Apartool at FOCUS 2025: Accommodation for Audiovisual Productions

January 15, 2026

Fiona Roca

3 minute read

Large-scale productions come with many challenges: coordinating international teams, managing complex locations, and ensuring high standards of service quality.

Another challenge that often goes unnoticed (but consumes a great deal of valuable time for production companies and location managers) is arranging accommodation for 100, 200, and sometimes more than 300 professionals across one or multiple locations.

Apartool was present at FOCUS 2025, the leading international event for the audiovisual industry, to demonstrate how this exact challenge can be simplified: accommodation for film, television, video game, and advertising productions.

FOCUS 2025: the epicenter of the global audiovisual industry

FOCUS is the leading annual meeting point for professionals involved in the creation, production, and promotion of audiovisual entertainment. It took place on December 8 and 9 at the Business Design Centre in London.

At the event, the leading players of the audiovisual industry came together: producers, directors, location managers, and film commissions from 78 countries.

The atmosphere at FOCUS has a clear purpose: to generate professional connections. At an event like this, delegates are looking for partnerships that solve their biggest operational pain points.

For a production company planning a shoot in a new city, this includes finding a partner who understands its specific needs: multiple verified accommodation options and simplified administrative management. That was the core message Apartool brought to its stand.

One single accommodation partner in any location

Over the two days of the event, what most impressed the delegates who visited the Apartool stand was this idea: it is possible to travel with the same accommodation provider to any destination.

Visitors had already seen traditional travel agencies and hotel managers, but this was something new to them. Why? Because Apartool offers more than 300,000 fully equipped, verified accommodations designed for professional guests across 85 countries, with a continuously expanding catalogue.

For a production company, this is a game changer. This is how Laura Espinosa, Travel & Accommodation Coordinator, explained it on a radio program:

“Apartool makes my day-to-day work in the office much easier. I send them an email with the number of people, the budget, and the city, and in less than 24 hours I have a proposal.”

When you plan an international shoot or need to relocate technical teams from one country to another, several headaches inevitably arise:

Contacting different suppliers in each location.
Negotiating different rates.
Dealing with separate cancellation policies.
Waiting for each provider to process your request.
And the list can go on ad aeternum.

With Apartool, everything is centralized through a single point of contact, with all the advantages this entails: a dedicated Account Manager, an expert reservations team, and access to an intuitive platform where you can find multiple accommodation options.

Many audiovisual professionals already know this

The advertising production company that booked two different types of accommodation in Madrid for an 8-day shoot.
The audiovisual production company that needed 20 apartments in the same neighborhood of Barcelona for a 25-day filming.
The film production company that shot Venom 3, accommodating more than 130 people at Ciudad de la Luz (Alicante) for 14 weeks.

Others discovered it during the event

A wide range of professional profiles stopped by the Apartool stand at FOCUS. It wasn’t only established production companies, but also:

Independent producers looking for scalable solutions for their first shoots.
Location managers analyzing accommodation options for the coming months.
Accounting managers assessing how to optimize budgets.
Freelancers in various technical and management roles.
Complementary service providers interested in partnerships.

What this mix revealed is that the need for corporate accommodation is not limited to Hollywood. An increasing number of mid-sized and small production companies, as well as video game studios and advertising agencies, are internationalizing their operations and require flexible, reliable accommodation solutions.

On the FOCUS 2025 stage

Some of the most interesting talks at the event were given by representatives from film commissions, who showcased the advantages of their regions: unique locations, daylight hours, trained crews, and high-quality hospitality and services.

This highlights how the audiovisual sector is maturing and becoming more professional. It is no longer enough to simply have great locations. Regions are now also competing by offering a complete ecosystem: from permit management to accommodation options with integrated services.

In this context, Apartool represents exactly that level of professionalism that is so highly valued, with verified apartments that comply with all regulations and include cleaning services and local support, while also enabling formal invoicing with reduced VAT.

Apartool at FOCUS 2025: Accommodation for Audiovisual Productions

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Apartool at FOCUS 2025: Accommodation for Audiovisual Productions

Table of contents

Find the apartment you need in the easiest way.

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