Urban residences: the new image of the long-stay hotel industry

Depending on the mood, travellers can ask reception to deliver groceries or ready-made meals and dine in peace in their room. Or, on the contrary, they may prefer to go out to the surrounding restaurants to take the pulse of the city. In any case, this multiplicity of uses is appreciated by families, who can limit the catering budget or adapt to the schedules of young children. But that's not all...

For their part, the main customers of city residences - companies and individual business travellers - see this flexibility as a way of keeping their expenses to a minimum. The price argument also works in favour of this type of accommodation, which offers lower, more competitive rates than 'traditional' hotels. However, the growing popularity of city residences among key accounts should not be seen solely in terms of budget. First and foremost, they offer companies a practical answer to the question of accommodation for their employees on assignments lasting one or more weeks, or even when they are expatriates. These are long periods during which it's hard to imagine asking employees to put up with the multiple constraints of a bohemian life in a hotel.

 

Flattering the homely side of travellers, residences know how to create links between temporary uprooted people. "At our Canary Wharf site in London, a company organises two-month training courses for its new arrivals every year, and provides accommodation for two of them in a three-room flat. So they're not alone, which makes it easier for them to integrate.It's a great way to meet people," explains Guus Bakker, Director of Operations for Europe and the Middle East at the Frasers Group. To enhance the conviviality within the residences, some establishments even encourage socialising. With all due respect, of course. "At our Citadines in Asia, guests often stay for very long periods. Customer events are regularly organised to celebrate each other's birthdays".says Alain Ferracani.

 

This same spirit of openness reigns at Staybridge Suites, the long-stay brand of the IHG group. In all the hotels, and particularly in the future establishment due to open in London this summer, evening events are organised three times a week in the lobby. "We want our guests to feel like family, and we want our hotels to feel like a home to them. They can entertain their friends around their kitchen, but also relax and get to know other guests and our teams at "social receptions".says Laura Matteï, Marketing Director for France at IHG.

Today, however, the residences have gone beyond the functional and convivial role to which they have been assigned. The new generation of business hotels has adopted an emotional approach, in line with the lifestyle trend. Drawing clean lines, creating warm atmospheres and using natural materials such as wood and bamboo, designers are hard at work to give the new residences a contemporary cachet. Architect Buckley Gray Yeoman recently redesigned several Citadines. Gone are the carpets on the floors and the old sofa beds. The flats now feature a real bed set against a dark wooden floor, all set against a backdrop of green, light grey, taupe or violet.

 

Appart'City has also completely redefined its concept with decorator Laurence Medaouri-Lubetzki. To create a warm harmony, this adept of "inventive made-to-measure" blends materials and styles, playing on contemporary colours, golden beige, moon taupe with a hint of purple. The décor is complemented by the voluptuousness of a spacious new bed with a soft mattress. "The kind you find in five-star hotels".says Guillaume du Poy. "This more contemporary product will be used in all our new homes, and all our existing homes will be renovated over the next two to three years.he continues.

 

For the major players in the sector, it's time for a major overhaul. In 2011, Citadines overhauled the decoration of seven residences, while eight others are on the programme for 2012. Adagio, the result of a partnership between Pierre & Vacances and Accor, has updated the old Pierre & Vacances City residences, which predate the brand's creation in 2007. Frasers Hospitality, meanwhile, has been looking at the future of its luxury residences. "We have launched a renovation programme for our two Paris residences as well as for others in London and Glasgow, including the widespread use of WiFi and iPod stations".says Guus Bakker.

Another aspect of this vast project is the move upmarket. Appart'City will soon be adding a four-star AppartCity Premium to its range. The first establishment will open this year in Mulhouse, while other Premium residences will be developed in major French cities such as Paris and Marseille. Another representative example is Citadines, which has upgraded to Citadines Prestige status three of its Paris establishments - the best placed, near the Opera, at Les Halles and in St Germain des Prés - each in the four-star category. Three London establishments have also been "ennobled".

In the same vein, but in almost all its residences, Citadines has created a superior room category. These studios or two-room Club rooms offer more space, better exposure and additional services such as daily cleaning, breakfast included, an iPod station and a wide range of welcome products. With bathrobes and slippers, just like in a luxury hotel.

 

These moves upmarket are often accompanied by leisure facilities, such as fitness rooms, adding a wellness dimension to the residence product. But the Réside Études group has gone one step further by launching its Relais Spa, a five-star brand present at Val d'Europe and Roissy.

 

While the first establishment, close to Disneyland, targets leisure customers - but not only, as it also has meeting rooms - the second is aimed at business customers, offering 1,500 m2 of seminar space. From October onwards, the hotel will take off once and for all, with the opening of its spa with swimming pool, hammam and massage rooms. "The aim is to meet the needs of companies holding meetings close to the airport and wishing to add a relaxing activity to their seminars without having to travel to Paris itself".explains Laurent Noiriel, Managing Director of Réside Études Gestion, a group that is also continuing to develop its four-star Residhome brand and its two-star Séjour & Affaires brand.

 

Combine meeting rooms, fitness areas and even small spas in the same residence - a new way of working. "where possiblesays Raphaël Sallerin, Director of Public Relations - is also part of Odalys' plans. Coming from the world of leisure residences, this group is no longer hiding its urban ambitions. From four Odalys City residences in 2011, followed by nine by the end of 2012, the group plans to rapidly expand to around forty establishments, with projects in Dijon, Strasbourg and Bordeaux.

 

Now that the residence model has proved its worth with business customers, a host of players are setting out to conquer French cities. Appart'City's pace is just as fast as Odalys', with ten residences planned each year, in Paris and the provinces. "While we were present almost exclusively in the inner suburbs, we now have six projects in the capital and the inner suburbs. All of them should come to fruition in 2014-2015".says Guillaume du Poy. Among other innovations, the group has just launched a new website and a new iPhone application, and entered into a partnership with a key player in the business centre sector, Regus, to offer travellers an accommodation solution around their meetings.

 

Already present in most business centres, Adagio and Citadines have not given up on a few targeted projects in France. The group that owns Citadines, which bought the Hotel K in Paris, is in the process of converting it into a five-star residence under the Ascott banner.

 

For its part, Adagio is concentrating mainly on integrating the Citéa budget residences, renamed Adagio Access. With a range that now extends from two to four stars, the joint subsidiary of Pierre & Vacances and Accor will be able to reach the full spectrum of its key account clientele, from young trainees to CEOs. Most of the hotels are new, and will undergo some adjustments with a new breakfast offer and improved kitchen areas, one of the key points of the Adagio offer. "We are also thinking about developing a new generation of establishments".adds Vangelis Porikis, the brand's Sales and Marketing Director.

 

However, for international players, the time is ripe for globalisation and for accompanying business travellers on their professional journeys. Adagio is launching its brand in Liverpool, Cologne and Brussels in 2012, then in Russia in 2013, in Moscow and Kaluga, a major industrial centre where PSA, Volkswagen and Volvo have opened factories. Hamburg and Frankfurt will also see the arrival of the Citadines and Adagio brands, while the German financial capital is of interest to Frasers. As are Zurich and Geneva, two strategic locations around which bankers and consultants gravitate. But even more than in Europe, they are looking further afield for their future. In the Middle East for Adagio, but also in Brazil, where the group has just signed a franchise agreement to operate 40 residences; in India, Indonesia and of course in China and the Middle East for Frasers and Ascott. It's a logical pendulum swing for these groups of Asian origin, who, having conquered Europe's major cities, are now refocusing on their home bases.