When it comes to turning a stay into an experience, it is easy to assume that hotels have the upper-hand. After all, they have the convenience of a wide array of full-time staff who get to see and interact with guests day-in and day-out. But that hardly means that serviced apartments are out of the running — they are in fact ideally placed to offer more than just a bed to sleep in, and in many ways may even find themselves at an advantage when it comes to offering what guests look for from a hospitality experience.
When it comes down to it, it seems that there are five characteristics that excellent experiences often have in common. Let’s have a look at each of them, and what gives serviced apartments the upper-hand for providing stays that guests will remember.
1. Uniqueness
When it comes to hotels, guests can expect the room, and the service, to be the same. Serviced apartments, on the other hand, find themselves at a great advantage for offering a different experience, often incorporating local culture, while still offering the creature comforts that guests look for.
When it comes to experiences, guests are often not looking for what makes a stay the same as every other, but what sets it apart. While some serviced apartments make efforts to keep their style consistent, and others aim to have each apartment reflect its own unique style, all can reflect the city in which they can be found. Two apartments in the same building can look worlds apart, making the experience in those two apartments different from the outset, or two apartment’s worlds apart can have the same basic features, while still incorporating local art or cuisine to make the experiences within them unique.
2. Comfort
Soft sheets, feather pillows and carpets that anyone would want to sink their feet into are comforts that hotels and serviced apartments are both equally equipped to offer. But once again, serviced apartments have the opportunity to provide comforts that most hotels simply can’t afford — those of space and home comforts.
It is rare to find a hotel that makes a guest feel at home — as luxurious as any hotel might be, it’s unlikely that guests will want to venture from their rooms barefoot, or feel that they can pop down to the restaurant for a quick cup of coffee in the middle of the night in their pajamas. But these are things that a guest wouldn’t think twice about when staying in a serviced apartment, because they haven’t just been allocated a single room within a property — they have been given the run of an entire apartment. They may not be willing to venture outside of the apartment barefoot, but they don’t need to — everything that they need, from a space to sleep, to a kitchen that they can make coffee or a midnight snack in, to a couch on which they can put their feet up and watch whatever they choose, comes standard, without the need to leave the comfort of their own space.
It’s this luxury of space and the availability of creature comforts that put serviced apartments in the perfect position to provide an excellent experience. When guests arrive at a serviced apartment, it’s already far more than just a place to rest your head. It’s a space to relax and make yourself at home.
3. People
When it comes to serviced apartments, there’s often a tendency for staff to form more personal relationships with guests than they would be able to at a hotel, since those staff are often be the point of contact for everything that guests need, and serviced apartment staff are accustomed to forming relationships with guests who are frequently there for extended lengths of time.
These more personal relationships benefit both staff and guests. Guests will feel better looked after, their needs taken care of without the inconvenience of trying to find the right person to speak to; while staff will have the opportunity to personalize the guests stay, accommodating their preferences and pre-empting their needs.
4. Exceptional Service
Because serviced apartment staff tend to become accustomed to building relationships with guests who are, on average, at the establishment for longer periods of time than hotel guests, a culture of personalized service, and appreciating guests as individuals (rather than the occupier of room 34 for the night) tends to develop in many serviced apartment properties.
Because serviced apartment staff get to know their guests over a longer period of time, they can be prepared to greet friends and family of the guests by name, welcome them with open arms, or even just acknowledge that they know who they are there to see. These are opportunities rarely afforded to hotel staff, simply due to the number of staff interacting with each guest on a daily basis, and the number of guests that staff interact with daily in turn.
5. Attention to Detail
Sometimes it’s not big, earth-shattering, mind-altering moments that make for a great experience. Its attention to detail, from details about guests to details about the accommodations themselves, that sets serviced apartments apart. Attention to detail when it comes to guests goes back to having great people and providing exceptional service — the better opportunity that serviced apartments have to make note of personal preferences, and to form a relationship with guests provides them with the opportunity to pay closer attention to the details of a guests stay.
Whether it’s about their unique style, the luxury of space and domestic comforts, the personal touch and exceptional service that the people who work there are able to provide, or attention to detail, because serviced apartments provide so much more than hotels in terms of accommodation and personalization, they in turn have the opportunity to provide so much more in terms of experience.
(Source >> https://hoteltechreport.com/news/turning-a-serviced-apartment-stay-into-an-experience)
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