Modernizing the Perception Of Serviced Apartments in Mumbai and worldwide

I will start with a delightful thought  which says

"With some serious money being committed to the sector the potential for growth looks set to be finally realized"

The thought holds true for this ever growing Serviced Apartment Sector in every part of the world. Slowly and steadily the industry is getting its deserving recognition and acceptance
Serviced apartments are enjoying a surge sought after in Asia because of an increment in corporate travel emerging from worldwide portability and new business opportunities. Unexpectedly, this pattern happens all the while with expense cutting measures coming about because of the worldwide budgetary emergency which constrained organizations to lessen exile family relocation packages and rather, resort to developed stay business travel enduring one to six months. Serviced apartments make the ideal lodging under such circumstances. They are the perfect distinct option for lodgings, particularly in Asia where customary corporate housing and broadened stay lodgings are not normal and the other common alternatives for exiles would be condos or leased houses, both of which involve extra expenses, for example, housekeeping, support, security, and perhaps furnishing

The outlook for the serviced apartments industry is indeed very optimistic as it grows in popularity and acceptance. At the same time, the concept has yet to reach maturity because of traditional misconceptions or lack of awareness in certain markets. After all, it has only been in the last 30 years that serviced apartments have become a viable option and at the early stage, they were not as sophisticated as hotels. -

In India, the concept is only a little more than seven years old, when Hyatt and Marriott introduced their serviced apartment brands to the market and Lake Bloom Residency who were the pioneers of this concept of service apartment and 3 star hotel rooms under one roof. . Hangzhou in China still calls them Hotel Apartments emphasizing their similarity to hotels and the prestige attached to the association
Sales and  Marketing  endeavors  from the significant players in the business have essentially improved perception and support  of  Serviced  Apartments  in Asia. This  will be  obvious  in  the  move  by a few  major  inn  players  including amplified stay items and administrations to their own particular portfolio to exploit the business development

Properties with the proper licenses have likewise educated consumers about the accessibility of serviced apartments for overnight or weekend stays. This enables them to develop the leisure market, which has encountered an increment in support particularly with the ascent in household tourism. Neighborhood families cherish a weekend occasion without investing hours driving out of the city and serviced apartments regularly give the best choice, giving adaptability regarding space, feasting (they can cook in the flat or request in) and stimulation (they can obtain books

The Impact of Demographic Characteristics on Service Apartment Selection in Mumbai

An understanding of consumer behavior depends on recognizing the importance of the characteristics of the buyer, one of the methods to describe the characteristics of buyers is demographic segmentation. Demographic segmentation deals with many ways of statistically categorizing all the people in a national population. For example, a nation's population can be divided into subgroups by age, sex, income, education, occupation, social class, family size, race and religion

In this study, the researcher will classify three major demographic characteristics which are age level, educational level, and income level as illustrated below.

Major Demographic Characteristics Variables

Demographic Characteristics	Examples of Subgroups
Age Levels	Adolescents, young adults, middle-aged, elderly
Educational Levels	Elementary. Graduation, Post Graduation
Income levels	Destitute, poor, middle income, affluent

Table 3.2 Demographics Characterisation and the subgroups (Philip Kotler)

3.5.1 Age Levels

People change the goods and services they buy over their lifetimes. Tastes in food, clothes, furniture, and even Service Apartment s are often related to age (Kotler, 2003). Some companies offer different products or marketing strategies to penetrate various ages and life-cycle segments.

The age subculture into three subcategories: baby, teen and the mature market that is likely to have different needs. ‘Baby Boomer’ generation of people born between 1946 and 1964 is large in several industrialized nations, Japan, the U.K., Canada, and others. This market represents tremendous buying potential for tourism, Therefore it can be expected that most business Travellers are likely fit in this age level and they may have similar attitudes towards important factors on serviced apartment selection. In service industry business, the age levels of Travellers may directly determine their patterns of travel. Different age groups have significant impacts on accommodation selection factors.

3.5.2 Educational Levels

Consumers’ attitudes and behaviors are varied by different educational backgrounds With regard to the service industry, that the Travellers with lower educational levels placed an importance on ‘media’ than those with higher educational levels. People with higher educational levels might have been in higher positions in careers and they might not have time to search service information on media channels, but from some other sources else. It can be stated that education levels may affect the way consumers making purchase decisions.

3.5.3 Income Levels

Income has long been used by marketers to create products and services. Kotler, stated that the Service Apartment industry is particularly effective in using income segmentation. Levels of income may be considered as a subculture, because people with different levels of income might have different values, behaviours, and lifestyles.

