Serviced apartments
GLOBE TROTTERS
Serviced apartments are expanding fast, helping to fulfil demand in every corner of the globe. Despite this positive trend, Catherine Chetwynd finds there are still shortcomings across this maturing sector
SP$2billion; Starwood Capital bought InTown Suites for $735million; Millennium & Copthorne entered the serviced apartments sector with Millennium Executive Apartments Abu Dhabi, with Dubai to follow; Best Western announced its arrival
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in the market, initially in North America; and Preferred Hotel Group created Summit Serviced Residences through a partnership with American extended stay operator AKA, with which The Ascott has also forged a relationship
to create a presence in the US. This dynamism is reflected in findings in the Global Serviced Apartments Industry
Report (GSAIR) undertaken by The Apartment Service, which show that 83 per
cent of operators have seen the number of competitors increase in the past 12 months, compared to 66 per cent three years ago.
Pictured: Citadines Prestige Holborn Covent Garden, London
n the past six months, Frasers Hospitality was bought by Singaporean company TCC Assets for
According to consultancy HVS, the trajectory of
the serviced apartments industry largely follows that of GDP growth, with China showing nine per cent, India at 8.5 per cent and Brazil posting 4.7 per cent growht in 2012. And in India, the sector is having a real impact. “Hotel rates are coming down slightly and that is partly because some people are moving away from hotels into long- stay apartments,” says director of global hotel relations for HRG, Margaret Bowler. “Global groups with long-stay products cannot roll them out quickly enough and other companies are looking at building apartments,” she adds. But Apartment standards can vary, particularly
in emerging markets such as India, according to managing director of The Apartment Service, Charlie McCrow. “One person booked a two-bed apartment and found someone in the other bedroom and living room,” he says. The picture in Latin America is similar to India,
he says. “The sector is expanding in Brazil, where it is difficult to get good accommodation and where, for security reasons, a gated compound is as important as location and quality. And Mozambique and Angola are interesting growth areas, where there is mining and manufacturing, ➔
THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE 69
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