An apartment hotel is being prepared in Paris, a new brand strategy is being considered, and massive investment is being made in renovating its establishments: Appart City intends to maintain its pre-eminent position in the French long-stay accommodation market. With its one hundred urban residences positioned in the budget and mid-range segments, Appart City is the French leader in the sector.
Its network, deployed in most regions, will be refreshed with a budget of 25 million euros in 2022 and 2023 devoted to refurbishing and upgrading around sixty aparthotels. A prelude to a new brand strategy which will be unveiled early next year.
" Our segmentation of two- and three-star Appart'Cities, three-star Appart'Cities Confort and four-star Appart'Cities Confort was running out of steam.says Vincent Compagnon, Chairman of Appart'City. It was time to tidy things up so that we could offer our customers a clear and legible vision of our offering" . New names, different colours for each range, clearer customer promises for each brand: the specialist in long-stay accommodation has undertaken an in-depth rethink of its portfolio of establishments. " Some, because of the size of their common areas, are unable to accommodate a business corner, while others can develop a range of additional services." explains Richard Perdu, the Group's Strategic Marketing, Communications and Product Director.
In this context, the distribution of the Appart'City offer should give pride of place to the mid-range segment, with many establishments preparing to switch to three-star. While today the network is made up of 60 budget aparthotels, 30 mid-range residences and 10 four-star hotels, tomorrow this segmentation could be based on 40 two-star hotels, 45 or 50 three-star hotels and 10 or 15 four-star hotels.
This trend can be explained by strong demand for the mid-range segment, which is currently the most buoyant. The Group was able to see this at the end of covid with significant growth in the performance of its Appart'City "Confort" range on short stays. Whereas before the pandemic, 70% of the Group's customers were business travellers, the proportion of leisure customers is now 50 %. At the same time, the Group has noted a new attraction for medium-sized towns such as Limoges and Pau for leisure and business stays. Or even a mix of the two, in line with the growing trend towards bleisure. " We receive business travellers during the week who extend their stay in leisure mode, particularly with their families. The aparthotel works perfectly in this context." explains Vincent Compagnon.
" Obviously, we could have done without it, but covid was there to underline the advantages of the long-stay offer. With restaurants closed and people afraid to go out, our model has proved its worth. I would even go so far as to say that it is today cooler to go to an aparthotel than to a traditional hotel" continued the Chairman of Appart'City, explaining that"Not so long ago, when buyers from major groups visited, the kitchenette was hidden away because, subconsciously, they thought hotels were better for their travellers. Today, however, we're highlighting this customer 'plus' in the spirit of the times."
All this goes a long way towards explaining the resilience of the segment, which has been observed by all the players in the urban residence sector over the past few years, and continues to be so today. A year ahead of schedule, Appart'City has achieved sales almost on a par with 2019With a combination of rising prices - which can also be explained by the growing proportion of short stays - and visitor numbers only 2 points lower than in the pre-pandemic period. " After a difficult first quarter, we have since seen an explosion in demand just about everywhere in France, and since June in the Ile-de-France region.says the Chairman of Appart'City. And after a good third quarter boosted by the summer period, the group's forecasts for the end of the year remain positiveDespite the uncertain economic outlook".
This positive dynamic should also encourage its future development, with Vincent Compagnon seeing " real opportunities The Group's strategy is based on "organic growth of its network, but also external growth through the acquisition of existing residences and hotels". the conversion of offices built in the 1970s and 1980s into urban residences, particularly in inner-city Paris" . A number of projects are under way in Paris, as well as in other French cities and secondary towns, a new urban residence has already been announced for the first half of 2023. After opening last May in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Appart'City will be offering a new four-star hotel with 109 flats in Paris, on Avenue Daumesnil. With a key advantage for business travellers: a 10-minute walk from Gare de Lyon.
