What does worker accommodation cost? Price factors 2026

What does worker accommodation cost per person per night?

There is no fixed price — costs depend on location, fit-out, length of stay and the number of people. As a rule of thumb: the longer the stay and the more people share one unit, the lower the price per person per night. Worker accommodation is usually cheaper than hotels precisely because it is designed around exactly this calculation.

Rather than looking for a flat rate, it pays to look at the individual price drivers. They explain why the same bed costs twice as much in one city as in another — and how companies can bring their accommodation costs down deliberately.

Factor 1: location and region

The region is the biggest price driver. In conurbations and economic centres with high demand — Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart or Hamburg, for example — prices are well above those in rural areas. In structurally weaker regions or away from the big cities, accommodation is noticeably cheaper.

Temporary demand peaks also feed through to the price: major trade fairs, construction projects or seasonal assignments push accommodation costs up in individual cities because many companies are looking for beds at the same time. Anyone who can be flexible often finds far cheaper beds in the next town along.

Factor 2: fit-out and standard

The second big factor is the fit-out. Simple accommodation with a shared room, shared bathroom and basic equipment sits at the lower end of the price range. Surcharges come from single rooms, a private bathroom, a fully equipped kitchen, a washing machine, Wi-Fi, parking spaces for company vehicles or weekly cleaning.

It is precisely the practical extras that decide the total price: a kitchen for self-catering saves restaurant costs, a washing machine saves trips to the launderette, and parking for the van is often indispensable on sites. What looks more expensive at first glance can work out cheaper across the whole assignment — if the fit-out replaces other spending.

Factor 3: length of stay

Duration has a considerable effect on the nightly price. For short stays of a few nights you pay more per night; for longer bookings over weeks or months the nightly price falls, because landlords gain planning certainty and cleaning and administration are needed less often.

Many providers of worker accommodation calculate explicitly for long-stay guests and offer tiered pricing: weekly or monthly rates work out below the price for individual nights. For predictable assignments running several weeks, that is the most effective lever for cutting costs.

Factor 4: headcount and company bookings

For companies, headcount is the decisive cost factor. If a whole apartment or house is booked for a team, the price per head falls significantly, because base costs such as rent, utilities and cleaning are spread across several people. A four-man team in one apartment usually pays less per person than a single individual in a comparable room.

That is the key difference between a company booking and an individual one: individuals pay the full price for their room, whereas companies push the per-head price down by occupying whole units together. Many landlords also grant discounts on framework agreements or repeat bookings. Anyone housing teams regularly should ask specifically about such terms.

Deductibility for companies: accommodation costs as a business expense

For companies, the accommodation costs of their fitters are in principle deductible as a Betriebsausgabe (business expense) at their actual level, provided the assignment is work-related. Where this is a work-related Auswärtstätigkeit (work away from the regular place of work), the employer can reimburse the employee's actual accommodation costs tax-free or claim them as a business expense.

For a work-related Auswärtstätigkeit — the typical situation of a fitter at changing places of work or on sites — accommodation costs can be taken into account at their actual, documented level for the first 48 consecutive months at the same place of work; only after that does a limit of 1,000 euros per month apply. Receipts are always needed for the deduction. Only for tax-free reimbursement by the employer is a flat rate of 20 euros per domestic overnight stay possible without individual proof — as an income-related expense or business expense deduction, this flat rate does not exist. For additional subsistence costs, the familiar three-month rule with flat rates of 14 and 28 euros applies on top. These rules are based on the tax law on travel expenses (§ 9 (1) sentence 3 no. 5a EStG — the German Income Tax Act).

The distinction from the erste Tätigkeitsstätte (first place of work) matters: if the fitter regularly travels to one fixed operation, different rules apply than for constantly changing sites. In case of doubt, the tax adviser should clarify the specific classification.

Deductibility for fitters: doppelte Haushaltsführung

If the fitter pays for the accommodation himself and there is a doppelte Haushaltsführung (maintaining a second household for work reasons), he can deduct the costs as income-related expenses. This requires his own household at his place of residence and a second accommodation at the place of work. For accommodation costs, an upper limit of 1,000 euros per month applies here (§ 9 (1) sentence 3 no. 5 EStG).

In the view of the tax authorities, this 1,000-euro limit covers all accommodation costs such as rent, utilities, cleaning, second-home tax and the broadcasting fee. Costs for the necessary furnishing of the second dwelling, by contrast, do not count towards it according to the Bundesfinanzhof (BFH — the Federal Fiscal Court) and are deductible on top (BFH judgment of 4 April 2019, VI R 18/17). Whether a given case involves doppelte Haushaltsführung or an Auswärtstätigkeit has a noticeable effect on the deduction — which is why the classification should be checked properly.

How companies can calculate the total cost realistically

The bare nightly price is not enough for a robust calculation. Offset the fit-out against it: accommodation with a kitchen and washing machine lowers catering and laundry costs, and a parking space saves parking fees. A slightly higher nightly price can pay off across the assignment if other spending falls away.

The second lever is occupancy: whole units for teams, plus weekly or monthly rates, cut the per-head price most sharply. Anyone housing fitters regularly benefits from framework agreements. And finally the tax side counts: cleanly documented receipts secure the business expense deduction and the tax-free reimbursement to employees.