These articles below can also be found in the June 2010 issue of Serviced Living Guide:
A Place Called Home
The rise of boutique serviced apartments has meant greater offerings with an individualist style print, all centred around creating the feel of a permanent home, without the strings.
When Serviced Apartments began appearing on the market they felt like hotel rooms. For launches such as the Four Seasons, this was a natural, conscious move. The apartments were, after all, an extension of the familiar upscale hotel brand, and incorporated many of the lavish extras that a hotel provides. But over the last decade, the chief change in the serviced apartment sector has been the proliferation of boutique offerings. Design-led, and positioned at all price levels, units at boutique apartments are usually upbeat and stylish. Fully-furnished down to linen and cutlery, spaces are designed to feel less like a room and more like a home.
Apartments with a boutique ethos focus on the uniqueness of their brand – be it hand-chosen artworks, original furnishings or a fully-functioning kitchen. The Home2Home group operates 174 apartments across five buildings through it’s Ovolo brand, and puts technology high on it’s list of key brand elements. Rooms boast 42-inch plasma TVs, surround-sound home theatre systems, and “smart lighting” systems.
Boutiques also pioneered add-on services which aim to elevate a guest’s lifestyle, fastracking the time it takes to ‘feel at home’ in a new place. Ovolo’s ‘Indulge’ card gives members access to exclusive bars, restaurants, and spas and provides them a complimentary gym membership. “Our apartments are fully serviced to make city living effortless for guests and provide an instant ticket to an ‘in the know’ social life similar to an exclusive members club, which might otherwise take months or even years to establish,” says Ovolo’s founder, Girish Jhunjhnuwala.
Environment matters too. Operators like Cityloft have capitalised on the region’s growing concern for heritage preservation. The company transforms older buildings in prime locations like Central and Wanchai and refurbishes blocks to provide modern amenities combined with a historic element. Han Residence, across the water in Kowloon, runs 51 apartments and is a walk away from the shopping haven that is Tsimshatsui, yet the smart addition of the rooftop gardens or terraces available with some rooms provides visitors a private place to unwind.
Such touches have had much to do with the changing way serviced apartments are viewed. These distinctive residences are no longer just a stop-gap dwelling before finding a “real home” to rent or buy, now, for many, serviced apartments are considered a real worthwhile alternative.
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