Blueground vs. Airbnb Monthly Stays: Which is right for your employees’ extended stay?

Choosing accommodation for an employee on an extended assignment or during a relocation isn’t a decision most HR and travel managers take lightly. Naturally, you want the employee to settle in quickly and feel supported, giving them everything they need in their off-hours to be productive at work. Without this, you may end up managing complaints and potentially starting the search from scratch. 

Key Takeaways

• Blueground is a managed corporate housing provider with 30,000+ owned and operated apartments across 50 cities, offering standardized quality and all-inclusive monthly pricing.
• Airbnb Monthly Stays is a filter on Airbnb’s peer-to-peer marketplace, so quality, pricing, and support vary by individual host.
• Blueground holds a 4.2/5 Trustpilot rating vs. Airbnb’s 1.3/5, reflecting differences in consistency and support.
• Blueground offers 24/7 dedicated support via its Guest App; Airbnb guests must contact their host first.
• For predictable, scalable corporate housing, Blueground removes the guesswork that comes with booking across multiple independent hosts.

Airbnb Monthly Stays and Blueground both offer furnished accommodations suitable for long-term assignments. But they’re very different products, built on very different models. This article breaks down how these popular platforms compare across pricing, support, and user experience, so you can make the right call for your team. 

What is Blueground?

Blueground is a global provider of fully furnished apartments for stays of 30 days or more. Founded in 2013, the company operates across 50 cities in North America, Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Asia, with a portfolio of 30,000+ apartments. Employees can make themselves at home in apartments ranging from studios to multi-bedroom layouts, which is essential for employees relocating with families. Pet-friendly options are also available. 

Unlike a listing marketplace, Blueground for Business properties are owned and operated by Blueground. Every apartment is furnished and maintained to an incredibly high standard, with high-speed Wi-Fi, a dedicated workspace, and a fully fitted kitchen. Crucially, individual apartments are regularly inspected to ensure a quality stay, every time. 

Blueground for Business serves more than 4,000 corporate accounts, including companies like Tesla, Netflix, Google, Uber, and McKinsey & Company with a wide range of use cases, including: 

• Executive relocations and group moves
• Short- and long-term project assignments
• Intern and rotational programs
• Corporate travel for stays exceeding 30 days

HR and travel managers access a dedicated Enterprise Portal to book available apartments, while employees use the Blueground Guest App to manage all aspects of their stay. 

What are Airbnb monthly stays?

Airbnb monthly stays is a filter within Airbnb’s broader marketplace that lists accommodations available for 28 nights or more. This service isn’t a dedicated corporate housing service or a standalone product. Airbnb Monthly Stays are part of the same peer-to-peer platform used for vacation and holiday bookings, simply with a longer-stay search applied.

Hosts on Airbnb monthly stays are individual property owners who set their own pricing, house rules, cancellation policies, and standards. Since there’s no centralized management or quality standard behind the accommodation inventory, the furnishings and amenities can vary significantly from listing to listing. 

For longer stays, hosts can offer monthly discounts at their own discretion, though this is optional and varies by host. 

Blueground vs. Airbnb monthly stays: at-a-glance comparison

How do Blueground and Airbnb compare on pricing?

Blueground operates on a single, all-inclusive monthly rate. Furniture, utilities, Wi-Fi, professional cleaning, and linen service are all bundled in. Corporate travel managers know the cost upfront, helping HR and finance teams to plan and budget without having to account for any surprise add-ons. 

Airbnb’s pricing works differently, with each listing priced independently by its host. In late 2025, Airbnb moved to a host-only fee model, where hosts absorb a platform fee of 15.5%. Many hosts have responded by raising their nightly rates to compensate, adding another layer of variability to an already inconsistent pricing landscape.

For a single employee booking a short stay, this variability may be manageable. For a travel manager overseeing multiple employees in extended housing across different cities, unpredictable pricing creates real administrative and budgetary challenges.

How do Blueground and Airbnb compare on customer service?

When something goes wrong during an extended stay, your employees will expect it to be fixed quickly.  

As a first step, Airbnb’s own Help Center directs guests to contact their host to resolve their issue. The level and speed of support depend entirely on how responsive the host is and their willingness to act. If contacting the host doesn’t fix the problem, guests can reach Airbnb via messaging, chat, or phone. 

