There can't be anybody reading this who hasn't been affected in one way or another by the events of the last 15 months or so.
The Coronavirus pandemic has touched all of us. Some businesses will have muddled through; some will have gone under; some will have needed to make huge changes to the way in which they operate. Arguably the one industry which has suffered most visibly is hospitality. Even as we go to print, the future is far from clear as deadlines keep being moved. However, if a business is sufficiently flexible and can adapt to the conditions, then there is no reason why it can’t continue to operate as closely to normal as possible. Take Week2Week for example. They are a family run, Newcastle-based, serviced apartments company who provide accommodation to tourists, business people, family members visiting relatives, people who are moving home who’ve sold one property and are waiting to move into their new property etc. As Week2Week describe themselves on their website, www. week2week.co.uk, they are “Your hotel alternative.” And of course, for the majority of folk, hotels have been out of bounds courtesy of Covid-19. Thankfully, Director Claire Parry and her team are made of strong stuff and they’ve battled their way through the last year or so to ensure that accommodation is readily available and, crucially, that it is Covid safe. “In our industry, we are all about hygiene,” says Claire. “We work to hospitality standards and are fully accredited, regulated providers. We have to comply with the same rules that the big hotel chains must adhere to and, as you’d expect, since March of last year, the number of rules and regulations has skyrocketed. The big advantage of renting a Week2Week serviced apartment is that you know when you arrive that it has been fully cleaned and fully sanitised. As well as manually cleaning our properties, we have invested in the latest misting machines which sanitise rooms thoroughly. We also provide additional sanitisers for the use of clients when they arrive. This is important for contractors, engineers, company directors etc because many of them are only allowed to stay away from home when it is absolutely necessary and they can only stay somewhere which has been given full clearance. It’s a similar story with families because they prefer to stay together in a ‘bubble’ and avoid being separated. They can cook their own meals, watch TV, do their own laundry and have their own private facilities. That wouldn’t happen at the handful of hotels who were allowed to accept key workers because meeting people in lifts, corridors and the reception area is unavoidable. If you are in your own serviced apartment, you can control your environment. You also get, on average, 30 per cent more space than when compared to a hotel room.” Week2Week has a portfolio of 25 apartments. They’re mainly in the Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland areas, but thanks to the sort of reputation that Week2Week has achieved since Claire Parry’s mother started the business twenty years ago, they can find you a top quality serviced apartment in almost every other major city / country. They collaborate with some seriously big hitters in the hospitality industry around the world. It also won’t come as any surprise to read that Week2Week is racking-up awards at an impressive rate. For example, this year they have been shortlisted for four major awards. They were Highly Commended in the Global Relocate Awards for the Best Serviced Apartment Provider category for the second year in a row. Praise indeed, although it was the 4th time, they’d picked up the gong, proving that they are a consistently top performing company. Serviced Apartment News is the world leading source of industry news for the serviced apartment, aparthotel and extended stay sectors. This year Week2Week was named as a Best Serviced Apartment Provider for firms with between 1 and 50 properties. Claire Parry was nominated for Industry Inspiration, and Sarah Buck, who handles Week2Week’s admin and is the first point of contact for guests, was named as a Rising Star. In other words, Week2Week might be a small organisation in the great scheme of things, but they have a worldwide reach dealing with local, national and international clients. Size plainly isn’t everything!! If you’d like to see the properties available at Week2Week, the best idea is to go onto their website. You should also speak to Claire if you have a property that you’d like to make available for rent. The financial returns are extremely attractive and are generally much more favourable than renting to private tenants. Week2Week…serviced apartments…safe and secure…your hotel alternative