Find Your Voice

September 18, 2018 By Blog No Comments

Amazon’s launch of Alexa for Hospitality is a game changer for the use of voice activation technology in hospitality – it will very quickly become a service which guests expect as standard rather than an add on for early adopters.

Of course, Alexa is no stranger to serviced apartments and hotel bedrooms – many operators and providers of guest services have been using the Amazon Echo as a platform to provide their own bespoke services. And it is even being used behind the scenes, with innovations such as IDeaS’ voice controlled revenue management functionality.

But by teaming up with Marriott, boutique and lifestyle giant Two Roads, and vacation rental leader RedAwnings, Amazon has cleverly gained a foothold across numerous facets of hospitality and Alexa will soon be a ubiquitous presence in accommodation offerings across the world.

Source | Serviced Apartments News

This is why serviced apartments are performing so well in Nairobi

September 18, 2018 By Blog, Travel No Comments

The beauty of investing in real estate, other than the stability, is that there are many different ways to invest in property. In Kenya, there are a number of real estate asset classes that have been performing consistently better than others in the last few years. Today we will highlight our most favorite: serviced apartments.

Investing in serviced apartments in Nairobi

Serviced apartments are part of the relatively recent accommodation products in the hospitality industry that have attracted huge popularity in the recent past, thereby creating enormous competition to the conventional hotels. They have emerged as an appealing alternative to the standard hotel product especially to the corporate guests and personnel relocating temporarily or permanently.

Why is it a good idea?

Serviced apartments are a hybrid of the residential apartment sub-sector and the hotel market. Their aim is to fill the gap between a short hotel stay and longer-term rental accommodation. One of the keys to its success is the ability to generate a higher gross operating profit and net operating income than the average hotel. This is achieved through lower guest turnover because the length of stay is longer than that of regular hotels and lower operational costs are achieved by providing fewer and less frequent services.

Is there an ideal way to get in?

In order to Maximize returns as an investor looking to get into the serviced apartments business, a good option is to get into a serviced apartments development before it reaches the market. By this I mean, buying the investment while it is still under construction or even earlier. Usually, this allows you to pay much less for the unit, sometimes up to 25% cheaper than the value of the unit on completion.

A good buy would be a generously sized unit, with amenities one would ordinarily find in a hotel like a pool, equipped gym, a restaurant etc.

Source | Sterling Partners