 In addition, it is found that education has a very strong relationship with levels of income as it was stated that nearly half of the populations having higher income have completed four years of college, but only 10 percent of populations with lower income have done so

 In travel industry, the study revealed that people with higher income and education levels tended to search for more products or services information. This assumes that individual income levels may influence consumer behaviour in purchase decision-making.

People from each group of different demographics such as age levels, educational levels, and income levels may have different needs and expectations on important factors while making purchase decisions on accommodations. In particular, the investigation of important factors influencing the selection of serviced apartments by business Travellers is interesting because the number of business Travellers has increased constantly making the new segmentation in the market.

Perceptions of Service Apartment Service and Facilities by Business Travellers

As Business Travelers are the major segments served by Service Apartment, a number of studies in the past investigated those business travelers’ service Apartments selection behavior and related issues. For Business travelers Service Apartments are like blessings as because first thing they are close to their work places so in that case they save a lot of traveling time especially in the city like Mumbai where traffic is at peak after business hours are over (9am-6pm). Apart from traffic they even save a lot of money in compare to Hotels as the cost for a stay at any Hotel in Mumbai is almost double then staying in a Service Apartment. Moreover the Spacious aspect of service apartment cannot be forgotten as when you stay at service apartment you get spacious rooms with a Living come dining area which is much better than 4 walls of a hotel room.

Sales and Marketing efforts from the major players in the industry have significantly enhanced perception and patronage of Serviced Apartments amongst Business Travelers. There are many Business Travelers always concerned only about cutting costs in all possible ways with compromising on the quality of service they are desire. All they need is clean, comfortable, well maintained rooms and a safe and secure environment. They do not want those swimming pools or Jacuzzis for their entertainment. 

There are a few challenges which are downgrading the concept of service apartment in the market one important one is people getting into this industry without doing proper analysis of the same, which in turn affects many other affiliates in the industry. This gives a very bad impact to the concept itself as primarily because the concept is new in our country and other thing it can be promoted only by a positive word of mouth.

This study to explore and identify which determinants of service apartment choice criteria for Business Travellers in Mumbai can help improve managements understanding of customer needs, and could ultimately lead to customer satisfaction and repeat business so that they give away good views about service apartments to their family friends and relatives.

Perceived Service Apartment Attributes, Customer Satisfaction and Service Quality

Research in customer satisfaction showed that satisfaction is an emotional outcome that results from positive evaluation. The satisfaction, as an evaluation about which customers have experienced the Service Apartment service is at least as good as it is expected to be, customer satisfaction may result in interaction between a customer’s pre-purchase expectation and post-purchase evaluation.

A customer is considered to be satisfied when his/her total experiences indicate a feeling of pleasure when compared with his/her expectations. As customer satisfaction is influenced by the availability of customer services, the attributes of services have become such a major concern.     

Because of the intangibility, inseparability, variability and perishability of services, the degrees of customer satisfaction depend on their perceptions of service attributes and facilities. In the hospitality industry, in order to promote customer satisfaction, Service Apartment attributes should be considered as an important determinant. Within this context there are any studies which point to various Service Apartment attributes such as room quality, reputation of Service Apartment, helpfulness of staff, all of which are considered by customers as factors for evaluating Service Apartment performance.

 

Service Apartment attributes including such factors as: Image, Service, Price/Value, Service Apartment, Room, Food and Beverage, Security and others. A number of research projects that had been conducted, and significant is the finding that within many of these, the standard of cleanliness was rated as the most important in the selection of accommodation by customers.

The importance of cleanliness has also been identified more recently in the industry. Research has also shown that, in the hospitality industry, the quality of interpersonal interaction between the customer and the contact employee greatly influences customer satisfaction and also those clean, comfortable, well- maintained rooms, and convenient locations, a safe environment, as well as prompt and courteous service are important components of customer satisfaction.

At a service apartment, rooms have to be clean, spacious with comfortable beds, pleasing ambience as well as they should also contain other facilities like the availability and food value of a restaurant, friendly staff and efficient service, convenient parking, as well as an appealing interior decor and exterior aesthetics.

Measuring customer satisfaction is an integral part of the effort that improves a products quality, resulting in a company’s competitive advantage the theory of consumer behaviour proves that customer buying behaviors and levels of satisfaction are influenced by the customer’s background, characteristics, and external stimuli. As customer satisfaction is influenced by the availability of customer services, the provision of quality services has become a major concern of all businesses