Serviced apartments
“The serviced apartment sector is not at all in the dark ages. Technology is pushing forward all the time but there comes a point when humans prefer
to deal with humans rather than machines and I think this may be the primary role of the agent – to provide that contact”
gds, Technology and mi
Despite the recognised difficulties the sector has with distribution, The Spires, Think, The Apartment Service, The Ascott and Fountain Court all give live availability via their own websites. In addition, BridgeStreet, Citybase, The Spires, The Ascott,
Fountain Court and House of Modern Living all have their estate wholly or partially listed on the GDS, which ensures access to MI. Non-GDS operators also make MI available and Citybase's Richard Lovelock says the need for it should not be underestimated: “Realistically in this industry, the only way to achieve this is to use a booking agent that consoli- dates the whole market. This means that all bookings are centralised and therefore all MI is centralised. It can then be fed back to the client in one clear and consistent format, which is what we do.” SilverDoor, Skyline and Roomspace Serviced Apartments
provide MI from their own reporting systems. GoNative MI includes as standard details on spend, volume per property, per location; cost per head per night analysis; savings reports and SLA scoring, plus data as required by each client. The new system will fully automate this and clients will have access to it 'at the touch of a button'. Cheval Residences is upgrading its property management
system and was due to have all properties live by the first week in April. “This will allow us to interface with GDS and have a limited amount of online availability,” says George Westwell. The same inventory will also be available via a link to the Cheval app and website. “We are not putting all apart- ments on it, it is more for last-minute availability,” he says.
➔ Marlin Apartment’s corporate clients can
also access agreed rates using an assigned user name and password. The serviced apartment industry may have
a way to go before it offers booking with the consummate ease provided by the hotel industry but it is not trying to do the same job. The last word goes to founder of the Serviced Apartments Booking Agency, Richard Majewski. “The serviced apartment sector is not at all in the dark ages. Tech- nology is pushing forward all the time but there comes a point when humans prefer to deal with humans rather than machines and I think this may be the primary role of the agent – to provide that contact,” he says.
“I think the human factor is revealing
itself in the development of the serviced apartment model: we have had the self- sufficient and private, own front door serviced apartment. But it isn’t really your own front door and you don’t know your neighbours like you do at home. “The extended-stay hotel model model
ensures that guests don’t get lonely. It creates a community by offering a social area and welcome drinks. Technology is good if it recognises human nature,” Majewski concludes.
Pictured from top: SilverDoor Apartments; Skyline Apartments; Cheval Residences
THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE 45
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