Media
May 25 , 2004 - Sydney Morning Herald
Accommodating needs proves a winner
When Craig and Kay Barney moved to Melbourne in 1999 with their one-year-old infant, they never dreamed it was the start of a multimillion-dollar business servicing the IT industry. The family relocated from Sydney when Craig, a consultant to Ford, was given an assignment down south. They were placed in a sub-standard serviced apartment for months until better accommodation could be arranged.
Like the birth of many other great ideas, Kay Barney’s own experience suggested that there must be a better way of doing things. So with working capital of just $5000 and the aid of a friend in Sydney who helped IT professionals find accommodation while working on projects, Kay started Corporate Housing Pty Ltd.
Four years later, Corporate Housing provides medium-term, cost-effective serviced accommodation in good residential properties for clients such as IBM, Oracle, Unisys, KPMG and Deloitte, which often relocate their staff temporarily to work on projects.
“IT companies have teams of people working on projects for periods of three to six months,” Kay Barney says. “About 60 per cent are from overseas and the rest relocate from interstate.
“These corporate clients have a high expectation of accommodation standards, which includes things such as air-conditioning, pools and gyms.”
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