Who is the customer? The Booker or the Guest?

When you are going to be on business somewhere, and you stay in temporary housing, you care about where you'll be.

You look to belong, in some sense.

When you have to be somewhere because of circumstances, it is better to accept it and make the whole experience as positive as possible. There are many ways to do this, such as preparing your own food at your own mealtimes, having autonomy, having more space, keeping "support" at arms length, perhaps even having family or friends over to stay.

If possible, having chosen your place to stay can make you feel more settled.

.how does this sit with the Company Travel Policy?

A volumes-driven travel policy can hardly be described as people-centred!

SABA Event at Dolphin House

Another packed lounge at Dolphin House showed the growing strength being garnered by the Serviced Apartment Bookers Association, as a forum for networking in the sector.
All facets including Major Operators and key Individuals were there to develop the big conversation, forge new links and hear about some new ventures.
The HBAA presented to Serviced Apartment Agents on engagement with the Hotel majority as a way of further developing the SA profile, leading to better-structured Travel Policy.
Those in attendance heard next from Alavex with their Property Management package promising "grass roots to cloud-view" perspectives and drivability for the growing provider/agent.
Finally we heard about the Midas touch with an invitation to SA companies to help launch a new location profiling website for high net worth relocatees.

Interesting to compare the HBAA call to collaborate with Travel Policy set against Midas' proposition which appeared to subvert Travel Policy compliance...

Respect goes to Richard Majewski for establishing SABA and gathering the attendance. A round of applause well deserved.

Adrian England
Resident.Home

The right hand needs to know what the left hand is doing

Serviced Apartments are different from Hotels, and as the French say “Vive la difference!”

SA’s are fundamentally a hotel alternative for the consumer, or their corporate booker. Hotels are the main market and will always be so. Most business travel is very short-stay and minimally-planned, fitting the hotel-model.

Here's a theory:

If hotels are conventional logical and linear, like being right-handed, you can view Serviced Apartments as like being left-handed, quirky, adaptable and lateral.

This is somewhat awkward for the right-handed majority to accept, but if you can adapt reasonably for the practical difficulties there is a richness to be found in being ambidextrous.

Adrian England
March 2012

Finding serviced apartments availability in London

How easy is it to find Serviced Apartments availability in London?
It depends on what you are looking for.

Online booking does work for “easy options” which tick all the boxes eg: optimal lead-times (not too short and not too long!), generous budgets and suitable durations, going into well-developed and yet uncongested markets with many providers and lots of stock.

However, at the coalface that clear-cut argument in favour of technology is severely-blunted by commercial and "people" realities:

Human created problems cannot be unpicked by online booking systems – these systems simply ignore or avoid them, going for the percentages and leaving a deficit for the customer and/or supplier, unless there is a clearing-house operating in tandem. This difficulty constantly feeds back into the market by pre-loading restrictions to online availability.

Business travel, in fact any travel seldom offers round pegs for round holes, hence the need for either a tolerance of inefficient occupancy or customer inconvenience, around extension or cancellation (which comes with a cost to providers) or you need people who can communicate, negotiate and problem-solve around these situations.

So I would challenge the real usefulness of online booking with serviced apartments. It is useful but it is not a silver bullet.
To help explain what I mean, I figure there are three connected perspectives on this: Traveller, booker, provider.

For the traveller/consumer it really is all about lifestyle. They choose SA’s not because of the Management Information (ergo cost savings and productivity gains) but because they try them and like them. At best MI may point to this factor, but quite frankly their popularity will be more readily shown in Travel Management Companies’ Traveller-feedback returns.

For the corporate booker it is certainly about strategic MI in its many forms, but also about tactical practicality (getting the job done) for the busy person who has to deliver a roof over a busy someone’s important head.

Tomorrow.
         For the next 14 nights.
                      With an option to extend.

This is where online booking needs a big helping hand.

Three Bedrooms in London

Three Bedroom serviced apartments in London?

Sometimes you need more space, and two bedrooms won't do.

Serviced Apartments for the Family
Corporate Housing for the Team
Just more Space!!

But. The vast majority of serviced apartments in London have just one or two bedrooms - or are studios.

Help is at hand. Here:

Three and Four Bedroom serviced apartments in London:

The Collingham SW5
Prince of Wales Terrace
Crawford Street W1
Greengarden House W1
Monarch House W8
Metropolitan W1
Sanctum NW6
and more.

I can recommend these buildings (see biog).

Great to have your suggestions and comments, if you've stayed in any of these yourself.

kind regards

Adrian England

Look up in London

Some people look straight ahead when they walk. Some look down at the ground right in front of them.

I look up - do you?

If you do, you'll know where this is:

I was out walking between appointments in The City the other day and, as I like to do, taking pictures. When you do that in Town these days, and the sky is blue, the sun shining - you have to take pictures.



So, where is this? Answers in comments please, and when we pass 50 answers from separate individuals I'll donate £10 to Leukaemia Research Fund.

Please take a look around the other posts while you're here - thanks!


Adrian England

Traffic congestion during London 2012 Olympics

MPs in the UK Parliament are concerned about traffic congestion during the London 2012 Olympics.

They should be.

London is not the easiest place to get around at the best of times; the streetplan is medieval, the main airports are all in the wrong places and the underground is catching up with other world-class capitals - but it's not there yet!

Business has been advised by TFL to shut-down, or relocate operations if practical, for the duration. That should tell you something.

August is set to be a Marathon for everyone who doesn't have VIP access.