Happy 30th Birthday Apartment Service

[Bard Vos]

Many Happy Returns!

Happy 30^th Birthday Apartment Service

This year, The Apartment Service celebrates 30 years as a specialist agent for fully furnished Serviced Apartments and Corporate Apartments worldwide.        

The Apartment Service was founded in 1981 as a specialist department serving executives on extended stays within Expotel Hotel Reservations and went independent in 1992 offering services to a wider range of clients.

“The company developed from being solely a booking agent for serviced apartments in the early days to becoming a leading provider of corporate accommodation solutions by managing corporate apartments and also offering project accommodation solutions” says Managing Director Charles McCrow. “The latter category really is outside the box for most agents as a specialist network is needed to assist with sourcing options, to provide the hand holding required for familiarization and to negotiate the best terms. The property options that best serve these latter categories are mainly from residential stock which has the ability to meet the budgets companies want and also in the specific locations whilst at the same time providing a more comfortable and spacious environment to live in.”

“Guest services, cleaning, 24 hour assistance and utilities are bundled into one rate and bearing in mind that the average project accommodation procured in this way is for over 6 months, it always results in a happy employee and a happy management at the same time” continues McCrow

The Apartment Service also launched the apartment brand, Roomspace Serviced Apartments (RSA), in locations where there was enough regular demand to sustain these properties permanently. These areas, such as outside London in the Home Counties, the Thames Valley and Midlands, typically had little or no other offerings at the time.  Currently the company operates RSA both in the UK and also in Europe in Portugal and Spain which were added in 2008 and 2009. “We started Roomspace Serviced Apartments in 1996 to provide viable solutions for one month plus and for month by month stays because the requests were there but the product wasn’t. We covered over 40 UK locations by the middle of 2007, but expansion plans however were put on hold when the global financial crisis set in,” says Charles McCrow, “We are now firmly back on track with our growth targets and will have at least two more European countries to add RSA to this year as well as more UK locations. These RSA properties not only help us to focus our activities in the local markets we open in, but they also crystallise and reinforce relationships with our established European network partners, most of whom are longstanding ones, to deliver our accommodation solutions on a bespoke basis. These partners are actively involved and partnering with us to achieve our European RSA expansion plans as well” 

In 2008, the Apartment Service commissioned and produced the first truly Global Serviced Apartment Industry Report (GSAIR) to high industry acclaim and it was updated in 2010. “The first report looked at the questions everyone was asking about the sector, such as what are the different types of product, what size is it, where is it operating and who are the players” says The Apartment Service’s Bard Vos, the main researcher for the report. “Our second report looked more closely at the regional differences and gave updated reports on how the sectors were growing there and shed some light on the effects the financial meltdown was having and comments on the local prospects in view of this.”

The third edition of GSAIR is planned for distribution in early 2012 will cover the many changes that the sector has undergone during the recession. It will also highlight the trends and opportunities in the new economy.

The Apartment Service website has over 525,000 serviced apartments units available online at www.apartmentservice.com which offers online booking capabilities for thousands of serviced apartment locations around the world at the ‘best available’ rates. “We linked our web services into the GDS several years ago in order for companies to access the best available or their own negotiated rates. By utilizing the GDS connection, we got live product availability enabling instant reservation confirmations.” says Melanie Degand, Director of Sales. ”It also means these can be added to any bespoke managed corporate programmes all in one application.”

“Booking most serviced apartments is no different to booking hotels as most are operated by major hotel chains or hospitality focused companies and therefore easily available to agents and travel management companies in their normal systems” adds Charles McCrow. “Where specialist serviced apartment agents really come into their own is with longer term stays and in sourcing solutions outside of the box, not just booking what is in the system. Many agents just do not have the expertise or capacity required to achieve this “

“The Apartment Service is continually looking to develop the services we offer in response to the changing demands of our clients” says Melanie Degand.  “2011 is going to be an exciting year and the company has some big plans over the coming months.”

The Apartment Service was the first winner of the Diamond Buying Business Travel award ‘Best Serviced Apartment Provider’ in 2007

“We look forward to celebrating our 30^th birthday with our long standing clients and colleagues this year and The Business Travel & Meetings Show marks the launch of our anniversary year… and we look forward to welcoming you to stand 250 at the BTMS”.

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For further information please contact

Melanie Degand – Director of Sales, [phone] – [e-mail] 

Esther Munoz Tong – Marketing Executive,  [phone] - [e-mail]

Bard Vos – Marketing Executive, [phone] – [e-mail]

 

The Apartment Service

5-6 Francis Grove

Wimbledon

London SW19 4DT

UK

Website: www.apartmentservice.com

 

The Apartment Service is a trading name of Roomspace Ltd, 5-6 Francis Grove, London, SW19 4DT and is registered in England and Wales with company number 1112378.  VAT No. GB-538890988
T. [phone] | F. [phone] | W. www.apartmentservice.com

Members of: HBAA, ITM, ARP, ASAP, CHPA, ERC