What is a Serviced Apartment?
By Mark Harris
With no official worldwide classification
system for extended stay accommodation,
standards and terminology inevitably vary
between properties, creating confusion
about the generic serviced apartment
product.
Some extended stay properties have
adopted the international hotel star-rating
system to indicate the level and quality of
the amenities provided. However, if an
apartment operator wished to be approved
by the tourist board, they were assessed
under the leisure market focused self
catering accommodation quality standard,
which was largely inappropriate to most
serviced apartments.
This also meant that an apartment operator
could choose to label a product five-star
based on similar standards set for hotels,
but without an official grading.
In 2007, Visit Britain included a grading
system for serviced apartments into their
Quality in Tourism initiative, to provide an
independent, objective and reliable grading
against which to judge UK serviced
apartment providers. A new category was
created specifically for apartments, developed
in conjunction with the Association of
Serviced Apartment Providers (ASAP) to
provide travellers with an independent,
reliable and objective rating with which to
judge each serviced apartment or corporate
housing provider.
This grading system for serviced apartments
looks at similar criteria as the hotel industry,
which is graded by the star system.
Apartments are graded according to
general fixtures and fittings, arrival
process, handling of reservations, cleanliness
and general services.
Internationally the picture is fragmented,
with different bodies operating their own
schemes, from the Residence de Tourisme
in France to the Tourism Grading Council
of South Africa; India's Department of
Tourism and the Australian Automobile
Association, all have produced their own
guidelines with differing levels of adoption.
Unsurprisingly, the result is that even
when a grading system is in place, those
booking apartments pay scant attention.
In The Apartment Service's survey, only
15% of booking agents of corporate clients
interviewed said they were guided in their
choice of apartments by grading information,
preferring instead to inspect as many
apartments being booked on their clients'
behalf as possible.
This is probably due to bookers and
occupants wanting to checkout a potential
temporary home, find out whether a
tenancy or lease has to be signed, as well
as learning more about the local area and
amenities. Usually, the tenant arrives in the
country before being taken on an
accompanied search to find the most
appropriate property.
For leisure bookings or those booking
long-distance even the best property
description will not provide enough
comfort on its own. This is where grading
systems come into their own.
| | All responses | Europe | USA | S/America | M/East | Africa | India | Australasia | Asia |
Studio
(room with kitchenette) | 60.8% | 60.9% | 65.6% | 80% | 85.7% | 62.5% | 50% | 75% | 90% |
1 bedroom
(with separate lounge) | 78.5% | 77.0% | 90.6% | 100% | 100% | 87.5% | 50% | 91.7% | 90% |
2 bedroom
(with separate lounge) | 84.8% | 85.1% | 84.4% | 100% | 100% | 87.5% | 81.3% | 83.3% | 90% |
| Other | 48.1% | 37.9% | 71.9% | 60% | 57.1% | 50% | 56.3% | 66.7% | 60% |
Source: The Apartment Service Global Survey 2008