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Business Tools - PITTSBURGH BUSINESS TIMES - BY Tim Schooley
APARTMENT PROVIDER CORPORATE ACCOMMODATIONS,
INC. BRINGS BUYING FURNITURE IN-HOUSE
Corporate Accommodations CEO Paul
Bates decided his company should own the furniture it uses in its apartments,
such as this one in Bethel Park.
About five years ago, Paul
Bates faced a game of business musical chairs that could have left his
company, Carnegie-based Corporate Accommodations, with plenty of empty
seats — and apartments — when the music stopped.
A 20-year-old company that provides short-term
apartments to area guests on corporate temporary assignments, Corporate
Accommodations was facing two problems: rising costs in renting furniture
and the obstacle of not being able to clean and prepare its apartments’
furniture on weekends, when units often turn over. “We’re
very quality conscious. We never want somebody to move in to a carpet
that isn’t professionally cleaned or furniture that might have a
stain or a rip,” said Bates, president and CEO of the company. “We
just knew that it would be better for the customer and thus better for
us if they could move in on the weekend.”
So in 2006, the company embarked on a program
to buy all its own furniture and outfit all its units with them.
While any job that requires moving furniture takes both
muscle and planning, consider the scale of what Corporate Accommodations
faced: On average, the company leases 150 apartments each year, in 12
locations throughout the city, all of which are leased by guests staying
for varying and changing lengths of time. Then consider the size of the
company, which employs 23 people and last year achieved revenue of $5.4
million.
Yet in a time in which outsourcing as many business
functions as possible is standard operating procedure for so many businesses,
Bates saw good reason to integrate furniture into its operations. Guests
would have the best possible experience; Corporate Accommodations would
have better control over its own operations, and the company would be
able to pick up new clients. Bates and his staff estimate today that they
are able to get 30 customers a year on the weekend that the company would
have previously lost.
"The more chances that we can say yes, then the better off our customers
are going to be, and the better off we're going to be," he said.
None of which made the talks involved any easier.
First, the company needed a warehouse, so
it bought an 8,000-square-foot structure near its offices. Next, it needed
furniture. For beds, Corporate Accommodations hired a local mattress company
to build special-order mattresses. But perhaps the biggest task was to
invest $700,000 to buy bed frames, headboards, sofas, love seats, desks
and other accessories, which the company imported from Asia. That equaled
18 shipping containers that then needed to be trucked across the country
and delivered to Carnegie.
Finally, it needed trained staff. Corporate Accommodations
started a new division and sent employeees to classes on carpet-cleaning
and furniture repair.
Considering the size of the warehouse and the
gradual coming and going of the company's tenants, the delivery of the
furniture needed to be staggered over time.
Lou Oliva, and industrial real estate broker
with Dowtown-based Grubb & Ellis Co., said understanding the logistics
for such shipments can be challenging for the biggest companies, which
typically hire third-party logistics firms to handle such tasks.
"Small companies can be very organized, understand the process and
do a good job with it," he said.
The company integrated the new furniture
into its apartments starting in January 2006, a seasonal low ebb for its
rentals, and completed the switch during an approximately nine-month span.
While Bates said the company planned the big
change with Murphy's Law in mind, the transition went smoothly. Customer
surveys are generating volunteered repsonses praising the leather furniture.
Sometimes they even offer to buy it. Bates said Corporate Accommodations
now operates with greater cost-certainty and is less vulnerable to practices
of other companies.
"It makes us feel like a bigger company because we created a whole
new division, we have more control, and we don't have to function under
someone else's policies, procedures and hour," he said. "It
made us more independent."
January 1, 2008
Leather and Cherry!!
Corporate Accommodations, Inc. sets a new standard in Pittsburgh!! Say "Goodbye" to the look of rental furniture. Providing industry leading quality and value, Paul Bates, President of Corporate Accommodations has personally picked out a deluxe furniture package to provide in all apartments. Now, all apartments come with dark brown leather sofas and loveseats as well as cherry furniture throughout. In addition to purchasing all-new furniture, Corporate Accommodations has contracted a locally owned and operated mattress company to design and produce a mattress to Corporate Accommodations' specifications.
"We are pleased to announce these exciting improvements to our apartments. Now that we have our own furniture, warehouse and furniture vehicles; we can assure that every apartment is held to the upmost standard, 'The Corporate Accommodations Standard,'" company President, Paul Bates said.
For more information contact Matthew Shreve at 412.429.5165 or mshreve@corpaccom.com.
