Travellers worried about post-pandemic prices will receive more cash than ever
Cape Town, 6 April 2020 – With a national blockade in a position to verify to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus, March 2020 it will remain in the history books of South African tourism as the month in which the local induscheck was stopped. And with the rating firm Moody’s downgrading the counterattack’s sovereign credit rating to a wasteland, the economy that is already bankrupt has additional exacerbated restrictions on corporate budgets and domestic consumption.
“The industry is involved lately about where foreign travel will resume and under what restrictions,” says Wayne Troughton, Managing Director of HTI Consulting, a progression representative for the hospitality sector in Africa and the Middle East. It is an imaginable schedule of one to two years for the industry to succeed in the pre-Covid-19 grades. “Because the virus has affected almost every country in the world, to other degrees and in other time frames, the question is whether markets and countries will wait until the risk of the virus is completely eliminated. We hope the trips start earlier. this time in a controlled way, with a ramp-up to be fully operational in all markets and countries. »
Travellers affected by the pandemic, recession or slow economic expansion will need less expensive value or more value added, Troughton says. “It is transparent to us that value-oriented products, especially in the accommodation sector, such as apartment hotels or classic hotels, provide many more amenities beyond the fundamental of providing for the value of a room, will be better placed to meet the wishes of those travelers. Array The “Apartahotels” are complete apartment blocks that serve as luxury hotels with hotel services, combining the comforts of a classic hotel with the space, flexibility and comfort of furnished apartments.
Figures at the end of 2019 showed that the occupancy rate of five-star hotels, where maximum aparthotels are positioned incompatible with those of the total stay, such as Totalstay, had increased by 4% compared to last year, while the average rate (ADR, the average room rent consistent with the day) had increased by 2.6%. The occupancy rate of the four-star sector, despite the entry of new hotels, also increased by 1.6% and with 2.2% in add.
Launched in 2015, Totalstay, one of South Africa’s 3 most sensible apartment-focused operators, manages a collection of carefully selected luxury apartments. Rael Phillips, co-founder and CEO of Totalstay, says the company grew exponentially in the five years leading up to the closure of Covid-19. “The large genuine real estate developers, such as Berman Brothers, fund managers 12Cape Elemental and S12J, have commissioned us to convert existing advances into aparthotels or have led us from the outset to consult on specially constructed assets that will serve as an aparthotel.
The apartments in the Totalstay collection include Latitude Aparthotel in Sea Point (32 apartments), Strand Beach in Sea Point (21 apartments), The Verge Aparthotel in Sea Point (22 apartments) and Urban Artisan Aparthotel in Woodstock (20 apartments). These homes come with a combination of one, two and three bedroom apartments that fit other sized equipment. The company also manages smaller set options in existing blocks, which it describes as “luxury suites”, as well as a custom collection of luxury holiday villas, up to seven rooms. Their homes are located in and around Cape Town’s central shopping district and the Atlantic coast, with plans to expand the extra collection in the country in the near future.
Operated as a component of a block, owner or developer control agreement, Totalstay be offers a full turnkey service that adds marketing services, reservations, profit control, on-site staff, household chores and laundry services. All Totalstay homes offer 24-hour concierge services, full kitchens, independent Wi-Fi and hotel-quality amenities. In some cases, depending on the facility’s facilities, Totalstay will also offer on-site food and beverages and room service. Fitness centres and/or pools are available in select homes.
Average summer occupancy at Latitude and Strand Beach in Sea Point averaged more than 80%, with more than 50% of consumers coming from South Africa, followed by a combination of foreign industries in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. By the end of February, most consumers still arrived here from the local market, with 55% for South Africa, followed by the UK and other Western European countries. “The figures obviously conclude again that the source of the aparthotels is incredibly popular with South Africans: domestic travelers who can’t have more expensive characteristics or who simply ask for more prices for their expenses,” Phillips says.
However, Troughton believes that South Africans largely forget the appeal of the option of a component hotel, in part because this type of accommodation that is provided was controlled ad hoc in the past. “But now we have a new supply of new entrants focused on brand, quality and value, which is starting to make a difference, and with that, notoriety will increase,” he says.
Troughton believes that the way Covid-19 has limited travel spending will provide exciting new opportunities. “For hotel investors, it offers an imaginable conversion opportunity into other genuine real estate assets, such as aparthotels. The merit of the aparthotels is that they are a fast exit strategy with more downpo and more downpo and tropical than traditional hotels, as they can be sold seamlessly on a name base in sections such as micro-apartments or shared floor. »
Phillips cites as an example the investment opportunities presented through component hotels or luxury suite programs, Elements Luxury Suites, 12 sumptuous two-bedroom oceanfront components at Upper Sea Point. Totalstay began operating it in 2018 and genuine real estate investors became interested almost immediately, buying in the progression and then renting its components to Totalstay as a component of the group. “Once we had the numbers to recommend calls for this type of housing, genuine real estate investors saw the pullback and the pullback, and then it was a no-brainer for them,” Phillips says.
Simon Bridges, developer and general manager of Elemental, adds: “As a developer, we are exposed to the threat of owning unsold items, so offering unsold sets and a hotel operator has helped us mitigate this threat by generating rental revenue. We reached 45% of our industry name sales target after the progression began to function as an apartment hotel; this was and is one of our most resilient marketing tools.
Bridges quotes a new call, which all South Africans may be waiting for when the Covid-19 lock is lifted. “The operation of the construction as a hotel apartment has come to life, with guests, occasions and pedestrian traffic daily. This only adds to the market quality and the appeal of construction, which has become sensational when interested buyers were there, seeing things for themselves.
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