For trips of more than a few days, serviced apartments can be an excellent alternative to hotels, says Jenny Southan
When you think about it, there are lots of things to hate about hotels – having to call room service for a coffee because there is no machine in the room, the hum of the minibar keeping you awake at night, not enough space to work, being charged per person instead of per room, having to tip all the time… the list goes on.
Of course, there are plenty of good things, too, especially for short stays in cities you are unfamiliar with. But for bookings of about a week or more, a serviced apartment may provide a real alternative.
Though the loyalty scheme junkies among us may shy away from using a brand that doesn’t offer the chance to stack up points – few serviced apartment providers have loyalty programmes for individuals, although Frasers Hospitality will be launching a worldwide scheme this year – choosing to stay in an apartment brings its own benefits. Not only can it be a more appealing option in terms of lifestyle – giving you a “home away from home” while you work – but it can also be more suited to the budget and timings of your trip.
The first thing you should take into account when considering where to stay is how many nights you will be away. Although providers such as Think Apartments in London and Citadines (part of the Ascott Limited) allow you to book one-night stays, some have minimum-length requirements – Oakwood’s, for example, is 30 days while Clarendon Serviced Apartments’ is one week.
How long you stay will also determine what you could save, as serviced apartments generally work out cheaper than hotels. Laura Chambers, intellectual property and marketing manager for serviced apartment agent Silverdoor, which represents more than 46,000 apartments in over 200 locations worldwide, says: “Serviced apartment rates are generally all-inclusive, making the process cheaper and more straightforward. On average, stays in serviced apartments can be up to 30 per cent cheaper than hotels.
“This is not only because the cost per night reduces as the stay lengthens [up to a certain number of days], but also because the extra expenses you can incur if you are staying in a hotel, such as laundry, broadband and eating out, can be eradicated or reduced by staying in an apartment.
“What’s more, you are generally charged per night and not per person, meaning you can have family, friends and colleagues to visit.” This also works well if you want to tag some days on to a business trip for leisure purposes.
Still, bear in mind that the rules differ depending where in the world you are. Jo Layton, vice-president of sales and marketing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Bridgestreet – an operator and agent representing more than 20,000 apartments in 60 countries – says: “In Asia there is no saving for staying less than 14 nights, and in New York you can’t stay for less than 30 nights in a serviced apartment – that is a city-wide ruling. In Manchester and Liverpool we have more of a hotel-style product with a front desk, so we can look after people for one or two nights.”
Assuming staying in one makes sense financially, how do you go about making a reservation? Sometimes it is as straightforward as searching on the website of your chosen operator and booking it then and there, but a more common set-up is to register your enquiry online or over the phone and wait to hear back from a representative. They will usually come back to you within a couple of hours to talk through the options.
Adrian England is marketing director of Select Apartments, an agent with access to about 360 properties in the UK and 150 others worldwide. He says: “Booking serviced apartments can be a little more complex as you need to do a certain amount of problem solving [to find one that will suit your requirements]. If you have to be somewhere for three days and don’t have time to think about it then that is what hotels are really good for.”
Guy Nixon, chief executive of serviced apartment operator and agent Go Native, which owns about 400 apartments in London and is part of a network of just over 11,000 in Europe, the Middle East and India, agrees. “My view is that hotels are unbeatable for transitory travel and I wouldn’t try to compete with them on that basis,” he says. “But, personally, if I was staying five nights or longer, I wouldn’t want to be sitting in a hotel restaurant every night – I would like to be able to chill out a bit more, cook my own meals and make more of a home for myself.
“That is what serviced apartments allow you to do – they fill the gap between a hotel for a few nights and a long-term rental apartment for six months.”
As England says, serviced apartments offer guests “somewhere to live rather than somewhere to stay” – so what facilities do they provide? Generally they will be furnished flats with fully fitted kitchens, sometimes with a start-up box containing essentials such as tea, milk, coffee, bread and pasta. They would also usually have a living room with a sofa and DVD player, internet access, and a bathroom stocked with towels and basic amenities such as soap and shower gel. Depending on the brand and the property, there might be a dedicated reception, but otherwise you may simply collect a key from a member of staff who meets you on arrival and shows you around, and after that leaves you to your own devices.
If anything goes wrong, there should be a welcome pack on the table with contact numbers for maintenance, out-of-hours emergencies and the serviced apartment provider. If you have booked through an agent then you will be given the details for the company that owns the apartment. Some people may feel a little isolated as a result – if you find there is no hot water or the TV doesn’t work, for example, it can take far longer to sort out than if you were in a hotel. But as England points out, any teething issues usually reveal themselves in the first day or two, after which it should be easy to settle in.
