CHPA Connect26 Insights - Corporate Housing Value, AI, and Sustainability

This article highlights key insights from CHPA Connect26, the Corporate Housing Providers Association’s annual conference, and explains how corporate housing is increasing its value for global mobility, business travel, and workforce programs. The Corporate Housing Providers Association (CHPA) is the largest trade association representing the furnished accommodations industry, including housing providers, agencies, technology platforms, and ancillary services. 

With 570 attendees from 250 companies across fourteen countries, the conference showcased how furnished accommodations are emerging as a cost-effective and experience-driven alternative to hotels, particularly for longer stays.

Educational sessions focused on the use of artificial intelligence to improve operational efficiency, real-time pricing transparency, and customer responsiveness across more than 1,000 markets. Sustainability was a central theme, with growing adoption of emissions measurement tools such as the Furnished Accommodations Carbon Calculator Tool (FACCT) and increased investment in eco-friendly housing options. FACCT was co-developed by CHPA and Greenview, a recognized leader in sustainability platforms for the hospitality industry, and with project funding by industry leaders, including Dwellworks Living.

The event also highlighted expanding demand for group housing to support training programs, internships, project work, and rotational assignments. For corporate clients, these trends translate into broader housing choice, improved cost control, data-driven sustainability reporting, and greater visibility into temporary living programs.

Who Should Read This Blog? 

This article is intended for global mobility leaders, corporate travel managers, HR and talent teams, procurement professionals, and sustainability stakeholders evaluating alternatives to hotel-based accommodations and reviewing their accommodations program design overall.

What Are the Key Trends in Global Travel and Accommodations? 

According to the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), spending on global business travel in 2025 exceeded $1.5 trillion, with over a third of the cost of travel, more than $500 billion, associated with accommodations. While 70% of global travelers book in hotels, alternative accommodations solutions like professionally managed furnished housing are increasing their market share. This uptick aligns with increased expectations from travelers regarding the quality and comfort of their accommodations, especially for longer stays, and the competitive pricing of up to 20% less than hotel bookings, depending on the market, offered by furnished accommodations. 

The investment market has noticed the opportunity in furnished accommodations in multi-family housing, with developer interest in corporate housing increasing steadily in 2025. CHPA Connect26 reflected the response of housing suppliers to expanding market opportunity, with educational sessions focused on customer awareness, adoption of AI tools to improve operating efficiency, customer communications, and business growth, and expanding the use of corporate housing beyond traditional relocation, travel, and insurance needs to group housing, training, internships, and project assignments. 

What Solutions are Dwellworks Living and Other Corporate Housing Innovators Bringing to the Market? 

CHPA Connect26 was equal parts partnership development across the hundreds of housing operators in small-, mid- and large-sized markets looking to nurture growth and find solutions for their clients, and educational sessions that benefited the industry overall. 

Dwellworks Living is an accredited member of CHPA, whose Executive Chairman, Bob Rosing is a member of the CHPA Board. We’re also the Sustainability Sponsor of Connect26 (and of previous years’ conferences as well). We led a discussion on emissions measurement and the client-driven expectation for corporate housing investment in sustainability, anchored by leading client representatives who made clear the priority that major employers place on sustainable progress. 

Other panelists included high-profile housing suppliers and agencies, and Nick Estrada, the CEO of CHPA, commented on the increased uptake of members engaged in completing FACCT – the Furnished Accommodations Carbon Calculator Tool and on an easier-to-use interface being rolled out this year. 

Sessions at Connect26 focused on solutions for group needs, technology investments to maximize occupancy and control costs, and a popular Idea Factory session, where innovative thinkers in corporate housing shared 20 terrific ideas in 45 minutes, ranging from smarter use of LinkedIn connection tools to increase property visibility (a benefit to both operators and clients), references to high quality property imaging and photo resources, and recommendations for low cost furnishing solutions that are sustainable, reusable, and offer an upgraded feel to the housing experience. 

