Serviced apartments
“ It is up to us to highlight the benefits of an apartment and raise
awareness of the industry. This is achieved through work with
trade associations to standardise, streamline and align terms and conditions and ratings
” ➔enquiries from the Asia Pacific region.
For large organisations with strict travel policies, the ability to book via GDS is paramount. “We occasionally use serviced apartments on our transient programme, with only a few suppliers. They are all on the GDS and have the same cancellation terms as hotels,” says European category manager for KPMG, Sarah Makings. Alcatel-Lucent uses them for people on
long assignments but where the company’s travel programme is concerned, it is a grey area. “We do use them occasionally for transient travel for one or two nights in local areas,” says regional travel manager, Mike Butcher. He books esa (Executive Serviced Apartments) around Newbury and Reading, near Alcatel’s offices. “But whether serviced apartments are
A BREAKTHROUGH WITH BOOKINGS
THIS June, GoNative launches a new operating platform that provides online booking, sales and reservations, property management, estate management, health and safety, maintenance and detailed case management reporting on faults, account details, payment plans and operating manuals. “We have full integration with a channel manager, which allows us to present on laterooms, Expedia and the GDS,” says Shaun Prime. “And we have a client portal that lets them know where their people are and giving cost per head per night.” GoNative will eventually make this available to the
industry. Currently, most operators have to upload available stock daily and then keep it updated. “Our system is live, providers will be able to load
availability and rate to one place and use our interface to distribute to other channels, and every time they make a sale, the programme will transact that sale and take the rooms off stock.” The system also has guest survey functionality, covering
every aspect of a stay from booking to problem solving. “It will be scored in a matrix and if it that falls below a certain level, it is a service failure and we review that, work out what the issue was and give a direct response to the customer,” says Prime. This feedback will be available to all providers on the system, giving a breakout of guest responses and how the supplier ranked in the system’s short list, highlighting key areas for action. “The industry needs to unify and give a solid presence.
Top issues in our industry are access and consistency and with this system, we will be able to share information,” says Shaun Prime.
that useful in the hotel programme is questionable; they are good for a medium to long-term stay. They don’t lend themselves to short stays because they don’t use the GDS. Booking systems are administratively onerous, it is difficult to get a report and visibility, there can be issues with key hand- over and if I go through a TMC, there is a transaction fee,” he says. Serco’s
Margaret Birse also finds the manual process “frustrating” and to get round this she uses the same system as for events. “It is the only way we can keep tabs on that number of nights and SACO provides MI for us.” Some, however, are happy with the human element. Katie Draycott is office manager for a media intelligence provider and books accommodation with City Apartments for between seven and 14 days every four to five weeks for the company owner and the chief technology officer, who fly in the from the US. She is happy to book by email: “It always gets picked up and I get to know the people there, whether the accommo- dation is available and, if necessary, I phone them. They are quite hands-on.” And IT clients of Staycity who are working
on a long-term contract in Dublin chose the supplier because it was “affordable and easily accessible. Staycity offered a corporate rate, which was extremely competitive and gave our company 20 per cent savings. The booking process over the phone or by email has always elicited an immediate response”, says a spokesman. Lisa Sidebotham is head of tax knowledge management at one of the big consultancies.
She travels to London from Canada every one or two months and stays for two weeks. A colleague recommended serviced apart- ments and she discovered that Deep Blue had accommodation opposite the firm’s London offices. Two years later, she is still booking them.
She usually travels with her team and her company’s travel policy dictates hotel accommodation. “The rate proposal I used for work showed that I saved them £1,500 by paying £160 per night instead of £300, so the firm makes an exception for me,” Sidebotham explains. She says that it would help if Deep Blue
could be booked centrally through Travelocity or American Express’s system, so that her employer could easily find her in the event of an emergency, but for the moment her PA emails Deep Blue and she always gets her favourite apartment. Procurement manager for law firm DC
Beachcroft LLP, Ruth Robinson, buys serviced apartment accommodation through SACO and says it would be “ideal” if the visibility, choice and convenience of booking hotels online were available for serviced apartments. “They know they are behind the curve,” she says but it does not act as a barrier to her booking
up to 100 rooms a month. “Our
average length of stay is two nights and there is probably someone staying in a SACO apartment every day.” Robinson
reckons the firm makes 15 per cent savings. SACO is Beachcroft’s preferred apartment supplier and has accommodation in every main location where the firm needs it. “SACO gives us a very consistent service and we know we are going to get the same quality of product in all their locations,” explains Robinson. The final word goes to SilverDoor: “It is
up to us to highlight the benefits of an apartment and raise awareness of the industry,” says partner relations and rates manager international, Paddy Hegan. “This education comes in the form of
contribution to the standardisation of the industry, so that we can overcome buyers’ misconceptions that booking apartments is full of quirks. It is achieved through work with trade associations to standardise, streamline and align terms and conditions and ratings.”
Pictured: Princes Street Suites, Edinburgh
76 THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE
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