Blueground’s support model works differently by owning the issue end-to-end. Guests have access to 24/7 dedicated support throughout their stay via the Guest App, where they can log issues directly. Customer Experience teams are in every city Blueground operates to help handle anything that arises. If a problem persists, it’s possible to transfer to a different apartment. 

How do Blueground and Airbnb support different lengths of stay?

Blueground is designed for stays of 30 days or more, with flexible lease terms that can extend well beyond that. The average Blueground stay is 2.5 months, and the platform supports everything from short-term project assignments to longer relocations. 

Airbnb supports different stay lengths, with some properties available for monthly stays. Hosts can offer reduced rates for longer stays, with guests making monthly payments rather than paying up front in full. 

How do Blueground and Airbnb approach user experience?

Blueground manages the guest experience from start to finish through the Guest App. Before arrival, guests can browse real-time availability, take 3D apartment tours, and complete a booking in under five minutes. Once they’ve moved in, the app handles everything, such as Wi-Fi and property information, maintenance requests, cleaning scheduling, and booking extensions or early terminations. 

For corporate teams, the Enterprise Portal gives HR and travel managers real-time visibility across all bookings from a single dashboard, so there’s no need to manage accommodation plans manually.

Airbnb’s booking experience is also straightforward. Guests can search through the listings to view photos and reviews, select dates, and book online. For longer stays, hosts can put together local guidebooks with neighborhood recommendations to help guests settle in.

What do customers say about Blueground and Airbnb?

Review platforms tell a clear story. Blueground holds a 4.2 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot based on 2,000+ reviews. Airbnb’s Trustpilot score is 1.3 out of 5 based on 17,000+ reviews.

Blueground customer reviews

Blueground guests highlight two main themes: exceptional accommodation and reliability of support. Ivan, reviewing on Trustpilot, points to the predictability of the experience across properties:

“What I like about Blueground the most is the simplicity… I also appreciate that they maintain strict standards for their interiors. The design is consistent across all their apartments — always very cozy, modern, and high-quality. It is great knowing exactly what to expect regardless of which unit you book.”

Mohamed Albreiki, who booked a six-month stay, describes a similarly smooth experience:

“Their team was amazing, supportive, and very cooperative. The apartment itself was wonderful and had everything I needed, from kitchen equipment to furniture, a TV, and many other essentials. The internet was also very fast.”

Airbnb customer reviews 

The picture looks different on the Airbnb side, particularly for longer stays. Austin Traylor’s 

Trustpilot review describes what happened when his family arrived at a month-and-a-half booking they had paid over $3,000 for:

“When we got there the host decided that she wasn’t going to let us in. We are on the side of the road with two kids and they just won’t even call us back.”

Barbara‘s experience with a month-long rental in Florida reflects a different but equally common frustration:

“There were so many problems with the rental house. I documented and took screen shots of every conversation that I had with the landlord. We only stayed 3 weeks.” 

These experiences aren’t universal. One Airbnb guest spent four months in a rental in France and found the experience positive. Their nightly rates dropped considerably for the longer stay, the host was responsive, and the accommodation met their needs throughout. 

What the positive long-term Airbnb experiences tend to have in common is a host who treats longer stays differently. One experienced host describes their approach to monthly guests—offering to start with a shorter booking before extending, giving guests flexibility over how they pay, and refunding unused days with reasonable notice. It’s a thoughtful model, but as the host acknowledges: “Not all [Airbnb] hosts are going to be this flexible.”

Blueground vs. Airbnb: Which is better for corporate housing?

Still trying to decide whether Blueground or Airbnb monthly stays are the right choice for your employees? Airbnb is one of the world’s most recognized travel platforms, with millions of listings across virtually every city on the globe. Long-term stays have become a significant and growing part of its business, accounting for 17% to 18% of bookings, according to Reuters. The demand for monthly stays is clearly there, and Airbnb has the accommodation inventory to meet it.

But travel managers should look beyond the size and scope of the platform and consider if Airbnb is the best fit for corporate use. The main challenge with Airbnb monthly stays is variability in quality, pricing, and host responsiveness. When every booking is made with a different host, it’s almost impossible to anticipate what your employees will encounter during their stay. 

If you’re looking for something more predictable and consistent, consider Blueground. With 30,000+ apartments across 50 cities, you’ll never depend on an individual host. HR and travel managers have peace of mind that the employee will enjoy an incredible experience, whether an assignment runs 30 days or six months.

Ready to learn more? Learn more about how Blueground for Business can support your employees during travel or relocation.