Keeping the momentum going

2015 was a pretty amazing year, both for us at Serviced Apartment News, and for the sector in general.

On a personal level, my highlights from 2015 have been the second successful move to a bigger London venue for Serviced Apartment Summit Europe, and the launch in October of our first event in the UAE, Serviced Apartment Summit MEA, which took place at The Fairmont The Palm in Dubai.

At industry level, there has been a lot of momentum in terms of institutional investment, heralding what I suspect will be a significant surge in M&A activity across the sector in 2016.

Developing markets such as Africa and eastern Europe are attracting major international brands, and the serviced apartment concept is set for major global growth. Here in the UK it was very encouraging to see the recent research from ASAP and Savills, which showed that the UK serviced apartment sector is set to double in size over the next two years, adding around 20,000 more units by the end of 2017. The report also claimed that the wider extended stay sector is the fastest growing area of the UK’s hospitality industry.

At Serviced Apartment News we are set for a very busy 2016 – the year kicks off with the Serviced Apartment Social, an informal networking and drinks evening in London on January 12th. This is followed by two exciting new initiatives – the first Serviced Apartment Awards on March 21st and our first US conference, Serviced Apartment Summit Americas, on April 13th and 14th in new York City.