Serviced apartments ➔
to their wish list. When they finalise their order, it gets sent to the reservations team, who guarantee a response within 24 hours. “This is available only to corporate clients,
who have an invoice facility, as well as secure credit card booking, depending on the agreement we have with them. We have already rolled this out on a trial basis for a couple of them,” says the company's sales manager, James Swift. Standing apart from the rush for
technology is SilverDoor, which steadfastly champions telephone and email enquiries. Clients’ average length of stay is 35 nights and the majority of long-stay clients have questions about the area or a particular apartment, according to SilverDoor's marketing manager, Laura Chambers. “We have yet to find an online booking
tool that works in favour of guests that want to stay for several weeks or months,” says Chambers. Clients are put through directly to an
account manager or their own account manager, which can bring benefits such as a conversation that leads to negotiating a discount for a volume booking or getting availability when the computer says ‘no’. And she adds: “Have you ever tried booking multiple apartments with multiple occupant changes on an online tool?” Owner of City Apartments and chairman
of the Association of Serviced Apartment Suppliers (ASAP), David Smith, agrees. “The amount of intelligence needed to put someone into an apartment for a month or even a week cannot be satisfied: how many people are travelling together; studio/open plan; separate lavatories; kitchen en suite to sitting room – there is so much information involved in getting the stay right.” There are other reasons,
on a smaller scale Online booking systems with live availability and access to management information are not exclusive to the major operators. Cotel in Milton Keynes and Northampton provides a full online facility where clients can customise their log-in so that they do not have to enter their details each time. “If we have an
“We have one major serviced apartment
too, for preferring the human touch and one buyer from a major bank likes to deal with serviced apartment suppliers on the telephone because: “We treat each longer stay request as a kind of individual RFP and put it out to a number of different providers, with the most competitive response getting the business,” he says. “I think travellers have less loyalty when it
comes to serviced apartments, so we can easily shift share in this way and make the biggest saving. We have one major provider that insists on email requests, which doesn’t fit our model and their business with us has been decimated as a result.” Flexibility, it seems, is the key.
Pictured: Ascott Citadines
provider that insists on email requests. That doesn’t fit our model so their business with us has been decimated as a result”
apartment type closed off, it comes through as a request and we can check our schedules for an alternative to offer them such as a different location or a free upgrade,” says managing director, Marcia Gomez. “If the apartment
is available then and there, the booker can
enter all their details and the system will automatically send an email to the booker and a text message to their mobile phone, giving all the details for check-in etc, including a map.” With a live online booking system, Town
or Country in Southampton also makes it easy for buyers to book a series of four week-night stays, as required by PwC above. “We are seeing an increase in this type of booking. We personally book all the weeks in advance and then try to fill the gaps at the weekend, as we will always endeavour to keep them in the same property,” says manager Charlotte Glover.
sysTem soluTion?
Property management solution provider ALAVEX has launched a dedicated web-based property management system (PMS) for serviced apartment operators. It can be accessed from any device with an internet connection and gives all operational information at a glance. ALAVEX also provides a comprehensive finance service
– expenses, revenue collection, quotations, invoices and financial reporting – with daily updates. In addition, the back of house information can be used to provide dedicated websites for customers. “Some operators are managing their estate on spread
sheets and this system will allow them to manage their entire operation online – live availability, income and outgoings, housekeeping and cleaning modules, mainte- nance,” says business development manager Hardick Patel. “And client companies can have access to the reporting system via a personalised website, so that they can extract their management information.” Marketing manager of SACO, Matt Edwards, welcomes the
➔
system. “It is always useful when a software provider starts from scratch on a system that takes into account all the missing elements of traditional hotel systems. The model is significantly different for apartment operators, from not checking people in and out, through to invoicing in advance, which many hotel systems fail to accommodate," he says. “This causes a lot of problems for operators, who either have to develop their own systems – often without the right level of expertise – or shoe-horn their business into a system that doesn’t fit. Either way, the effectiveness of the system will be affected. So we would welcome any entrant into the market that offers the top end functional- ity of a traditional hotel system, with the bespoke elements that are essential for serviced apartment operators.”
THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE 43
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