UK: The Global Serviced Apartment Industry Report (GSAIR), which has been released today at the Business Travel Show in London, says the sector is going from strength to strength.
The report was released by the Travel Intelligence Network and Habicus Group, which is the parent company of serviced apartment agent SilverDoor.
Habicus Group CEO Stuart Winstone said: “Before we acquired The Apartment Service, we regarded GSAIR as a jewel in their crown, so we are delighted to bring the report into the SilverDoor family. We have exciting plans for GSAIR and look forward to ensuring the report continues to meet the needs of clients and partners alike.”
Positive findings for the sector included figures which show that 23 per cent of businesses now have agreements with serviced apartment or home stay brands, and 68 per cent of operators plan to open more apartments in existing locations – the highest since GSAIR began reporting.
This reflects the high demand on the sector during the pandemic as the report highlights, during Q4 2021 and Q1 2022, supply shortages drove prices up by 10 per cent for one-bed apartments, 30 per cent for two-bed apartments and 40 per cent for three-bed apartments against 2019 figures.
While there were supply issues the global supply of serviced apartments and corporate housing now covers 17,054 locations with more emphasis on locations outside the US. Previously the US dominated the global supply pool with 77 per cent of global supply in 2007 – now the figure stands at around 52 per cent.
Other key findings from the 140 page report were that despite the negative impact of the pandemic on travel, the serviced apartment sector has continued to grow its share of corporate accommodation spend.
The report found that 15 per cent of UK businesses increased their overall use of serviced apartments during 2021 and 52 per cent of corporates and 60 per cent of TMCs say their use of serviced apartments for relocation purposes has increased since 2020.
According to the GSAIR this trend is set to continue with 9 per cent of companies having added non-hotel accommodation options to their travel programmes since Covid struck.
The report also highlighted trends in traveller behaviour with fewer business trips being taken this year but length of stay increasing – last year 39.2 per cent of business trips were of eight nights or more, while the proportion of stays 7-14 nights in 2021, were double that of 2019.
Regional extended stay options were the most popular during the pandemic, over city centre locations. This is a trend unlikely to revert back completely as employees find they can work from anywhere – so why not take a lunchtime stroll across fields rather than along a busy road.
Steve Lowy, Anglo Educational & The Residence Apartments said: “It’s human nature to move, to travel, but not necessarily to stay in the same place. What the pandemic has shown is that people want space inside and out, especially after being shut in during lockdown. If you need to work from home, you can do that quite comfortably in an apartment without having to sit on the bed.”
While the extended stay sector has been feeling the glow, hotels have had to adapt to the change in business travel behaviour and entice the digital nomad to stay with them, offering “bleisure” travellers packages. Hyatt for example launched ‘The Great Relocate Package’ while citizenMhotels introduced a global subscription service tailored to remote workers.
Other findings showed how important sustainability, ESG and personal safety were to travellers and their employers. These now are top priority when booking a trip.
Significantly, the booking process for serviced apartments has seen some changes with OTAs becoming increasingly popular. OTAs are making ground amongst corporates, 15 per cent of whom now book extended stays through this channel. Operators confirmed that OTAs remain the largest sole source of business, at 36 per cent. while 28 per cent of corporate bookings are made via operators’ websites, down from 38 per cent in 2019.
After OTAs, the next most frequently used distribution channel for corporates and agents is online booking tools, which account for 28 per cent of bookings, compared to 42 per cent in 2019. This reflects the impact of the pandemic when travellers relied heavily on human support in sourcing Covid-secure accommodation.
The same applies to TMCs, according to the industry report 28 per cent of TMCs now source serviced apartments through a specialist provider.
Originally launched in 2008 by The Apartment Service (TAS) and compiled by Travel Intelligence Network (TIN), GSAIR is an annual compilation of industry insights, data, and expert commentaries on the serviced apartment and corporate housing market.
This year’s industry report is the first since TAS was acquired by Habicus Group in September 2021 and has been a collaborative effort between TAS, TIN, and Habicus Group’s accommodation agent, SilverDoor Apartments.
The survey for the industry report was conducted during September and October 2021 among 6,000 corporates, 2,000 serviced apartment operators and 1,800 agents. More than seventy industry insiders contributed through interviews or written comments between September 2021 and May 2022.
Last year’s report summary can be found here.
