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“Travel managers give millennial travellers greater freedom in booking policies, with a cap on spend working out better value than long-term deals”


the TMC to ensure preferred suppliers are highlighted in the company’s booking tool. Serviced apartment suppliers Bridgestreet


and SACO both have accommodation close to GSMA’s Cannon Street offices, and they are such a success she is now looking at adding them to her US programme. Howell buys 40-50 nights a month, and there is a cap of £200 a night on all the company’s London accommodation. “They are coming in at £165 to £185 a night,” she says. More typical of booking patterns is entertainment organisation IMG, whose travellers use serviced apartments in the UK, Paris and New York for between one and three weeks. Suppliers are Silverdoor, SACO and Clarendon, and bookings are made through a mixture of email and phone, which means management information data is not always captured.


BLURRING BOUNDARIES


The merging of hotels and serviced apartments is exercising many minds, as hotels introduce rooms with apartment- style facilities, and serviced apartments go after short-stay guests, particularly in aparthotels, which have taken on a strong design flavour. SACO’s new Locke brand plays to this requirement. A Locke opens on Leman Street, City of London, on October 24, followed by one on George Street, Edinburgh, in early 2017; and then in Amsterdam and Dublin. Bridgestreet’s


104 BBT September/October 2016


Mode brand launches in Washington DC and Paris, and there is investment for five Modes in California and up to 15 in key cities in India, both over the next six years. And Staycity Aparthotels at Heathrow, in Birmingham and most recently, York, set the model for all the company’s openings, which this year will be in Marseille, Lyons, Manchester and Liverpool. Further blurring of boundaries comes with Marlin’s Waterloo aparthotel (spring 2017), which will have food and beverage services.


Above left: Oakwood Fitzrovia; right: SACO’s Locke, Leman Street


According to Euromonitor International, whereas hotels accounted for 63 per cent of total lodging sales in 2011, and now represent 58 per cent, short-term rentals have grown from 18 per cent to 22 per cent during the same period, some of which can be attributed to serviced apartments.


MORE FLEXIBILITY Hotels are tied to corporate deals because they are profitable and negotiated for the longer term, bringing stability. But this income is being eroded, as travel managers give millennial travellers greater freedom in booking policies, with a cap on spend working out better value than long-term deals that are complex to negotiate and expensive to monitor.


Employee conditions


IN MAY THIS YEAR, CYCAS HOSPITALITY ANNOUNCED it would pay the National Living Wage to all full-time staff. Although wages in the hospitality sector are generally low, this is less true of the serviced apartment industry, and providers also find creative ways to reward and motivate employees. All SACO employees are on an incentive scheme that rewards them if the


business performs well, and includes development and training. Staycity chief operating officer Keith Freeman oversees an ongoing programme to bolster team engagement and identify and develop talented people.


Above-average pay for the sector and benefits such as private healthcare, non-contributory pensions and generous holiday allocations are in Cheval


Residences’ package for employees, plus an incentive scheme to reward those who deliver above and beyond their role And Marlin organises fortnightly coffee and doughnuts afternoons to get office staff and those on properties together, plus a fortnightly open-house, which allows people from all levels of the company to discuss anything from achievements to problems.


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