It’s fair to say that back in the early 1980’s, just prior to the establishment of Clarendon Serviced Apartment, the short let serviced accommodation industry in London was somewhat non-existent. While there were a few motels – somewhat in style like the ones in American films where private detectives always seemed to fight with villains – these were quite scattered and were very much a “one room size fits all”, offering very meagre facilities situated in the same room as the bed, the entire very much based on the American model.
Over the 25 years Clarendon have been in the business, the serviced apartment landscape has changed dramatically, and while London has become quite saturated, the quality bar keeps being raised ever-higher.
For starters, the guest now receives a far better service than that on offer all those years ago. In the 1980’s, the style and operation was stereotypically American, all the way down to the disinterested moustached man wearing a white vest who would disinterestingly tear himself away from the television for just long enough to take payment from you and throw you a room key! The cooker was a two-ring, table top affair, you possibly had a small desktop fridge, and crockery and cutlery was at a bare minimum.
The service was very much along hotel standards – that is, a perfunctory half-hour clean and dust in the morning once you had vacated for the day. There was probably a TV in the corner, but the room was certainly not conducive to either work-at-home or leisure time than an extended-stay can so often produce.
In the 1980s, the request for proposal was by far the most popular, companies used to acquire accommodation for staff, but today, many company purchasing divisions simply research and book via the internet.
But it has certainly changed since the 1980’s. Self-contained, extended-stay or medium-let serviced apartments offer the height of luxury and comfort, with all the home-from-home equipment and facilities, separate fully-fitted kitchen, multi-channel tv, broadband, a full professional apartment servicing (including bedding), plenty of storage and leisure space. Privacy and security offer peace of mind for the visitor, with the knowledge that their transition from their own country to London is as seamless and uncomplicated as it can be.
And with responsible owner-managers Clarendon on call and available 24 hours a day, all is completely simple and totally enjoyable!