The Final Word
KNOCKS OPPORTUNITY
MARCUS ANGELL MANAGING DIRECTOR SILVERDOOR
Marcus Angell is the founder and managing director of serviced apartment specialist, SilverDoor. He formed the company in 2000 and has seen it grow over the past ten years into Europe’s largest independent serviced apartment agent, with an annual sales turnover of £17million and over 40 staff. Marcus is a Lancashire lad and proud of his Preston roots. He lists his personal interests as “wine, women and song,” and is apparently only joking about one of them.
Marcus Angell of SilverDoor is something of an ambassador for the serviced apartment industry. We ask him why the sector's star is rising so rapidly
TBTM SilverDoor has just celebrated
a decade in business. Talk us through those ten years. I started SilverDoor because I saw a massive opportunity to develop a new type of serviced apartment agent. Ever since then I have done my best to ensure that the company remains focussed on its principles and on its core purpose – to become the best independent serviced apartment agent in the business. We have a hard-earned reputation
for professionalism and efficiency, and a healthy respect from both our competitors and serviced apartment property partners. We don’t take that for granted but nor do we take ourselves too seriously either. I also take enormous pride in our social reputation as a business and I was delighted when over 250 of our clients and business partners joined us for our tenth birthday party on the banks of the Thames in May. It really was a fantastically glamorous night.
TBTM Why has the serviced apartment industry made such headway in recent years? There are several reasons. Firstly the number of new serviced apartment operating companies has grown significantly and the cosy club of the half a dozen or so longer established companies no longer dominate. Also serviced apartment operators have accepted that agents bring added value and a wider range of choice and service to corporate clients. They are now recognising and embracing the legitimacy of independent agents like SilverDoor as an additional and necessary sales channel. Put simply, I think a lot of companies
have just evolved and the petty squabbles common to industries in their infancy have been left behind. The vast majority of serviced apartment companies are happy to work together and this has been
borne out with the recent formation of a new serviced apartment business association under the umbrella of the HBAA. It is an organisation and project that SilverDoor will keenly continue to support.
TBTM Where, geographically, is SilverDoor particularly strong? Do you have any weak spots? We actually have close to 55,000 serviced apartments in our online database but currently only display just over 40,000 on our website. Our portfolio covers over 200 destinations. Inevitably, we are strong in London and the UK but we have also been investing time and resources in New York, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Amsterdam. I don't think that anyone does those destinations better than SilverDoor. As far as weak spots are concerned,
we are keen to develop our inventory – and the concept of serviced apartment agents – across the whole of North America and it’s something we’ve been particularly focussed on for some time now.
TBTM How do you ensure consistent quality and standards across your inventory of apartments? Corporate clients need to be able to rely on their agent to provide them
with appropriate serviced apartment options and to trust them that they really know the properties they are offering. The only way any agent can truly ensure quality and consistency is by visiting their serviced apartments in person, meeting their operating property partners face to face and reviewing them for themselves. For several years at SilverDoor
we have had a rolling programme of property reviews. We share this task out among all our staff and in particular we expect our team of client account managers to review the majority of our properties.
TBTM Do you plan to continue with SilverDoor's aggressive expansion? Any other plans in the pipeline? Yes to both questions. In late September we secured the office building next door to our current location in Chiswick and have advanced plans to knock through to more than double our office space by early next year. Office ergonomics are important
to me and we invest a lot of time, effort and expense in making sure our offices are a comfortable environment to work in. We'll also be following up the refurbishment with a major new recruitment drive to take our staff numbers to around 55 by Easter 2011.
82 I THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE
© OAKWOOD'S SPITALFIELDS LOFTS, AVAILABLE THROUGH SILVERDOOR
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