Demand for extended-stay accommodation in London “held strong” in the three months from May to July, according to the latest quarterly update from SilverDoor.
The serviced apartments specialist said that reservations for the UK capital rose by 6 per cent in the quarter from 1 May to 31 July, compared with the previous quarter from 1 February to 30 April.
SilverDoor highlighted how London’s “long-term strength” as a corporate travel destination had been boosted by recent major corporate investments in the city, including the announcements of Barclays acquiring its global headquarters and PwC securing new office space, both in the Canary Wharf district.
The company expects further growth in the science and technology hub of Cambridge, due to new infrastructure projects around the city, which is known as “Silicon Fen”.
SilverDoor’s report noted increased demand for destinations in the Nordic region, with year-on-year bookings growth of 128 per cent for Helsinki in Finland and a 70 per cent rise in demand for the Swedish city of Gothenburg during the quarter.
In the Middle East, SilverDoor said that booking volumes in Abu Dhabi were “holding firm” during the quarter, as the emirate “relies less on tourism and is more focused on government and other critical industries like oil and gas”.
Meanwhile, bookings for Dubai rose by 5 per cent compared to the February-April quarter, with professional and financial services firms “operating as normal”. There was also a reduction in the cancellation rate for Dubai from 17 per cent to 11 per cent quarter-on-quarter.
But other parts of the Gulf region are not faring so well, according to SilverDoor’s data. Saudi Arabia’s cancellation rate increased from 27 per cent to 50 per cent quarter-on-quarter, due to continued “difficulties with travel and transfers”, particularly in the banking sector.
Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait are also “more heavily impacted” by the Iran war, with airspace closures and flight cancellations still a regular occurrence – leading to cancellation rates of up to 60 per cent in the quarter.
SilverDoor’s data revealed that corporates are now subjecting trips to a “higher degree of scrutiny” on spend and value, rather than reducing travel as a cost-cutting measure.
This scrutiny includes senior business leaders being focused on maximising the return on investment (ROI) from a trip or move and wanting to see the “clear value” of using serviced apartments over hotels.
Cost control strategies include packaging multiple trips together into a single longer stay and consolidating managed housing into a single global policy to increase buying power.