In this exclusive column to HM, Quest Apartment Hotels General Manager – Growth and Capital Strategy, James Shields, talks about how hotels guests are seeking trust in their hotel brands now more than ever and how this will impact hotel development in the short to medium-term.
As Australia’s largest serviced apartment provider, Quest Apartment Hotels has not been immune to the enormous challenges brought upon the hotels industry due to the global pandemic. However, the Upscale accommodation brand believes its product is well placed to support guests right now and in a world post COVID-19.
Now more than ever, guests are seeking space, reassurance and trust – something I believe is perfectly aligned to the sizeable separate living spaces combined with consistency provided by a household brand like Quest Apartment Hotels. I believe that guests will favour more in-house, self-contained offerings in their accommodation facilities as they face greater uncertainty in the external environment.
Established, trusted brands such as Quest have been able to develop robust, well- tested safety protocols which have been rolled out across our network, helping our guests feel comfortable. It hasn’t just been hotels that have been hard hit in recent months, with the development and construction sector facing great financial and logistical challenges.
As a result, developers are now looking to minimise risk and get back to fundamentals in order to secure long term returns. These fundamentals are location, scale, quality, consumer demand and brand. The discipline is in continuing our focus on delivering quality long-stay accommodation in the locations business and leisure travellers want to be.
We overlay market intelligence with insights from our national customer base to perform due diligence and meticulously analyse the feasibility of locations and local drivers to understand where we need to be and in what time frame.
For more of James’ column, don’t miss the August issue of HM Magazine – on its way to subscribers now.