Welcome to the new normal. More and more tourists and business travellers are looking to rent apartments instead of boarding houses or hotels. It doesn’t really matter whether they want to stay for a couple of days or months. We wanted to get more information about the serviced accommodation industry. As a result, we asked Margaret Brozda, the co-founder of Amber Serviced Apartments, to share her knowledge and experience.
What are the benefits of choosing Serviced Apartments?
There are benefits of cost, space and safety. Renting a serviced apartment instead of a hotel room can bring us 20% savings, and that’s not all.
In a hotel, you have to use restaurants and hotel bar every day. For a serviced apartment your living costs are significantly lower, thanks to the fully equipped kitchen.
In addition to the bedroom, kitchen and bathroom, each apartment also offers a living area. This extra living space will give allow you to relax and spend time like at home.
You can also feel safer as all stay together, especially if you travel as a family, with kids.
Why are serviced apartments particularly interesting for business travellers?
Serviced apartments meet the trend of our time. With the increasing mobility and flexibility in the world of work, temporary living concepts have become more and more important.
Many business travellers have to move to another city for several weeks or months for projects. They find staying in hotels extremely inconvenient.
Serviced apartments as a hybrid between home and hotel offer the best of both worlds.
The apartments are larger than the average hotel room, usually have a fully equipped kitchen and a functionally separate living and sleeping area. At the same time, they are cheaper than comparable hotel rooms thanks to reduced service.
The guests save money and are more independent. They can also look forward to a more spacious and homely atmosphere in the serviced apartments.
Serviced apartments are becoming increasingly popular with hotel-weary business travellers. They are also becoming a favourite with leisure travellers for short-term stays.
What are the things to look for in a serviced apartment?
The owner of a service apartment should be passionate about people, service and accommodation. A great serviced apartment is a home away from home. It contains that little personal touch, where you can settle in and relax, or get some work done in your own quiet space.
It is also about maintaining the apartment so that when guests arrive there is a feeling of
“This is my place and I feel comfortable here. Everything does what it should do, helpful staff is around when I need them and I get information when I want it.”
I think there is a move from concentrating on wealth to giving a great and memorable experience.
In a quality service apartment you can find a piece of your own home away from home. In addition, you can make quite impressive savings compared to hotel costs and still enjoy a great travel experience.
Can you tell us more about your business Amber Serviced Apartments? How many years have you been operating in the SA sector for? How did you start and what is your current situation?
We bought our first property in 2016. Initially, we wanted to hand it over to a large SA company operating in Doncaster.
When we met with a refusal, we could do nothing but take the challenge ourselves. We completed the Serviced Apartments training at Progressive Property, one of the best training companies. This allowed us to approach this business very professionally from the beginning.
We currently have a dozen or so properties in Doncaster and Nottingham and are actively working to enlarge our portfolio.