The serviced apartment concept offers more space than conventional hotels
Business travellers, tourists or even families – the clients of Fraser Residence Budapest are diverse. The apartment house in District VIII’s Nagy Templom utca, near Corvin Shopping Center, offers 51 apartments. The same spaciousness and autonomy can be enjoyed as at a private home, together with the full range of hotel services. The concept‘s name is “Serviced Apartments” and it is still relatively unknown in Hungary.
Fraser Residence Budapest recently won a World Travel Award 2013, and we asked general manager Alain Goetschel about the Serviced Apartments concept. “Basically we operate as a hotel,” he said. “The main difference is that we offer more space. The smallest rooms are 35 square metres and we have huge penthouses as well.”
The apartments are fully furnished, with a built-in kitchen, dishwasher and washing machine. This allows a completely independent life with some extras, such as 24-hour reception, breakfast and cleaning service.
“Our location is central with many shopping possibilities,” says Goetschel. “You can prepare your own food or you can order it from the restaurant.” Your stay in the apartments can be as long as you like – from a couple of days to multiple years.
The Serviced Apartments concept is most popular with the English-speaking and Asian countries. The parent company of Fraser Residence, the billion-dollar company Fraser and Neave Limited, is based in Singapore and employs over 10,000 people worldwide.
It is expanding the Fraser Residence brand, primarily in Asia and especially China. The concept of modern apartments with full service is perceived very positively there. The company has over 14,000 apartments in 45 cities.
In Hungary serviced apartments are still relatively unknown. In Budapest there is a large choice of first-class hotels at bargain prices. Fraser Residence has had since 2011 to find its place in the market.
“We have a very good reputation,” Goetschel says, confidently. The demand for such apartments is rising, due to the increasing number of business trips and longer professional stays in the country. “We see a change by the business people, who choose our apartments over the classic hotels. We also have a large number of returning guests.”
The Fraser apartments have a four-star rating according to the EU-Standard, and they place much emphasis on quality and services. “We are a business of course, but the human factor is very important for us,” he points out. “We want to improve our services constantly.”
The most important thing is to adapt to the guests and fulfil their wishes, because different nationalities have different habits. In the case of a longer stay, Fraser Residence Budapest offers flexibility with furnishing.
“There is one family who have been living here for over two years,” Goetschel tells us. “They brought their own furniture and coloured the walls to their liking.”
