Next week sees the staging of the sixth annual Serviced Apartment Summit Europe, the premier gathering of serviced apartment, aparthotel, corporate housing, extended stay and short-term rental professionals from across the continent.
Launched in 2013 due to industry demand, the event has since grown and expanded to encompass summits in the US and UAE.
Recognising that business travel is one of the main drivers of the sector’s growth, for the first time this year we have introduced a travel buyer forum, which will bring together corporate buyers, TMCs, agents and operators in a series of intensive sessions designed to help each promote and facilitate a bigger take-up of serviced apartment use for business travel.
This year’s event takes place at a tremendously exciting time for serviced apartments globally – the latest GSAIR report has just revealed a 23.7 per cent increase in total inventory over the last two years, with the industry surpassing the one million unit mark.
And it is here in Europe where the speed of supply growth is at its most impressive, as a relatively new sector is maturing rapidly. One of the indicators of this new-found maturity is undoubtedly the arrival of serviced apartments as a separate asset class, recognised by institutional investors as an attractive proposition. Brookfield's £430 million acquisition of SACO has put down a marker and is likely to be the first of many major M&A deals across the continent. The investment landscape is one of the essential sessions on the summit agenda.
Elsewhere on the summit schedule there are sessions covering market performance and growth, distribution, Brexit, digital marketing and more. Another first is a series of interactive round table workshop sessions, where we will break the audience down in to smaller groups, each centred on crucial topics to enable focused sharing of knowledge and experience. There is even an optional yoga session in the morning morning for those who like to start the day with a good stretch.
We have also provided numerous networking opportunities throughout the summit, enabling attendees to meet high-quality, like-minded business contacts.
The Serviced Apartment Summit Europe takes place from 10-11 July at the Park Plaza Victoria in London. Follow the event on social media using #SASEU @ServAptNews.
For more information and to book tickets, visit servicedapartmentsummit.com