SERVICED APARTMENTS
Y
apartment usage in 2018
29% 68%
their serviced
SOURCE: BUSINESS TRAVEL SHOW
of buyers increased
population will be city dwellers by 2050
of the world’s SOURCE: UNITED NATIONS 116 MARCH/APRIL 2019
OU MAY NOT HAVE NOTICED, but the serviced apartment sector is undergoing a subtle yet dramatic transformation. The lines between traditional hotels and other accommoda- tion options are blurring. The major serviced apartment oper-
ators are diversifying their portfolios, repo- sitioning themselves as total accommodation providers, while the sector has responded to the threat of online travel agents (OTAs) by launching their own bookable websites. How we live usually determines how we work. By 2050, 68 per cent of the world’s pop- ulation will be city dwellers. More families and professionals are now opting to co-share. Global serviced apart- ment supply is rising rapidly, too. The Global Serviced Apartments Industry Report (GSAIR) 2018/19 estimates there are now
1.02 million serviced apartments in more than 13,000 locations worldwide. The rate of supply grew by 23.7 per cent between 2016 and 2018, proving that apartment living is already a way of life.
Co-living and co-working are starting to define how accommodation providers design their products. The modern workplace can be the home, office or coffee shop, anytime day or night, so providers are striving to meet these disparate needs. The solutions repre- sent a plethora of accommodation options, which some would term “hotel alternatives”, rather than serviced apartments.
ADOPTION AND USAGE More than half of British corporates now use serviced apartments for business travel, and 40 per cent of them allocate up to 20 per cent of their accommodation budget to extended stay products. Although growth in serviced apartment adoption among corporates appears to be plateauing, research by the Business Travel Show found that 29 per cent of buyers increased their serviced apartment usage in 2018 – the only accommodation cate- gory to see a rise over the previous 12 months. Traditional source markets for serviced apartments have included the banking, finance and technology sectors, but that is changing, as George Westwell, director at Cheval Residences, explains. “There is a more relaxed approach being deployed where employees are given more flexibility in terms of where they stay during a relocation – and we’re spouse and pet friendly,” he says. “We have chief executives of multinational companies staying for
Wilde Aparthotels by Staycity, London
WORDS MARK HARRIS
buyingbusinesstravel.com
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