Don James, Chairman of the ASAP, the not-for-profit association for the rapidly growing serviced apartment sector, has confirmed in his spring statement that the Association’s Quality Accreditation programme is proving to be the key driver to position the sector as operating to a ‘gold standard’.
Speaking at the Association’s Edinburgh meeting on 19 April, James confirmed:
‘We are very proud to confirm that over 85% of our 134 members have now been quality accredited and successfully achieved the ASAP Quality Accreditation marque. As the sharing economy increases ,our accreditation is proving to be a critical differentiator of quality for the serviced apartment sector, in an increasingly confused market’.
James continues:
Every day in the media we read of disappointed guests who have booked with rogue accommodation operators who arrive at their destination only to find the apartment they thought they had booked either does not exist at all, or does not meet minimum health and safety standards. It’s therefore never been more critical for us to position our sector as one where guests can truly ‘stay with confidence’, knowing that the serviced apartment they have booked has been fully assessed by a professional independent body and that the operator they have booked with fully complies with key health and safety requirements, has robust business practices in place and adheres to an agreed industry code of conduct.’
Don James also confirmed that the Quality programme is also now gaining momentum overseas, through ASAP’s partnership with the Corporate Housing Providers Association (CHPA) in the USA, as well as in Europe where ASAP’s members in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Switzerland have now been quality accredited. The programme is also attracting interest from operators in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. And ASAP has just announced it has also extended its Quality Accreditation programme to serviced apartment booking agents and quality accredited operators can now choose to have individual properties and buildings assessed.
The ASAP Quality accreditation programme has been particularly welcomed by the corporate travel buying community. More and more business travellers want to stay in a serviced apartment when travelling on business but they need the critical reassurance of the ASAP Quality marque to be able to fulfill their duty of care obligations to their employees so they can book and ‘stay with confidence’. ASAP is encouraged that travel buyers and travel management companies are increasingly prioritising booking with serviced apartment operators who have secured the Quality accreditation marque.
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