Travelers Haven: 2014 year in review: 13,000+ healthcare travelers, record low vacancy and lower rental rates

2014 was a record-setting year for Travelers Haven. Last year, we housed more healthcare travelers and secured more supplier partnerships than in any previous year in company history. Our increased scale boosted our ability to negotiate better terms for our clients. We launched the Travelers Haven Portal, a centralized housing management system, and Hotel Engine for Business, a corporate booking platform that can save your business up to 60% on hotels.

Here are three major milestones we achieved for our clients in 2014.

We reduced our partners’ vacancy to an industry-low 1.9%.

In 2014, we concentrated on saving our clients’ money by reducing their vacancy rates. Our unique position as the nation’s largest supplier of housing to the healthcare industry combined with increasing demand from clients, and new property partnerships allowed us to reduce vacancy costs for our partners.

In addition, we expanded our Vacancy Reduction Exchange and increased marketing efforts for our partners’ leases. As a result of our efforts, our clients saw their vacancy rates shrink to an industry-low 1.9%.

We leveraged our increasing volume to secure 480 supplier partnerships.

With over 13,000 healthcare traveler placements in 2014, our ability to negotiate for better rates increased significantly. We used our purchasing power to strategically reduce our clients’ rental rates while improving lease terms with more month-to-month leases, waived admin fees and long-term rates on short-term leases.

In 2015, we will continue our efforts to develop more strategic relationships with more properties to deliver value to our partners.

We delivered housing and hotel rates that beat market trends.

Delivering on our promise to provide the best possible housing and hotel rates to our clients, in 2014, we beat the market on both accounts.

Travelers Haven’s clients’ saw their housing rental rates end the year 1.31% lower compared to December 2013. The same trend was seen for hotel rates, which ended the year down a record 6.44%.

This achievement is particularly significant because the average housing and hotel rates nationwide increased last year. According to real estate information provider Reis, apartment rents climbed an average of 3.6% in 2014. Meanwhile, the average cost of a hotel room in the United States was close to its all-time high in the first half of the year.

At Travelers Haven, our core mission is to support the healthcare industry by providing our clients with the most innovative housing solutions available. In 2015, we will continue to deliver value by securing more partners, negotiating better terms, and reducing vacancies further.