Even the most news-phobe and isolated individual on the planet must now be aware that in the past few months the world has seen the economy take a dramatic downturn. There may be green shoots, we may be at the bottom; but I do know that serviced apartments and aparthotels like Think Apartments have yet to see this down turn. Many articles in the business press have reported that the number of business travellers have reflected this downturn. I must disagree.

What has actually happened is that businesses still need to conduct meetings, but extraneous ‘on spec’ meetings have been reduced as well as extraneous costs. This has resulted in business travellers and their bookers thinking differently about where they stay and thus ‘booking momentum’ has been broken.

This has been to Think Apartments’ advantage. We don’t provide surprisingly expensive bills, no mini-bars, no ridiculously expensive room service. What we do provide is a sanctuary for the business traveller; one where he or she can unwind after a full day and do exactly what pleases them; order a takeaway, cook, work or just relax in front of the TV. It is this sense of freedom and great value for money that has seen our occupancy shoot up.

Is there another reason why serviced apartments are seeing a boom whilst a great deal of the hospitality industry suffers? Let us have your thoughts.