Bridgestreet’s Layton says: “The unique selling points of apartments versus hotels depend on the personality and experience of the traveller – if you are looking for space, flexibility, privacy and independence, then an apartment is a perfect alternative. They allow you to enjoy the local culture and live as you would at home, without the temptation to use the more expensive hotel facilities such as room service or a minibar. And if you don’t want to cook there is always the option of takeaways that you can eat at a dining table instead of on the corner of your bed.”
Although guests have less support than in a four- or five-star hotel – say goodbye to daily housekeeping, a concierge, porters to carry luggage and hail cabs, and staff on hand at all times – they will still get more than if they were in corporate housing or renting a normal flat. The unit will be cleaned about once a week, for example, and requests such as a box of shopping on arrival or dining recommendations can usually be fulfilled.
Rebecca Hollants van Loocke is UK regional general manager for the Ascott Limited, which claims to be the world’s largest international serviced apartment owner-operator, with more than 27,000 units across three brands – Ascott the Residence, Somerset Serviced Residences and Citadines Apart’hotels. She says: “A serviced apartment enables you to really relax and work effectively. It’s your pad in town.”
Citadines is currently undergoing a multimillion-pound European revamp programme aimed at making its properties more attractive to corporate guests. It recently unveiled its revamped South Kensington and Holborn-Covent Garden properties in London, and is currently upgrading its Trafalgar Square complex. Van Loocke says: “We have redesigned the rooms to give them a more contemporary feel and make better use of the space. They are more comfortable and more aligned to the corporate market – wifi is free and rooms are more inviting if you want to host meetings.”
In the Holborn property guests have the choice of standard studios with small kitchens, Club studios with hotel-style amenities such as daily light cleaning, robes, slippers and iPod docks, and one-bedroom suites. Unusually, guests also have access to an on-site gym, breakfast in the lobby, and five meeting rooms. Citadines lodgings also have 24-hour receptions.
So what types of travellers are using serviced apartments? While they attract a significant number of leisure guests, especially families, they seem primarily to be used by business guests – the Apartment Service Worldwide’s Operators Survey 2009 (apartmentservice.com) says 62 per cent of apartment use worldwide is corporate.
But, again, this depends on location. Guus Bakker, chief operating officer of Europe and the Middle East for Frasers Hospitality, which has about 40 properties in more than 20 cities across the globe, reports that 75-80 per cent of its London guests are corporate. Bridgestreet’s Layton, meanwhile, has found that leisure stays in its Paris, Liverpool and Manchester properties are higher than average, at about 40 per cent.
Go Native’s Nixon says: “We have a lot of European and UK nationals who are commuting so they are on-site for a project during the week and then travel home at weekends. With a serviced apartment you can just leave your stuff there, so it’s a less disruptive experience.”
He adds: “We work heavily with the consulting, outsourcing, IT, auditing and banking industries. Engineering – both in telecoms and rail – is a growing area. All of those industries have a lot of project workers, so they tend to be on medium-term assignments for a few weeks or months.”
A year ago, a businesstraveller.com poll revealed that 60 per cent of readers had never used a serviced apartment and had no intention of doing so, while 30 per cent had and 10 per cent planned to. (To take part in our latest poll asking the same question, visit businesstraveller.com/polls.) With demand reportedly going up thanks, in part, to a post-recession trend for companies to stipulate employees stay in apartments when their trips exceed a certain number of days, it is likely that if you haven’t already experienced one in the past year, there is a good chance you will soon.
Visit businesstraveller.com/tried-and-tested/serviced-apartments for reviews of a range of properties.
USEFUL CONTACTS
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Association of Serviced Apartment Providers theasap.org.uk
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The Ascott Limited the-ascott.com – international operator
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Bridgestreet bridgestreet.com – international operator/agent
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Citybase Apartments citybaseapartments.com – international agent
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Clarendon Serviced Apartments clarendonuk.com – London operator
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Frasers Hospitality frasershospitality.com – international operator
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Go Native gonative.com – international operator/agent
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Oakwood oakwood.com – international operator
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Quest Serviced Apartments questapartments.com – Australia/New Zealand operator
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Saco sacoapartments.co.uk – international operator
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Select Apartments selectapartments.co.uk – international agent
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Silverdoor silverdoor.co.uk – international agent
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Think Apartments think-apartments.com – London operator
