If you ask operators, architects and specialised consultants, they say: We are right in the middle of the future of serviced apartments. We are currently experiencing how different worlds are merging into hybrid concepts. ‘In the last five years, for example, digital providers have shown us that services can also be understood digitally and are growing with properties completely without employees,’ explains Anett Gregorius, founder and owner of Apartmentservice. ‘And we are currently seeing many mixed offers of apartments and rooms, more catering and conferences, short and long stays. This is all because serviced flats are in such high demand.’
Serviced apartments with their fully equipped kitchens and separate living and sleeping areas are designed for longer stays during a business trip. But the offer is also convenient for short city trips. And if it's only one or two nights, maybe you don't need a kitchen. Whether Stay Kooook, Smartments, The Base or Novum Hospitality (recently with the large hotel chain IHG Hotels & Resorts) – they all mix their serviced apartments with rooms in their homes and rely on cooking facilities with shared kitchens in the house.
Serviced apartments in the big new mix?
Novum Hospitality has just opened its The Niu Wave in Karlsruhe with 184 hotel rooms and 105 serviced apartments. The co-living provider The Base launched a new suite of rooms in Munich in April to complement the approximately 130 serviced apartments. Smartments recently mixed the options for the first time with its new Connect brand in Frankfurt and is now building in a similar way in Bielefeld. And the Swiss brand Stay Kooook? She has even developed a room-apartment mix in one: Here you can lock out the kitchen and book it as you need it. In addition, guests can use an electronic rail system to drive their desk cheerfully through the room to the window. Working, cooking, sleeping – depending on the desired activity, you can then flexibly set up your apartment throughout the day.
But is it possible to go smaller?
. . . and if so, how small? At Berlin's Hackescher Markt, Adina Hotels has just passed the laboratory test as the largest serviced apartment provider in Germany: At the MM:NT Berlin Lab, they offer rooms starting at 11 square meters and without windows in a mix with shared kitchens and serviced apartments. As a partner, Adina has brought Häfele, a major German supplier of fittings, furniture fittings, electronic access control and LED lighting, on board.
The six MM:NT rooms and apartments are currently testing guests of the X and Z generations and continuously provide feedback on their experiences and experiences, which in turn are continuously used for changes. Adina had found the test guests via social media. The experiment now lasts eight weeks. When the product arrives, it will soon be launched as a new brand. The future of Serviced Apartments? In any case, it is becoming even more diverse.
© Bella Keyl
Book Serviced Apartments in here and now? On apartmentservice.de you can find a total of over 300 partner houses in more than 150 destinations in Germany and worldwide. The reservation team of the serviced apartment specialist in Berlin knows many of them themselves and knows which houses they can recommend for which long-term and short-term stays.