front desk, an aparthotel is the better answer and we will say so. If it needs a home with an address for several months, that is what we do.
Corporate housing across Belgium · Brussels · Antwerp · Ghent
A short checklist covers most of the surprises HR teams meet after arrival.
Confirm the cleaning frequency in writing, or confirm there is none.
Ask whether utilities are capped and what happens above the cap.
Ask whether the address can be registered with the commune, if the stay runs past three months.
Check how a replacement employee or an extension is handled; with us both stay within the same contract. More in rotation, extension and early exit.
Check parking if the employee drives. It is rarely included in city apartments.
Read how the contract works before the employee travels: how renting with Globexs works.
A furnished apartment with some hotel-style services added, most often regular cleaning and linen. The term has no legal definition in Belgium, so the services included vary from one operator to the next.
An aparthotel is run as a hotel: reception, housekeeping on a schedule, booking by the night, and the occupant is a guest. A serviced apartment is usually a residential apartment with fewer services and longer stays.
Not quite. Corporate housing describes who rents and for how long: a company, for the length of an assignment. Whether it includes services depends on the provider.
It depends on the operator and the owner. Registration is generally not possible at a hotel or aparthotel. Ask in writing before signing if the stay will run past three months.
We offer furnished mid-term homes rather than hotel rooms: a real kitchen, space to live, and an address. Selected properties include cleaning every two weeks in the rent.
One month. Contracts run from one to eleven months, and an extension can be requested with one email.
Rent, energy and internet come on one all-in invoice, issued on the 15th and payable by the 1st of the following month.
Globexs is a Belgian-founded housing company: Lodewijk Cuypers started it in Antwerp in 2002, and it has offered furnished mid-term apartments in Belgium since 2009.
