Serviced apartments
➔
we are trying to do by way of building partnerships with suppliers, forcing us to look for more providers. We use BridgeStreet but ad hoc we use a few others as well. We would rather use just one. We have a very strong relationship with BridgeStreet but they need to turn around bookings a lot more quickly,” she says. According to regional general manager
of The Ascott Ltd, Rebecca Hollants van Loocke, this is an industry problem: “The ability to respond quickly is one of the biggest challenges facing the apartment sector,” she says. “Clients who book hotels are used to going online and getting an instant booking. Some operators find that a struggle because they have not got access to the inventory – they have not got processes automated. If most of their business is longer stay, they don’t see the need to be responding like a hotel because they are not one.” Mike Butcher, regional travel manager,
Western Europe & Africa for Alcatel-Lucent, also finds serviced apartment providers’ booking facilities unsatisfactory. “On the whole, they don’t use the GDS, they use their own, stand-alone system and some are
better than others,” he says. “The only one that does use the GDS is Ascott, so we incorporate that with our hotel programme. “And some systems provide MI and some don’t. It’s very disparate. It is one of the spaces that needs to be taken by the scruff of the neck and battled into shape,” he says. “One of our providers, ESA, an independent, gives good management information in terms of the stay and what we are doing.”
The providers’ point of view Talking to suppliers about distribution elicits a range of responses as varied as the accommodation they are providing. “We are constantly updating the number of solutions available to our buyers, leading the way with multiple booking channels,” explains BridgeStreet’s senior vice president, sales and marketing, Jo Layton. These range from
bridgestreet.com,
through client-specific extranet/intranet for online booking and special requests to third party internet sites and TMCs with parity pricing and commissionable rates. But these tools do not preclude the
human factor. “The phone and the human touch can still be an essential and positive
The indusTry embraces smarT phone apps
Use of smart phone apps and mobile websites are increasingly becoming the norm, reflecting the needs of the road traveller. BridgeStreet launched an iPhone device last year, which increased activity through the website, and SilverDoor plans to modify its iPhone app for Android tools.
It is launching a mobile website in Q2; as is Frasers, for iPhone and tablet users; London-based Marlin Apartments is developing one, and so too is Citybase. Smartphone users can access The Ascott’s websites and book without an app but an app is now also under development.
Pictured: Go Native Apartments ➔
“The ability to respond quickly is one of the biggest challenges facing the serviced apartment sector today. Clients who book hotels are used to going online and getting an instant booking”
THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE 39
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