Rentals 2.0

In this modern era, information and people flow freely around the world. Within seconds data can be on another continent; in less than a day so can a person. Geographical distances are no longer a concern when doing business, as the world is now one marketplace.

Because of this new “Global Village” corporations are now able to have a presence that spans across a number of countries. Large multinational firms will often need to move their staff around the world. These postings will often be for a number of weeks, or months. With this time frame it is not economical to stay in a hotel, and leases are not an option as they are given out in six or twelve month intervals.

In order to overcome this problem, a new type of accommodations has emerged: corporate housing.

The nature of the Vancouver economy and trends in the city’s real estate market have created the perfect environment for corporate housing to prosper. A very notable example of this is simply Vancouverism: the integration of commercial, residential, and retail real estate in the downtown core. A pre-Olympics article in the Los Angeles Times proudly extolled the virtues of this “urban motif”, calling it not quite a utopia but an “engineered urban dream”. What this means is that in the traveler staying in corporate housing won’t be stuck out in the periphery of suburbia; they will be within walking distance to the Central Business District. While Vancouver’s engineering and urban planning has meshed the residential and urban creating a hybrid condo centric live-work area downtown, this is not the only reason why there is such a demand for corporate housing in Vancouver.

Vancouver’s economy is comprised of a variety of sectors which often need to temporarily import highly skilled labor or professionals: the film industry, shipping, corporate headquarters, finance, high-tech, and government. The film industry, for example, is one of the biggest clients of corporate housing as they will assemble a cast and crew from all over the continent and bring them to Vancouver for a production that lasts a number of months. Occasionally production companies will come from abroad, with minimal local contacts, and need housing and temporary workspaces.

An example of such situation took place during the Olympics. As we all remember, a portion of the closing ceremonies was dedicated to showcasing Russian arts and culture as the next Winter Games are to take place in Sochi. Part of this segment that accompanied the performance in Vancouver was broadcast live from Sochi — an impressive technical feat. In order to make this work a team from Russia had to be flown to Vancouver to coordinate with the closing ceremonies production team, and the production team in Sochi.

Needless to say, finding a place in Vancouver during the excitement and commotion of the games was no easy task. Real estate was a hot commodity. The Russian production crew needed a place to stay, and a place to work or the show wouldn’t go on.  The indefinite demand for real estate in Vancouver, and the absolute need for this crew to be housed and given workspace presented an exceptional challenge for the team at Golden City Rentals who were tasked with finding the required housing and offices.

Eventually, the team at Golden City Rentals was able to find what the Russian production crew required. After liaising with some of their contacts they managed to find the production crew workspace, conveniently in an office of a well known film production agency. The office of the agency was vacant, as nothing was filming during the two weeks of the Olympics. There was an opportunity for a bridge to be built between this local production agency and the Russian production crew. Sometimes the “Global Village” needs groups that help facilitate in such ways — bridge builders as it were.

The entire industry of corporate housing is built on the notion of building bridges. Providers of corporate housing make sure that the most important asset of a company, its people, are taken care of in the most comfortable and economical manner possible.