How much notice project teams actually give

What we measured

Every enquiry logged in our own system between 23 February and 11 September 2026: 237 enquiries, 186 of which had both an enquiry date and a confirmed requested check-in date. This is first-party data from bookings we arranged, not a survey.

• Median notice: 5 days. Mean: 18 days (a small number of long-lead programme bookings pull the average up — the median is the number to plan against).
• Median requested stay: 28 nights. Median party size: 3 people.
• Where the requests come from: United Kingdom (106 incl. GB), Germany (36), Ireland (11), Denmark (11), France (8), Netherlands (8), Belgium (7), Sweden (5). Most-named single locations: Edinburgh, London, Kalundborg, Dublin, Pardubice, Coswig, Limerick, Miltenberg, Dresden.
• Median time from enquiry to a quote back with named options: 22 hours (n=68 quoted enquiries; a quarter came back inside half a day).

Why this matters if you run a project

Three consequences follow from a 5-day median:

1. Framework-first, not booking-first. Rates, terms and invoicing set up before mobilisation is what makes a 5-day request answerable. Negotiating commercials while a crew is already travelling is where cost is lost.
2. 28 nights is the pricing boundary, not 7. The median stay sits exactly on the UK's 28-day threshold, which changes the VAT position on a long stay (see our note on the 28-day rule). A stay planned as "about a month" should be priced deliberately either side of it.
3. The scarce resource is verified rooms, not rooms. At 5 days' notice there is no time to inspect. What answers the request is knowing, in advance, which operators near the site have compliant rooms, parking for vans, and laundry — and having asked them the questions before the crew needs a bed.

Method and limits

Population: all enquiries recorded in the Bonjour Residences system in the window, including those we did not win. Notice is calculated from enquiry timestamp to the requested check-in date; enquiries without a firm date are excluded. Bonjour Residences arranges accommodation with independent operators and does not own the properties described. Figures are medians from a 237-enquiry sample and describe our own demand mix, weighted toward data centre, semiconductor, pharma and energy construction in Northern and Western Europe.

Data as at 14 September 2026.