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“ We try to inspire ourself with the other models ” he says . “ For example , Airbnb have some huge apartments . There aren ’ t any hotel chains doing this , so we ' ve launched our co-living concept which includes four bedroom apartments in Bercy , Paris and in Whitechapel , London later in 2024 . That ’ s really innovative .”
The blurring of the lines between traditional hotels and serviced living has brought challenges for corporate travel managers , as one explains .
“ Having so much choice has raised our employees ’ expectations , and they expect their employer to meet them . We try to meet them in the middle by being flexible without compromising on security .”
“ There ' s also a lot of hidden costs with Airbnb and other Homestay options that employees don ' t necessarily see , and that makes things more challenging too ” she says .
Alex Neale is Senior Vice President Partner Relationships at SilverDoor . He believes the extended stay buyer and supplier communities should embrace the diversity of product types that now exist .
“ One of the things that makes this industry great is there ' s different products for different clients , but there are also some reasonably concrete categories in there , like aparthotels , co-living and , in America , corporate housing . Of course , there are other concepts that lie between , and products that fall under the home-sharing category , but we don ’ t consider those to be part of our corporate serviced apartment offering .”
SilverDoor colleague Shabina Awan elaborates further .
“ What ’ s important for us is to articulate why we use different accommodation types . There are a lot of products that have spun-off from serviced apartments . The ability to explain how they differ and for what types of client and trip they are appropriate , is essential .”
Licensing the sector
The ASAP commissioned report referred to earlier is not the first to size the UK serviced apartment ( GSAIR did that !).
However , it is the first to estimate the overall economic value of the sector at £ 1.7 billion . This is made up of £ 1.2 billion of aggregated turnover of “ professionally run serviced apartments ” and £ 500 million from singlekey operators . The report also says the UK serviced apartment sector directly supports 6,050 jobs .
What ’ s the purpose of the report ? We asked James Foice , CEO of ASAP . “ Quite simply , we wanted to provide a reliable estimate of the size and scale and impact of the serviced apartment sector to policymakers , so that they can make better informed decisions – typically around planning - that could impact our industry ’ s future ” he says .
Due in part to being categorised by politicians alongside Airbnb , parties , and anti-social behaviour – not to mention taking up housing stock in a housing crisis , the report has been published as a licensing scheme for operators in England gets ever-nearer .
“ We needed to determine the impact of any potential legislation in terms of capacity , and therefore room rates . We have told government that the right thing for the accommodation sector in the UK is to incorporate fire safety and health and safety benchmarks into legislation . The challenge is that hotels , bed & breakfasts , and hostels will be excluded from that legislation ” Foice concludes .
Which is in everyone ’ s interests after all . According to the Emerging Trends in Real Estate ®: Europe 2024 report by PwC5 , the interest in investing in serviced apartments has been gradually growing . In a ranking of 26 real estate sectors , serviced apartments climbed from the 16th place in 2022 to rank in 9th in 2024 .
“ If you ' re going to exclude any part of the accommodation sector ( from legislation ), you may as well not bother because some organisations could claim to be a product type that they are not .”
James Foice CEO ASAP
Credit : The Ascott Limited
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