Key Takeaways for Corporate Clients

• Furnished accommodations can offer up to 20% cost savings compared to hotels for longer stays

• AI is accelerating efficiency in corporate housing invoicing, occupancy management, and guest response times 

• Sustainability measurement tools like FACCT are becoming industry-standard expectations

How is AI Reducing Costs and Improving Efficiency in Corporate Housing?

Dwellworks Living was excited to sponsor a session presented by Handoff, a professional services firm providing comprehensive outsourcing of human resources and marketing support needs for accommodations providers, so operators can focus on customer care and building their business. 

 In their CHPA Connect26 session, Handoff CEO Anthony Gonzales and VP, Automation Jake Castro demonstrated how they’ve put AI to use in their own business to consolidate information, organize marketing campaigns, minimize repetitive work, and increase sales. The takeaway for attendees was to start by “identifying the manual task that steals the most time from your work week.” Handoff demonstrated how businesses can be made more efficient by asking a series of questions that lead to leveraged use of AI without breaking IT budgets. 

A related session included operating efficiency improvements from Landing, the Connect26 event sponsor. Corporate housing operators typically have extensive data sets that can be analyzed for patterns, leading to automation efficiency from invoicing to providing faster answers to guests staying in housing. Furnished accommodations is an industry where the AI mantra of automating rote work so that experts can spend more time with customers is a reality. 

How is Corporate Housing Related to Broader Rental Housing Market Trends?

Zooming out to macro impacts in employment and rental housing, some of the most interesting sessions at CHPA Connect26 were led by futurist Brian Johnson, and two economists, Julia Coronado at Macro Policy and Arben Skivjani at RealPage. Among their observations:

• In most US markets, rental housing is in good supply due to recent developer investment 

• The ‘supply boom’ is coming to an end, so prices may be impacted this year 

• Rental housing will remain the preferred option for 30%+ of the population, influencing policy and investment decisions 

• Think ‘backwards’ about the future so you can influence long-term outcomes by making informed short-term decisions 

Learnings from Connect26 That We Will Bring to Our Clients and Partners

CHPA Connect26 was an environment of heightened engagement and open idea sharing. Success in the furnished accommodations industry requires cooperation among members because no single housing solution meets every client’s need in every market.

 As a solutions provider with a partner portfolio to address housing needs at global scale, for any requirement in business travel, global mobility, group housing, project work, rotational assignments, intern housing and more, we benefit from the latest thinking shared by our partners. In 2026 our clients:

• Will see expanded portfolio options as housing partners increase market coverage

• Will gain data-driven emissions reporting and validated eco-friendly housing options aligned with sustainability targets

• Will access our AI-powered client portal, offering full visibility into temporary living programs

• Will benefit from real-time ADR pricing across 1,000+ markets to support budgeting and cost controls

• Will have on-demand solutions for group housing, internships, and project-based assignments as well as support for global mobility and business travel needs

Interested in the latest innovations and market updates in temporary living and furnished accommodations? Read our blogs and access our market reports. 

About Dwellworks Living

Dwellworks Living is the global corporate housing solution of Dwellworks, an award-winning, business-to-business provider of global mobility and business travel services. As a global leader in corporate housing and serviced accommodations solutions, Dwellworks Living is uniquely positioned to meet the temporary living needs of businesses and their employees who are relocating or traveling on short-, medium- or extended-stays. With 80,000 high-quality professionally managed properties in over 125 countries worldwide, Dwellworks Living is the preferred housing solutions partner of many Fortune 1000 and leading relocation management companies. 

Dwellworks Living's corporate housing and serviced accommodations solutions are designed to help businesses attract and retain top talent, support employee productivity, and ensure a smooth and successful relocation or business travel experience. Whether you have corporate housing needs for an individual employee or a large team, Dwellworks Living can provide the serviced accommodations solutions you need anywhere in the world to ensure a safe and successful stay. Please contact us at dwellworksliving.com to learn more or visit our Properties page to begin your search for global housing accommodations.