Book a home-from-home in West Bridgford

Occasionally, we feature local businesses who get in touch, or who we notice are doing well. It's all part of boosting Borough business.

Katie Aungles, Director of Nook and Cranny, has found a lucrative niche offering home-from-home short-term lettings in serviced apartments in West Bridgford. Katie set up Nook and Cranny as a lettings agency in 2001. Spotting a gap in the market and a great opportunity, she expanded into short-term lets last year.

Nook and Cranny’s short-term lettings service provides luxury accommodation for professionals moving to the area and Katie herself ensures they have a good stay by offering a concierge service. She deals with many top UK and foreign clients and her serviced apartments are furnished with the executive and their family in mind. She pays attention to every detail and each of her client’s requirements, and it is this high level of service that keeps people coming back.

As Katie said, “Moving jobs and re-locating is a big upheaval so I want to make it as painless as possible for people. I’m happy to make sure there’s milk in the fridge when they arrive or a cot up for their baby, it’s all about the details”.

Katie’s approach is certainly working and business is booming. Having set up and built a small business herself, Katie makes every effort to support other small businesses in West Bridgford. She employs a local PA, marketing services, handyman, solicitor and accountant. She also encourages the people who stay with her to put their money back into the local economy, by eating out in West Bridgford for example.

Katie describes herself as a ‘connector’‘– a bridge between people wanting somewhere really nice to stay with people who have somewhere really nice to let. As well as professionals, many of her clients are away on leisure or attending sporting events at one of the nearby football or cricket venues.

Nook and Cranny offer lets for a minimum of one week up to a year and has a wide range of luxury one and two bedroom apartments in central West Bridgford. Katie has met the need for short-term accommodation that has all the home comforts anyone could want with personal service – and all for less than the price of a hotel room. 

If you are looking for a short term let, you can contact Katie on 07905 322113, email [email protected], tweet @NookCrannyAccom or find them on Facebook at NookandCrannyWestBridgford

If the thought of saving money has got your attention, then let us explain just how the serviced apartment can help. Nook & Cranny offers serviced apartments with fully equipped kitchens ready for you to grab that bowl of something healthy in the morning or whip up a delicious evening meal. This alternative to eating out whilst travelling could save your company considerable money on expenses, something that the most forward thinking travel managers are starting to realise.

Sometimes I speak to clients who end up booking a budget hotel because the rate is a few pounds lower, but in the process they are failing to consider the overall cost of the stay as well as the comfort of the employee. The large expenses that go hand in hand with extended hotel stays lead to spiralling costs and this is starting to be identified as a problem. Without the option to cook your own evening meal or to make a quick coffee in the morning, the restaurant bills quickly add up. Meals have been shown to be the third largest cost of the business traveller after airfare and accommodation, but this needn’t be the case.

So the idea of saving money sounds good, but how will the business traveller feel about trading in their Starbucks and room service for home cooked meals?  A study undertaken by The New York Times has shown that the majority of food expenses are spent at chain restaurants. Starbucks and McDonald’s prove most popular, with the lure of free Wi-Fi and quick, convenient meals drawing the weary business traveller in. However, whilst some may enjoy a Big Mac every now and then, if your stay away from home extends longer than a few days you may be keen to find a heartier option, but with the same convenience.

Many may turn to room service at this point – you still have Wi-Fi (albeit at a premium in your hotel) and the convenience of eating in the privacy of your own room (albeit propped up in bed with or without your laptop in your hotel). However, hotels are reporting that guests are turning their backs on this luxury, frustrated by the high surcharges of room service and not feeling like they want to answer the door in their pyjamas at 11pm in the evening. Again serviced apartments offer the solution. The pleasure of cooking up your favourite meal in your own kitchen is something that should not be underestimated when you’re jetlagged, missing home and have an early morning meeting to prepare for.

So, if you are a business with a distinct pattern of extended over-night stays, projects or relocations, serviced apartments offer the perfect solution to your accommodation and expenses woes.