www.buyingbusinesstravel.com
Serviced apartments
Hylander adds that travellers are free to choose serviced apartments if they wish: “As long as the selection of a serviced apartment is complying with policy, we don’t regulate the traveller’s choice.”
One of the issues for the serviced
apartment sector is that travel programmes sometimes bundle all accommodation into one category, so serviced apartments get lost in a global hotel programme. Or the reverse can happen, where hotels and serviced apartments are in separate programmes – but with this model the traveller’s choice can be channelled into the more dominant sector, depending on the travel policy. As Jo Redman, marketing director
at SACO serviced apartments, explains: “It depends how good the buyers are at understanding the sector, and how they have written the travel policy to be channelled into hotels or serviced apartments.”
One of the issues for the serviced apartment sector is that accommodation is sometimes bundled into one category
Volvo Group’s Hylander says: “We have contracted a couple of serviced apartments for our top destinations and they are rapidly gaining in popularity. However, we have not specified the type of property in our travel-and-meetings policy, as they are included as an option in our global hotel programme.”
CORPORATE AWARENESS This is where travel management companies (TMCs) can help out. HRG sources serviced apartments according to traveller needs. Margaret Bowler, HRG’s director of global hotel relations, says: “Corporate awareness of the sector is definitely growing, and we deal with a lot of apartment programmes rather than just transient stays running alongside clients’ hotel programmes.” But Carolyn Davies, procurement
manager for sourcing and procurement specialist Profitflo, says the use of serviced apartments where necessary needs to be a more
Citadines SPOTLIGHT on extended-stay
HOTEL BRANDS HAVE started muscling in on the apartment party by offering extended-stay options to their guests. In the UK, IHG’s Staybridge Suites arrived in Liverpool in 2008, followed by Newcastle in 2009. Silverdoor’s portfolio includes Taj’s luxury residences at 51 Buckingham Gate. Marriott Executive Apartments offers a luxury option in Docklands with West India Quay apartments, and last year Jumeirah Living launched the Grosvenor House Apartments on Park Lane. Jumeirah sales director
Steve Thorne says: “The market has expanded in the last 15 years in London, but we are providing a service beyond a serviced apartment and the hotel element will play a much bigger part with us.” The 133 apartments range from a studio to a five-bedroom penthouse, and services include 24-hour concierge, daily maid service, business facilities, an executive boardroom, gym, spa, 24- hour in-residence dining and secure access.
Grosvenor House Apartments by Jumeirah
Go Native’s CEO Guy Nixon doesn’t see this type of apartment accommodation as a threat to serviced apartments. “I am a purist and we don’t regard those as really being serviced apartments because the service levels are so high. We don’t see them as competition but as a completely different product,” he says. Marlin Apartments’ managing director, Susan Cully, accepts the extended-stay model as a positive development. “Competition is good and serviced apartments hold a tiny percentage of overall accommodation so, if hotels enter this space, they will raise awareness of the sector,” she says. Adds HRG director Margaret Bowler:
“Apartment providers will say what they offer is different to extended- stay hotels, but a long stay alongside a hotel, where you can use all the facilities, is the best of both worlds. However, many apartments offer these facilities, too, and a lot of corporates have negotiated rates with apartments.” The Grosvenor House Apartments have set themselves apart from other extended-stay options by calling themselves a ‘hotel residence’, but does the industry really need another type of property in the mix? Thorne says: “We are defining ourselves as a hotel residence and, if we can set the benchmark as a hotel residence, it’s natural for some providers to strive for it.”
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