and afternoon snacks in the lounge. The Heathrow building follows in the same mould. Marlin’s aparthotel on Westminster Bridge Road opens in December with office units, shops and restaurant. Business models are also changing.
AIG’s arrangement with The Apartment Service (TAS), which handles all the com- pany’s serviced apartment bookings, is a step away from the norm. Similarly, Go Native manages PWC’s programme. It has an implant in PWC’s offices, and shares preferred supplier status with SACO. With spend on serviced apartments
increasing dramatically and the incumbent travel management company (TMC) not cut out to manage apartment bookings – especially reporting – to the required level, PWC decided to merge its global
“It became clear we could leave out the TMC. We had enough business to justify a person working on it”
mobility and transient travel spend to get a bigger picture for a request for proposal on apartments in 2014. “It became clear we could leave out the TMC. We had enough business to justify a person working on it and Go Native was keen to support us
on that,” says PWC’s head of hotels and venues, Sam van Leeuwen. As a result, since March 2015, the PWC apartment lead has been an implant from Go Native. There is one internal number that goes direct to her and she handles all apartment requests and reporting. “And because she is in our offices, there is a better relationship; she is involved in our project work and helps with the communication side,” says Van Leeuwen.
Also taking the broader view is Van Leeuwen’s decision to take long leases on apartments in London for project work – one year with a six-month break clause or longer. This is managed by SACO. “We have leased some apartments for a couple of years for projects in London and that is delivering huge savings,” says Van Leeuwen.
Grand designs
“THE INTRODUCTION OF URBAN VILLA, ROOST AND REDBURY, and their success to date, has demonstrated that there is a significant demand for lifestyle serviced apartments that provide the best of serviced apartment and design hotel living,” says management director for development at SACO, Eric Jafari. However, price is key. “The most successful products are ones that are able to deliver culturally immersive experiences in a cost-effective manner,” he says.
Fashioned by Hans Meyer,
creative brain behind Citizen M, and business partner Marc Jongerius, Zoku Loft rooms-cum-office reflect the blurring of boundaries between work and leisure, and have large, social public areas. Facilities include self-service check-in/out stations, meeting rooms and automated billing. There is also the communal ‘Living
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
Room’ with bar and 24-hour shop, and the ‘Living Kitchen’ restaurant with a fixed-price menu that changes daily. The first property opens in Amsterdam this year and other potential locations include London, Paris and Copenhagen. The idea of Urban Villa was to merge boutique- hotel style and extended- stay space without the
corporate feel of the existing extended-stay model and, in its first incarnation in west London’s Brentford, public areas are designed for work and play, and food and beverage includes Allpress coffee, tea from T2 and craft beers. Rooms comprise an elevated bed, kitchenette, work station and smart TV; and extras, such as spa treatments and furniture for a
meeting/dinner party, can be ordered to the room. And now Mercedes has accelerated into the hospitality industry in a joint venture with Frasers to create Mercedes-Benz Living @ Fraser. First off the grid are six apartments at Fraser Suites Kensington. Design and fittings are sleek and notably upmarket, if rather masculine, in which Swarovski also got a look-in with a clever S-Class – sorry, S-shaped – chandelier, best seen reflected in the glass topped table below. Go Native’s relationship
Urban Villa, Brentford, London
with architects Archer Humphryes (think Chiltern Firehouse) means innovative buildings, informed by customer focus groups, will also be making their mark. Showing some foresight, Staying Cool led the way in design when it opened ten years ago in the Grade II- listed Rotunda highrise in Birmingham.
BBT MARCH/APRIL 2016 101
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