At a time when oil and shipping companies have been expanding their vistas in and around the city by roping in more and more employees from outside, service apartments that provide basic amenities to the personnel too are growing by leaps and bounds — from 15 suites seven years ago to over a dozen now.
Considered to be an extension to the hospitality industry, these apartments are doing brisk business, prompting corporate hoteliers to rake in the moolah.
Suites in these apartments offer a host of facilities to guests, who leave in the morning for work and return only at night. Their stay will be anything between a few weeks and one year, depending on the projects.
“Of late, corporate firms are keen on taking the suites on long lease,” says D. Sai, proprietor of Khoobsoorat, one of the foremost service apartments in the city near Bhanu Gudi junction. There has been a steady increase in the occupancy and at present, it is about 50 per cent.
“Our other major clients are marriage parties and those who visit the city to attend conferences,” he explains. The tariff starts from Rs. 1,000 per day per suite.
“Service apartment is an economic one on any day, when compared with hotels. Also, food is absolutely the choice of the guests,” says Prasantha Borkakoty, Deputy General Manager (Administration) of the Oil India Limited. The firm has officials on short-term deputations, who check into private apartments.
According to a recent survey undertaken by the GRT group that owned chain hotels, the demand for service apartments in the city will reach the pinnacle by 2018 as almost all the corporate firms are on an expansion spree. “We have acquired land in the heart of the city to build 40 suites. We are sure that our brand name will help us attract guests,” says M. Umamaheswari, General Manager at the Grand Hotel of the group. It is learnt that a couple of other groups too are showing interest.
