There are lots of reasons why people come and stay in our gorgeous serviced apartments. Many are relocating to the area and need short-term accommodation while they find their feet and somewhere more permanent to live. Some of our guests need a stop-gap, somewhere to stay while their own home is being renovated, or if they can't move into their new house straight away, or occasionally if they're having problems and need a home away from home for a while.

Why do our guests stay with us rather than in a hotel? There are lots of reasons for that!

The serviced apartment market has seen a huge amount of growth in the last few years. Since 2008, the number of serviced apartments around the world has seen an almost 80% increase, which means that there are roughly 800,000 short-term properties in nearly 10,000 locations worldwide.

Here in the UK, the last two years have seen massive growth, our sector has been expanding faster than any other in the UK hospitality market. And a whopping 60% of businesses now use serviced apartments when their staff relocate or travel because employees much prefer staying in a flat or house to being in a hotel.

We thought it would be interesting to find out why our guests love short-term rentals so much, so we asked them! This is what we discovered...

• Guests love being able to have their own kitchen to cook in. When you stay in a hotel you have to eat out all the time, which sounds like fun but after a few days it gets boring and unhealthy, not to mention expensive.
• Our visitors like having more space than they'd get in one room, whether they're staying on their own, with a partner or their family.
• They also enjoy the freedom of having their own space, they can come and go as they please, there is nothing and no one they have to fit in with. The cleaners come at a convenient time, there are no special eating times and everything is completely flexible.
• The community was mentioned several times too. When they arrive, guests often don't know anyone in the local area but they quickly feel part of West Bridgford and make friends at the nearest pub or at the gym. 
• With a serviced apartment you get a whole home – not just a bedroom, a bathroom, and a counter-top for a kitchen so guests don't have to sit on their beds to watch TV or use their laptops!
• Another thing they mentioned is that a serviced apartment is home from home so guests feel able invite friends round. Which you wouldn't do in a hotel room!
• They also mentioned being close to all the shops, cafes and restaurants on Central Avenue in West Bridgford, and one guest said that she loves the Farmers' Market on the Croquet Lawn!
• Some of our more active guests like being able to run along the river – not so easy from city hotels.
• The Pink Army – our wonderful team of cleaners who take care of all of our housekeeping – was cited by several people as a great bonus of staying in a serviced apartment.
• City centre hotels rarely have parking, and if they do they charge for it whereas all of our properties have free parking right outside – was brought up by several people.
• And lastly, people relocating to the area really like being able to explore and experience West Bridgford for a few months to get to know the area with a view to living here long-term.

There are heaps of reasons why people love serviced apartments so much, which explains why the sector is growing so quickly. We're thrilled to be able to be part of that growth and provide our wonderful guests with a luxurious home from home.

To find out more about our short-term lets or to book your stay and find out what all the fuss is about, feel free to contact us.
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On Friday 30th September, we took part in the World's Biggest Coffee Morning and held our own event here in West Bridgford to raise money for Macmillan cancer support.

We wanted to do it a little bit differently so we decided to give it a health slant. At our coffee morning we had someone offering hand massages, someone selling oils and salts, someone giving pilates lessons... and of course there was lots of coffee and cake!

Thanks to the generosity of everyone who came along we raised a fantastic £354 (which we're going to double to make a total of £708). Not bad for a morning's cake-eating. I've just popped over to the Macmillan website and at the time of writing, all of the coffee mornings nationwide have raised £8,641,243.02. Now that's a lot of cake!

We were really lucky with the weather – here we are enjoying the beautiful day in late September.

We had a great turnout, about 30 people called in, and we thought it might be a good idea to re-open our doors at 5pm for anyone who couldn't make it during the day, so we picked up lots of people after work too.

This is Angeliki with a gorgeous collection of her extra virgin olive oil and sea salts, which went down very well. Angeliki runs Elia http://eliafoods.co.uk and specialises in bringing Greek food to the UK, feel free to contact her if you'd like to know more.

Above is Corinne, who's the local Executive Manager at The Body Shop at Home. She raised lots of money by offering luxurious hand massages to everyone for £2 a pop. And here's Nikki – owner of Studio Bùa in The Park, Nottingham – teaching some of the ladies about pilates and helping them burn off their coffee morning treats! 

Not only did we have all that going on but we managed to fit in a raffle with some brilliant prizes from lots of local businesses too, so a BIG thank you to Côte, Mud Crab and La Storia – which contributed to the total we raised.

And finally a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who came along, brought cake, bought cake, ate cake or donated in any way to make the morning such a huge success. Our guests say thanks too, they were extremely happy to be greeted  with the delicious leftovers when they arrived in their apartments!


​So, shall we do it all again next year? Same time, same place?

Feel free to get in touch to talk to us about cake, coffee mornings or our luxury apartments!