In most of the apartments there is a cloakroom provided so that the resident can have a guest and still preserve their privacy. The intention is that each apartment becomes a guest ‘home from home’ with a high level of repeat business anticipated. Certainly occupancy rates in the first eight months have risen to around the 88% mark, some fifteen or sixteen points above the level of occupancy in London’s hotels generally. With lower service area provision and less room servicing costs are obviously lower, and with longer stays the rule here, the rental cost of the apartments is lower than comparable four/five star competition.

The public areas are also done to a very high standard, with images of London used opposite the lifts to visually key in the guest to which floor they are on. There is a small gym, and although there is a restaurant it is actually an independent operation, accessible to guest through their room key but needing booking for meals. It does offer a guest only breakfast service, but given the availability of the kitchens in the apartments I would be surprised if this resulted in much business for them.

For those travellers who must make a prolonged stay in the city, or for those who simply want to see what it feels like to live in this fashionable part of London, the location and quality of the Phoenix House apartments will make a pleasant change from the busier environment of most of the hotels in the area. The designer has provided a quality environment, and although to some this contemporary style is now becoming a little passé, the apartments are extremely comfortable and clearly meet a demand.

In the USA now the aparthotel market is the fastest growing hospitality sector and accounts for about 8% of the market. In many operations there is a minimum stay time, but increasingly this is not the case. Normally Phoenix House expects a minimum of a week for bookings but as the relationship builds this requirement will be relaxed for their regular clientele. The owners have five properties in this sector of the market in London, and the others have more restrictive letting policies. It is only a matter of time before the development of this kind of property becomes a larger segment of the market in the UK as it is across the pond.