The excitement is building

We can feel the positivity coursing through the veins of the serviced apartment sector here in the UK.

From conversations with operators and investors, and the regular stories we are running about new openings and company expansion, we could tell the sector is a in a good place.

So it was great to have confirmation last week from ASAP and Savills, whose latest research 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. The research was released to coincide with ASAP’s 2015 annual convention, and the optimism in the industry was certainly palpable at the event.

One of the convention’s speakers, British Hospitality Association CEO Ufi Ibrahim gave the sector – and the wider hospitality industry – further cause for positivity, when she predicted that OTA rate parity clauses would be made illegal in the UK within 12 months, bringing the country in line with Germany, France and Italy.