Skyline has introduced Yourwelcome technology in all its London apartments, giving guests a tablet to access Skyline and third-party services, room service and, soon, Room Seasons breakfasts. In addition, 150 apartments will be added to the company’s London portfolio, in Canary Wharf and Camden.
IN BRIEF
Apple Apartments has launched Apple Apartments Exclusive, a new brand which will feature only high-end properties. Its serviced
apartments in Mayfair and Edinburgh will be rebranded. Apple Apartments Exclusive will provide a 24-hour concierge, luxury hampers and a private car-hire service.
Oakwood
Worldwide has added three new locations of luxury, serviced apartments to its London portfolio, in Canary Wharf, Kensington and Fitzrovia. It is also launching a new product in November, Oakwood Studios, the first of which will be in Singapore.
Urban Stay is aiming to expand its 33 units in London’s Notting Hill to around 50 by the end of this year, and to 150 in new London markets over five years.
“The facility to consolidate preferred accommodation into a branded portal still eludes suppliers”
brilliant, up 20 per cent year-on-year and with the same stock.” Fallout from the terrorist attacks in Paris has been another factor reducing demand. Not that any of this is deterring expansion in the UK, where stock increased by 6.8 per cent over the past 12 months (1,200 units) with a further 3,628 to be developed over the next four years. However, the sector will remain relatively small and by the end of 2020, it will account for only 3.6 per cent of total accommodation supply, according to Savills.
The industry continues to up its game and the Association of Serviced Apartment Providers (ASAP) has taken on consultant Kim Ashmore to help consolidate growth. “We are looking at engaging with operators and agents who are not members,” says managing director James Foice. ASAP has 141 members and 44 business partners. Five of its 13 agent members have been accredited, an objective being to put the onus on agents to ask “robust questions of the operators they work with regarding insurance policies, risk procedures and health and safety measures”, says Foice. “There has been a big gap there for years and we want to remove the risk from the buyer.”
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
The facility to consolidate preferred accommodation into a branded portal to
Above: Carlow House by Skyline in Camden 102 BBT September/October 2016
handle all online booking requirements still eludes most suppliers. GSAIR estimates that 28 per cent of serviced apartment inventory is still not bookable online. It can, however, be done. Clarendon has built an apartment management system to support its planned expansion. This integrates sales, operations, property compliance and maintenance, and guest services. It also provides real-time booking, client portals and booking via online travel agencies (OTAs). Clarendon’s business is 95 per cent corporate, with extended-stay guests typically staying upwards of 30 nights. However, says sales director Claire Barrie: “We are carefully planning the next phases, to provide tools that allow those that wish to book online to do so with confidence.” Leigh Howell is global business travel manager for GSMA, the trade association for mobile telecoms operators. She introduced serviced apartments 20 months ago because the company was moving offices in London and it was a good opportunity to reassess its accomodation programme, and because travellers from the US office asked her to look at apartments as an alternative to long stays in hotels. Howell mandated use of preferred suppliers when she joined four years ago. “I report on how much our corporate deals have saved us, compared to lowest available rate on the day,” she says. “That has changed behaviour. Compliance is 75-80 per cent and that was my goal.” Howell works with
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