July 28, 2007
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January 1, 2007
Corporate Accommodations, Inc. is pleased to announce its expansion into
another class "A" property in the Pittsburgh area. One, two and three
bedroom corporate apartments are now available at Ventana
Hills on the west side of Pittsburgh in Coraopolis. This property
will conveniently serve the Pittsburgh International Airport as well as
Robinson and Moon Townships. Ventana Hills is conveniently located near
The Mall at Robinson, The Pointe at North Fayette, and Robinson Town Centre.
For more information visit www.corpaccom.com/ventanahills.html
or call 412.429.5165.
April 19, 2006
Corporate Accommodations, Inc. First to Offer Standard High Speed Internet Service in Corporate Apartments
Pittsburgh, PA – April 19, 2006 – Corporate Accommodations now provides another way for its guests to connect to clients, colleagues, friends and family. Beginning in April, Corporate Accommodations will provide high-speed Internet access as a standard amenity in all of its corporate apartments. In the Pittsburgh market, Corporate Accommodations is the first corporate housing company to offer this as a standard part of their apartment package.
“Offering high speed Internet as standard in our apartments is a logical next step in continuing to provide our guests with the most complete apartment package,” said Paul Bates, President of Corporate Accommodations. “In addition to our full furniture package, complete housewares package, utilities, cable television, local phone service, and weekly housekeeping and linen exchange the high speed internet service complements all of our other services.”
This addition will also allow Corporate Accommodations to compete more effectively with suite hotels. “In the past high speed Internet access has not been available throughout our twelve locations. As more apartment communities came online with high-speed access we were able to offer Internet on an as needed basis. Now that it is universally available we are able to include this service system-wide for our clients,” said Mr. Bates.
Mr. Bates added that this addition also serves to keep Corporate Accommodations on the cutting edge of the corporate housing industry. Corporate Accommodations developed an innovative online reservation processing system in 2003 that was the first in the industry.
For more information contact Matthew Shreve at 412.429.5165 or mshreve@corpaccom.com.
February 27, 2004
Paul Bates, President of Corporate Accommodations, Inc. has been named a board member of the Corporate
Housing Providers Association (CHPA). His appointment is due to a change in the association's bylaws
making it necessary to name another board member who was not a licensee or franchisee of a national
provider. As quoted from the CHPA eNews, "Paul ran in the recent board election, received a large
number of votes from the membership at large and so was appointed by the President to the vacant
board seat." Paul joins Ryan A. Cieslak, Sales and Marketing Manager of Corporate Accommodations, Inc. and
CHPA Communications Committee chair as part of the CHPA leadership.
January 30, 2004
Corporate Accommodations, Inc. is pleased to announce its entry into another brand new property in the
Pittsburgh area. One and Two bedroom corporate apartments are now available at Carson Street Commons
on the Southside of Pittsburgh in the new Southside Works development. This property will conveniently
serve the Southside, Downtown Pittsburgh, Oakland, and the Pittsburgh Technology Center on 2nd Avenue. For
more information visit www.corpaccom.com/carsonstreet.html or call 412.429.5165.
January 16, 2004
Corporate Accommodations is pleased to announce that Ryan A. Cieslak has become the 2004 Communications Committee Chair for the Corporate Housing Providers Association (CHPA). To view the press release on this please click here. In addition, Ryan has been nominated for the 2004 CHPA Tower of Excellence "Volunteer of the Year" Award.
September 23 , 2003
Corporate Accommodations has been granted membership in the Pittsburgh Business Travel Association (PBTA). We are proud to be a member of this prestigious group of business travel professionals in the Pittsburgh area.
August 18, 2003
For the third year in a row Corporate Accommodations has been named one of Pittsburgh's largest hotels. In this year's Pittsburgh Business Times list of the "50 Largest Pittsburgh-Area Hotels" Corporate Accommodations is listed as number 26. For more information please visit pittsburgh.bizjournals.com.
April 13, 2003
Corporate Accommodations is proud to announce it's receipt of the "Most Creative Marketing" Tower of Excellence Award at the 2003 CHPA (Corporate Housing Providers Association) Annual Conference in San Diego. The award was received for the video tour that Corporate Accommodations produced and debuted during 2002. The tour can be found at www.corpaccom.com/tour.htm and more information on CHPA can be found at www.corporatehousingproviders.org.
February 10, 2003
Corporate Accommodations is now offering secure online paperwork processing to its clients. To view the press release on this new development, please click here.
January 12, 2003
Corporate Accommodations now has an online tour of its units including information on the corporate housing industry. To view the tour please visit http://www.corpaccom.com/tour.htm
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