17 Questions to Ask Before Booking an Extended Stay

Booking three nights somewhere is low-stakes; if it’s disappointing you leave on Thursday. Booking three months is a different exercise entirely, and the listing photographs are close to useless for it. What decides whether a long stay works is a set of unglamorous details that almost nobody thinks to ask about until week two.

In short: before committing to an extended stay anywhere, get written answers on inclusions, internet, climate control, workspace, cleaning, maintenance response, neighbours, deposits and date flexibility. Below are seventeen questions in the order we’d ask them. Any professional operator will answer all of them without hesitating — and the hesitation itself is information.

Money and terms

1. What exactly is included in the price?

You are looking for a list, not an adjective. Utilities, internet, cleaning, linen, towels, consumables. Then the follow-up that matters: what is capped or excluded? Electricity thresholds are the usual catch, and in Malta an air-conditioned summer month can move the number materially.

2. Is the rate monthly, or nightly multiplied by thirty?

Genuine extended-stay pricing improves with duration. If the rate is simply the nightly price times the number of nights, you are being sold a holiday let in longer trousers — and you will feel that in how the place is run, not just what you pay.

3. What is the deposit, and what are the conditions for its return?

Amount, hold or charge, and the timeline for refund after checkout. Get it in writing. This is the single most common source of long-stay disputes.

4. Can the dates flex if my plans change?

Contracts get extended, projects slip, terms shift. Ask what happens if you need two extra weeks — and what happens if you need to leave a month early. The answer reveals more about the operator than any review.

5. Will I get a written agreement and a proper invoice?

Essential if an employer, university or accountant is involved, and a decent proxy for professionalism if not.

The apartment itself

6. How is the internet delivered — and is there a wired option?

Ask for the provider and the actual speed, not the word fast. If you work, ask specifically about Ethernet: wifi is fine until the evening everyone in the building starts streaming and you have a call that matters.

7. Is there air conditioning in every room — and will the place hold its warmth?

Split units in Malta heat as well as cool as standard, so the question is coverage and insulation. Plenty of apartments put a unit in the bedroom and the living room and nowhere else. Ask room by room, and ask about the glazing: Maltese buildings were designed to shed heat, and single-glazed windows let a January evening’s warmth straight out. Ask about damp too — it is the most common winter complaint on the island.

8. Where would I actually work?

Not is there wifi — where do I sit for eight hours. A dining chair is not a workspace over three months. Ask about a desk, a monitor, a chair with adjustment, and whether the space has a door.

9. Is there a washing machine in the apartment, and does it dry?

Over a month, laundry is a logistics problem. An in-apartment machine changes the shape of your week; a shared basement one does too, in the other direction.

10. What is the bed, actually?

You will sleep on it a hundred times. Ask about the mattress, whether there is blackout, and how quiet the bedroom is at night. Sofa beds and futons are fine for a weekend and punishing over a season.

11. How is the kitchen equipped?

Cooking is what makes a long stay affordable and bearable. An oven, a hob that works, sharp knives, actual pans. Ask what is there rather than assuming.

How the place is run

12. Who answers when something breaks, and how fast?

A name and a response time, ideally with an example. On a three-month stay something will break; the difference between a good and a bad stay is what happens next.

13. How often is it cleaned, and what does that include?

Weekly, fortnightly, on request? Linen and towels changed or laundered by you? Is a mid-stay deep clean included? Both answers are acceptable — not knowing is not.

14. Who else is in the building?

Long-stay neighbours or nightly turnover? Is anyone screened? This is invisible at booking and unavoidable by week two, and it is the single most underrated variable in a long stay.

15. Is there a lift, and which floor am I on?

Trivial for three nights. Not trivial with three months of shopping, luggage and laundry.

The neighbourhood

16. What is within a five-minute walk?

Grocery, pharmacy, bakery, somewhere for coffee, a bus stop. Over months, the daily-errand radius matters more than the view, and a beautiful apartment twenty minutes from a supermarket becomes a chore.

17. What is the street like at 11pm on a Saturday?

Ask directly, and ask the operator to be honest. A good one will tell you. Nightlife proximity is a feature for two nights and a problem for two months.

The meta-question

If you only ask one thing, ask this: who is the person responsible for this apartment, and can I speak to them before I book? An operator who takes that call and answers seventeen questions in order is telling you exactly how the next three months will go. One who routes you to a form is telling you that too.

For the wider picture, our monthly rentals guide covers comparing offers, the honest cost breakdown is here, and the serviced-apartment, Airbnb and long-let comparison explains which format suits which stay.

Frequently asked questions

What is an extended stay?

An extended stay is accommodation booked for weeks or months rather than nights — typically one to six months. It sits between a holiday rental and a residential lease: furnished and serviced like a hotel, but with a kitchen, laundry and living space, and usually billed monthly with utilities and internet included.

What should I ask before booking a long-stay apartment?

The decisive questions are about the things you cannot see in photographs: what exactly is included in the price, how the internet is delivered, whether every room has air conditioning and how well the place holds warmth, who answers when something breaks, how cleaning and linen work, what happens if your dates change, and who else lives in the building.

What is usually included in an extended stay?

Ordinarily: furnishings, utilities, internet, and periodic cleaning with linen and towel changes. Frequently excluded or capped: electricity above a threshold, extra cleans, parking, and anything described as on request. Always get the inclusions in writing before paying a deposit.

At Morrison Court the answers are: everything included, wired Ethernet in every apartment, air conditioning in every room, a real office with a door, washer-dryer, weekly cleaning, a person who answers in minutes, screened neighbours, and a lift. Ask us the other nine at morrisoncourt.com.