The globalisation of business since the mid-20 century has seen the incredible expansion of international headquarters being established abroad from their home continents. Added to this are the major mergers and takeovers that still occur on a frequent basis despite these prudent times – a very early UK example being the acquisition of Vauxhall Motors by General Motors as long ago as 1925.This brings with it the necessity of sharing company expertise by relocating staff across the globe, and naturally enough, with London being one of the industrial and commercial capitals of the world, it sees a healthy proportion of this staff relocation.
As extended stay specialists, Clarendon Serviced Apartments have built a reputation based on over 20 years’ experience servicing this relocation market.
They appreciate that an executive relocating from abroad – whether a non-national or an ex-pat returning to the UK – needs the process to start quickly. They know that there is very often the requirement to move in somewhere almost immediately. And the demands are even greater when an entire family is involved, as the transition has to be as smooth as possible and with minimal disruption, particularly if it involves children.
The extended-stay apartment provides the stability for a family that a hotel simply cannot provide. The privacy, space and ability for the family to adapt quickly to how life was in the home country, places the extended-stay apartment in an extremely strong position as an excellent interim base while more permanent accommodation is arranged.
This is even more relevant for the returning ex-pat who might wish to take a little more time to ensure their eventual house purchase is the definitive one for them.
The property purchase process in England tends, at best, to be long and drawn-out, taking anywhere up to four months to complete, and with there not being the golden relocation packages of old to rely on, it has to be done thoroughly, carefully and most importantly, right first time.
Clarendon’s offering has been very carefully thought through, with both the needs and wants of the end-user firmly in mind. As owner-managers, and unlike agents, they have complete control of their extended-stay, serviced apartments, including the major aspects such as location, design and readiness-to-go, down to the smaller things – nevertheless considered important in the overall Clarendon package – such as crockery, broadband, utilities and linen.
As an established provider, Clarendon have the experience of working with specialist relocation and mobility teams abroad to ensure they offer a continued service for families encountering the disruption of moving home thousands of miles.
Even the other quite major “little” things are taken into account by Clarendon. For example, their extended-stay apartments in the leafy West London suburbs are within easy reach of ACS International Schools in Cobham, Egham and Hillingdon, which means children can continue their schooling virtually uninterrupted. There are always good local facilities, such as shopping, also within easy reach.
The extended-stay apartment makes the perfect interim base for family life to continue as normal as possible. Families are much more on their own, with far less of a structured and sometimes overbearing feel to that of a hotel.
As London’s dominance in the UK this market continues to grow, and experts from the Travel Intelligence Network, (according to their 2011-2012 Global Serviced Apartments Industry Report), predicting a major upsurge in the outbound Asian travel market over the next few years, Clarendon Serviced Apartments are extremely well-placed, through their longevity and experience in the business, to service the often very disparate needs of international clients.