SERVICED APARTMENTS BY BOB PAPWORTH
IF PATIENCE IS INDEED A VIRTUE, then James Foice, managing director of the 124-member Association of Serviced Apartment Providers (ASAP), should be in line for sainthood. For what seems like an age, Foice has been banging on about the merits of some sort of quality kitemark for serviced apart- ments and – at long last – he appears to have been proved right. With just a hint of ‘told-you-so’ glee in his voice, he recently revealed that an as-yet-unnamed major corporate has signed up to the notion of ASAP’s Quality Assessment Programme (QAP). “A number of corporates have woken up and seen what we are trying to achieve,” he told Buying Business Travel. “Now, one of them has indicated that quality-accredited members will be built into the company’s travel policy – if you’re not accredited, you go to the bottom the list.” Historically,
travel buyers have
been chary of booking apartments, partly because of the old minimum-stay requirements – which have now, in many cases, been relaxed or dropped if not abandoned altogether – but largely because of a perceived lack of product consistency.
MEETING THE CHALLENGES QAP goes a long way to overcoming that latter challenge. As well as ensur- ing that properties meet basic health and safety requirements and that opera- tors’ business practices are robust, QAP assessors stay in apartments and score their experience.
The assessors get to stay in an awful lot of apartments. “A minimum sample of 10 per cent of the operator’s portfolio will be assessed in order to ensure consistency throughout the portfolio,” ASAP promises.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
Historically, travel buyers have been chary of booking apartments, largely because of a perceived lack of product consistency
More than 50 UK and Ireland operators
have so far been given the ASAP seal of approval and, significantly, Foice is export- ing the idea overseas. In April this year, ASAP’s US counterpart, the Corporate Housing Providers Association (CHPA), agreed to work with ASAP to create the International Serviced Apartment Ac- creditation Programme (ISAAP) which, it is hoped, will eventually go global. Pam Wade, vice-president of Atlanta-
based Gables Corporate Accommoda- tions (GCA), which has become the latest company to join and qualify under the ASAP/CHPA pilot accreditation scheme, says: “Not only do we believe it is impor- tant to have a code of conduct for our industry to maintain quality control and benefit our clients, but we also believe that, with sharing of best practices and ideas, we can continue to provide the best in service, while maximising our deliverables.” “The objective is not for ASAP to conquer the world,” Foice insists. “This is very much a collaborative exercise. As well as the US and Canada, QAP is being introduced in Brussels; Switzerland will be coming soon; and the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal within the next few months.
“The next step will be to take the idea to the Middle East and then farther east – we will license the QAP concept to anyone who is interested in taking things further.” Conquering the world may be off the agenda, but the ASAP’s partnership with the CHPA is a big step towards establish- ing a global standard.
BOOMING MARKET According to the CHPA’s latest Corporate Housing Industry Report, US corporate housing revenues were US$2.73 billion in 2014, a 4 per cent increase over 2013. ASAP reckons the UK industry generates revenues of around £500 million a year. In the Middle East, commercial real estate firm Colliers International reckons the market is booming, with Sharjah, Saudi Arabia and Qatar leading the way as key growth areas. By 2017, the company has forecasted that Sharjah has the potential to fill more than 2,800 new apartments, while in Saudi Arabia, Colliers says a “considerable gap” in standards between the locally-branded furnished-apartment supply and internationally-branded apart- ments means Saudi would need nearly 6,500 new units by 2017, primarily in Makkah (Mecca) and Jeddah. At Oakwood Worldwide, EMEA managing director Debbie Lundon says globalisation is driving demand: “According to a recent global mobility survey by Ernst and Young (EY), 70 per cent of global growth over the next three years will come from emerging markets. The survey indicated that China and India will account for 40 per cent of that growth, and Asia has been a huge area of growth for Oakwood in recent years.” She adds: “We are looking to double our current branded portfolio of 28 properties in APAC in the next three-to-five years.”
BBT SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 99
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