Benefits of a Serviced Apartment During this COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 Coronavirus has already had a large impact on the hotel industry and brought with it a huge amount of uncertainty. The first priority at this time is obviously the safety of guests and staff. However, serviced apartments are much safer than hotels, in regards to keeping social distance.
Here are 4 reasons why a serviced apartment is much better than a hotel during this crisis:
1. You are in control of your own space
Serviced apartments come with a lot more space, basically a home away from our home.
They have all the modern amenities you could ever need. Once you book in, you are totally in control of your own apartment; movement, schedule and the best thing is the meal preparations.
You have a whole fully equipped kitchen to prepare your own meals, helping to obey the social distancing rule.
2. You can work and live
Serviced apartments have amenities that enable you to live and work at the same time; a perfect balance of both business and pleasure.
There are board rooms you can conduct business in, away from distractions. And you can still utilize the space in your apartment for some quiet study or work time.
Keeping in mind the causes of transmission, here are a number of safety measures we have put in place to ensure our guest’s safety:
- Everyone to wear masks (possibly including guest in public spaces). There is a growing amount of evidence that this considerably reduces transmission.
- A ‘no contact’ rule between staff or staff and guests
- Keeping 1.5m distance between people – this means reducing the capacity at shared spaces like pool, restaurant.
3. Sanitization
We have placed sanitizer at strategic places and signage to remind associates to wash hands
- Guest Rooms: Housekeeping Steward to adhere to cleaning and disinfecting SOPs to clean rooms after guests depart and before the next guest arrives, with particular attention paid to high-touch items.
- Public Spaces: Public Area stewards have increased the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting in public spaces, with a focus on the counter at the front desk, elevators (and elevator buttons), door handles, public bathrooms.
- Back of House: Increase the frequency of cleaning focusing on high-touch areas like entrances, changing rooms, laundry rooms, and staff offices.
4. Temperature Check
All visitors and staff are checked before accessing the facility. Your health and safety is our number one priority.
- We are aware and informed
- We are prepared
- We are safe
- We are taking every measure to make sure that our facility is safe.
Why Serviced Apartments are a Hit
Developers in the hospitality sector are poised for better returns should they turn to including serviced apartments in their accommodation establishments.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics Statistical Abstract 2018, the demand for serviced apartments has been on the rise and they record relatively high occupancy rates of above 70 per cent, compared to hotels in Nairobi at 35.5 per cent.
This is attributed to the large number of international guests who stay for more than two weeks in the country. Also, the Cytonn hospitality sector report shows that the concept of serviced apartments has continued to become popular in the market, with the Nairobi metropolitan area having approximately 3,414 serviced apartments as at 2015, and an additional 1,174 set to be complete by 2020.
Serviced apartments are fully furnished establishments that provide hotel-like resources such as housekeeping, room service, fitness centres, and restaurants. They also have home comforts such as a personal kitchenette, a living room and a dining room.
Homely feel
As a result, serviced apartments, unlike regular hotel rooms, bear close resemblance to apartment-style living and are, therefore, preferred by guests who want a homely feel or who travel as families. The Nairobi Metropolitan Area Serviced Apartments report says that investment in serviced apartments has been fueled by travellers wanting to optimise their budgets.
More are choosing to stay at serviced apartments as they are less expensive in the long run, resulting in the high demand. “For instance, a standard three-star hotel in Nairobi charges on average Sh14,000 per night for a suite, while a studio serviced apartments charges on average Sh8,000 per night and a one-bedroom apartment charges on average Sh11,000 per night,” says the Cytonn report.
The other factor driving investment in the niche is lower operating expenses as compared to hotels. Operating serviced apartments requires less number of staff and lower ancillary costs for amenities and foodstuffs, and are thus cheaper to run compared to hotels.
At the same time, the report says, serviced apartments can easily be converted to normal apartments, in a case where the former is not performing well.
Big spaces
Bigger spaces are another factor; serviced apartments often have bigger room sizes than hotels. Cytonn found that in Nairobi, while the standard hotel room size is 30-50 square metres, the average size of serviced apartments is 75 square metres for one-bedroom units, 110 square metres for two-bedroom units, and 140 square metres for three-bedroom units.
The report says that, unlike a hotel, a serviced apartment can easily accommodate a family, in addition to allowing someone to cook for themselves.
