Apartment hotel
An apartment hotel (also known as an aparthotel ) is a hotel or accommodation facility in which, instead of rooms or suites, fully furnished apartments with a kitchen, bathroom and either a bed-sitting room or separate living room and bedroom are rented; many hotels also have two bedroom units. Unlike in holiday apartments , in apartment hotels standard services such as change of bed linen and towels, daily room cleaning and often breakfast are included in the price. Another difference is that apartments in apartment hotels are not rented on a weekly basis (that is, from Saturday to Saturday), but, like normal hotel rooms, on a daily basis.
Apartment hotels differ from other forms of full-service apartments such as boarding houses and student residences in that they are designed for short-term and temporary rather than permanent living.
North America Apartment Hotels
Apartment hotels are most widespread in the United States and Canada , where they are also known as extended stay hotels . They address their offers in particular to employed people who frequently change their place of work, as well as to families who need temporary accommodation while moving. Apartment hotels are therefore more likely to be found at locations of large companies that offer their employees a relocation service and housing cost coverage than at locations with heavy tourism. However, apartment hotels can also be used by ordinary travelers who like to cater for themselves or who have special needs for space or bed capacities (e.g. families with children). Generous discounts are almost always granted for longer stays. The gross prices are depending on the comfort class, location and size of the apartment from approx. 180 to 2,000 US $ per week; Even with a short stay, the costs are significantly below those of a normal hotel room of the corresponding comfort level.
In North America, apartment hotels are mostly operated as franchises by large hotel chains. The Residence Inn chain, founded in Wichita, Kansas , in 1975 and acquired by Marriott International in 1987, is considered the first of its kind . Since then, many more brands have emerged, covering a broad spectrum from inexpensive to luxurious quarters:
- Low-cost providers and lower middle class
- Candlewood Suites ( InterContinental )
- Extended StayAmerica , Extended Stay DeluxeHotel , HomeStead Studio Suites Hotels (Extended Stay Hotels)
- InTown Suites
- MainStay Suites , Suburban Extended Stay Hotels ( Choice Hotels )
- Studio 6 ( Accor )
- TownePlace Suites ( Marriott )
- Value place
- Upper middle class
In contrast to normal hotel suites, apartment hotels offer fully equipped kitchens or kitchenettes
The bedroom is often separated from the living area by a door (all picture examples: Homewood Suites ).
Apartment hotels are to be distinguished from corporate housing providers such as B. Oakwood, whose services are used almost exclusively by companies or relocation services. Hotel brands like Baymont Inn & Suites (Wyndham), Comfort Inn & Suites (Choice Hotels), Country Inns & Suites ( Carlson ), Embassy Suites (Hilton) or La Quinta Inns & Suites , which offer suites without fully equipped kitchens, form in North America its own category.
Apartment hotels in German-speaking countries
In Germany there are a small number of apartment hotels belonging to the Australian hotel chain Toga Hospitality ( Adina Apartment Hotels ) and the global chains Accor ( Adagio City Aparthotel ) and Best Western ( Best Western ApartHotel ). With the Residence Inn , a branch of an American apartment hotel brand opened in Munich in 2011 for the first time. Independently run apartment hotels in German-speaking countries are usually much smaller than their American counterparts. Exceptions to this rule include: a. the NewLivingHome ( Hamburg ), the ApartHotel Residenz Am Deutschen Theater ( Berlin ), the Aparthotel Neumarkt ( Dresden ) and the Apartmenthotel Residenz ( Steinenbronn ).
Supply and demand
The market for serviced apartments is an expanding sub-market in the German accommodation market. Between 2006 and 2010 the number of overnight stays rose by around 30 percent. The main locations were Berlin with around 50 houses, Düsseldorf and Cologne with around 25 houses, Hamburg and Munich with around 20 houses and Frankfurt with around 15 houses. Depending on the estimate, there were between 15,000 and 25,000 serviced apartment units on the German market. The demand for overnight stays in the long-term segment is estimated at around 122 million per year. This corresponds to an offer of around 335,000 apartment units, which illustrates the growth potential of this industry in Germany.
The capacities in Austria , where apartment hotels were only found in Vienna in 2011, are lower than in Germany . In Switzerland , the apartments are often referred to as business apartments .
Certification of serviced apartments
The certification or classification of “serviced apartments” is an increasingly important topic for operators in Germany: The guests want to be able to classify every house qualitatively at a glance. In 2005, the first “official” certification system for the classification of serviced apartments was introduced as the currently only corresponding possibility in Germany; the independent system was developed by the Berlin company Boardinghouse Consulting in cooperation with TÜV Rheinland . At the beginning of 2014, the Verband Deutsches Reisemanagement e. V. (VDR) is responsible for the certification. The criteria catalog is still largely based on the original system.
The focus of the certification is the evaluation of the service quality of the apartment houses with regard to the accommodation of long-term guests. Particularly important for these guests are the equipment criteria, the location of the house, the infrastructure around the apartment house and the transport links by car and public transport.
The certification for serviced apartments is to be seen as a supplement to the hotel classification in Germany . However, it is not in competition with the well-known stars of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (DEHOGA), which are awarded exclusively to hotels.
The certification categories for serviced apartments are:
- AA = Economy for simple requirements
- AAA = Value for medium demands
- AAAA = superior for high demands
- AAAAA = Excellent for the highest demands
Other countries
Apartment hotels are also widespread in Great Britain , where the residential units are referred to as serviced apartments . There are over 120 houses in London alone . More often than in North America, the operators are independent medium-sized entrepreneurs.
In France , the Accor chain operates 26 Adagio City aparthotels , 14 of them in the greater Paris area alone . In 2012 there were a total of 92 apartment hotels in the urban area of Paris; in other parts of the country, e.g. B. in Lyon , Marseille , Nantes , Aix-en-Provence and at Disneyland Paris , there are 125.
literature
- Yannick Fiedler: Sleep like at home. In: Travel One, March 10, 2010, pp. 46-47.
- Sabine Pracht: A new home. In: BizTravel , Edition 2, 2010, pp. 32–34.
- Jens Riemann: Spend the night in a hotel, live in a serviced apartment. In: Cost & Logis of July 20, 2010, pp. 5-6.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The concept of serviced apartments. In: Frederics. Accessed December 10, 2015 (German).
- ↑ Jack DeBoer ( Memento from July 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Extended Stay Hotels
- ↑ InTown Suites
- ^ Value Place
- ↑ Oakwood
- ↑ Marriott to open first Residence Inn in Munich in 2011 ( Memento from November 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Susanne Strauss: A stable niche. In: Hospitality Inside of February 4, 2011, hospitalityInside information network for hotel management , "A stable niche". Furnished temporary living with service - "A stable niche". Rental yields of 4% and rental prices of 25–35 € / m² in Munich too? ( Memento of July 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ Max Schlereth: "Lots of air in there". In: AHGZonline (online edition of the Allgemeine Hotel- und Gastronomie-Zeitung ) from July 3, 2010, accessed on May 13, 2011.
- ↑ a b statistics from www.bridgestreet.com
- ↑ Business Apartments in Switzerland
- ↑ Hotel Apartments London, London Apartments, Apartments In London - London Serviced Apartments