George Sell: A decade of reporting on the serviced sector

For 10 years, Serviced Apartment News has provided industry insight to the serviced sector. Here, Editor-in-Chief George Sell sheds light on the journey and makes predictions on future trends.

What was once an obscure niche, paid little attention by hospitality’s thought leaders, is now a burgeoning industry with a diverse demographic of guests. Formed of generic, unbranded inventory used almost exclusively by business travellers, traditional serviced apartments and aparthotels have given rise to dynamic brands with broad appeal. This is the metamorphosis that George Sell has witnessed over his 10 years of writing for Serviced Apartment News.

When parent publisher International Hospitality Media first entered the serviced space, the Association of Serviced Apartment Providers (ASAP) was the only organisation providing news to the industry. “There was a gap in the market for someone to provide industry news, opinion and features all in one place – as a dedicated resource for the sector,” George explains.

“The way people travel for business has changed”

- George Sell, Serviced Apartment News

At this time, there was also little appetite for funding new schemes. Benchmarking of performance data was limited so lenders, developers and investors either received reassurance or remained hesitant. “They weren’t especially familiar with the concept,” George recalls. “There was quite a lot of education to be done.”

No longer a fledgling industry, much has changed. “It’s not seen as niche anymore – it’s a mainstream asset class in hospitality,” George asserts. “The branded aparthotel came onto the scene which has a much broader customer base and balances leisure demand with corporate travel.”

More recently, the pandemic served to highlight the resilience of the sector. While hotels closed their doors to guests, most serviced apartments and aparthotels continued to trade. However, the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns caused a huge shift in behaviour and business travel still hasn’t recovered. But George highlights that it also served to make the workforce more flexible. “The way people travel for business has changed and that’s played into the hands of the serviced apartment sector,” he says. “People are combining a business trip with a few days of leisure. The family might come and join them at the end of a week somewhere.”

Furthermore, while a business traveller may stay close to an office or conference centre, they are increasingly likely to also spend time working from their accommodation. The sector has had to respond with improved study spaces, faster Wi-Fi and even co-working areas.

Another notable post-pandemic trend was the resurgence of events – a welcome return for International Hospitality Media. “It’s the other way round to how most publishers do it,” George explains. “We launched an event, the Serviced Apartment Summit, then launched Serviced Apartment News to keep in touch with our audience year-round.” The publisher also runs the Serviced Apartment Awards, Urban Living Festival and the recent Recharge event in Belfast for the serviced sector.

While not a new concept, “sustainability” has become the current buzzword in the sector. George notes that corporate travel buyers now need to comply with ever stricter ESG policies which then get pushed down the line onto operators. In the leisure market, by comparison, only a handful of guests book with such strict criteria.

“Tech-driven, high-end accommodation providers are now going after the business travel sector”

- George Sell, Serviced Apartment News

However, save from quick wins – such as ditching single-use plastics – there hasn’t been much forward movement from the sector as a whole. “There’s not been a strategic move towards sustainably, apart from a couple of notable operators who have been talking about this for a long time – namely room2 and Beyond Aparthotels,” George states. “Until relatively recently, I don’t think it’s affected how operators do business.”

That said, if it is to ever get the retrofitting required, a great deal of older inventory will need significant investment to futureproof it. So while a lot is being done, it isn’t happening at the necessary pace. “It is going to have to change,” George asserts.

The current economic landscape is also having a considerable effect on the sector. Operators have had to cast the net wider to find business. However, the main issue is a lack of inventory. “It’s tricky to find sites, both for developers and operators,” explains George, who is hopeful that it will only be a short to medium-term problem. “If you put a planning application in, by the time it’s approved, the costs have gone up so much it’s potentially not viable. The market is still undersupplied, especially compared to Southeast Asia, Australia and the US, if you factor in their extended stay hotel inventory.”

One trend that George has seen first-hand is the convergence of service offerings. Operators are now moving from serviced apartments into other asset classes, sometimes even in the same building. Native, for instance, started life as an aparthotel operator but now has a sizable build-to-rent portfolio. Charles Hope is another example George notes, as well as Viridian (previously Flying Butler) who now operate build-to-rent brand Mura Living.

“The most interesting thing for me is the rise of these brands that have one foot in the serviced apartment and aparthotel sector and one foot in the short-term rental sector,” George confirms. “The key skills involved in running a serviced apartment building aren’t that different from those required to run a build-to-rent or co-living building. So I think we’ll see less rigid demarcation between what companies do. Operators won’t limit themselves to one form of accommodation.”

George also predicts that we’ll see a continued rise to prominence of the branded aparthotel, citing Edyn Locke, Staycity, Yays and room2 as those currently on an upward trajectory. “Tech-driven, high-end accommodation providers are now going after the business travel sector,” he muses, noting Bob W and numa. “By simplifying the booking and guest experience, certain brands have been quite canny about how they appeal to the corporate sector.”

One thing that is hoped will never change, though, is the community feel of the industry. “It’s not cut-throat – operators even refer business to each other,” George says fondly. “It’s a lot more mature than when we first entered it, but it’s still a very friendly, cooperative sector.”

George Sell is Editor-in-Chief at International Hospitality Media and helms Serviced Apartment News, Short Term Rentalz, Boutique Hotel News and Urban Living News. On 23 May, International Hospitality Media host the Serviced Apartment Awards 2024. Entries close on 5 April.