Hotel room or serviced apartment? This is a growing debate amongst city visitors, whether tourist or corporate, that wasn’t applicable in Liverpool until very recently. There was a good reason for this: there simply weren’t any, well hardly any, city centre apartments available for visitors to stay in. Up until the turn of the millennium if you wanted accommodation in Liverpool your choice was either hotel…….or hotel, and that was if you were lucky enough to find a decent quality one with a spare room. New apartment blocks that have sprung up with growing rapidity across the city have meant that this is certainly a debate that has now become relevant for Liverpool’s growing number of visitors hunting for accommodation.  The famous skyline of Liverpool has changed considerably over the last 5 years with impressive new apartment structures such as The Beetham Tower, City lofts and the iconic Unity building springing up (and that’s before the completion of The Alexandra Tower and Beetham Tower West). Warehouses have been converted, derelict buildings pulled down and replaced by gleaming structures of glass and steel that have formed a new face for this once again booming city. Property development has not been exclusive to the waterfront. There are now apartments, warehouse conversions and new builds, in the historic Georgian quarter, Ropewalks area, and the city’s business district.  Like in so many provincial cities, whether Manchester, Leeds or Nottingham, much of the building boom has been born out of speculation. It could be argued that over zealous speculation has led to supply outstripping residential demand, in the short term at least, in a city that is still coming to terms with modern, city centre living. 

During the late 1990’s Liverpool’s property market boomed, with prices of city centre apartments rocketing. Apartments often bought as off plan investments, with buyers happy to ride the wave. The aim was then to sell properties before the building work was completed, cashing in on the ever rising market.

  The recent property market slowdown meant that the profit often didn’t materialise and many apartments ended up in the hands of unwilling landlords. Many apartments remain empty to this day. This coupled with the shortage of hotel rooms just doesn’t make sense.  Although the long term rental market for apartments in Liverpool remains fairly buoyant, it is a market based on volume rather than value. As an owner you might get a long term tenant in, but will the rent cover the mortgage? Depressed rental values coupled with increased interest rates can prove to be a disaster for landlords, unless there is an alternative to long terms rental.  A number of apartment owners in Liverpool have started to rent their properties on a short term basis (anything from a single night), advertising through online booking agencies, who then pass the baton back to the apartment owner as soon as the booking is made. It’s a great option for the apartment owner with high rental yields, particularly at weekends. However, the inconvenience of managing the post booking processes can prove to be a painful experience for the apartment owner, especially if they are managing these processes alongside a 9-5 career.   This is where a company like Serviced City Pads can prove to be a great help for apartment owners in Liverpool.  So, we have got to the point where there are now thousands of apartments across the city centre. Let the debate start for Liverpool’s visitors. Hotel or serviced apartment? You must remember that we are talking about brand spanking new, luxury apartments. 

One thing for sure is that there is plenty of demand for these new apartments and not necessarily from city residents:

1. Liverpool continues to suffer from a shortage of hotel rooms that cannot cope cope with……
2. …..an ever increasing number of visitors to the city who are beginning to demand more than the four walls that a hotel room offers. Tourism in the city is booming.

Tourists come in many guises: foreign supporters of Liverpool FC; fans of the Beatles; concert goers and conference delegates; corporate visitors working on projects. The numbers will continue to increase on the back of a hectic schedule of events that has been organised to celebrate Liverpool’s status as European Capital of Culture for 2008.  Serviced apartments have been a popular choice on the continent for a number of years, and are now an option for visitors to cities like Liverpool. It is understandable, even if there are hotel rooms available, that a tourist would choose an apartment to stay in during their visit. An apartment offers a different experience to a room: space and privacy with a separate kitchen and living area to the bedrooms. An apartment offers more flexibility on how a guest can spend their time, and avoid the inevitable cabin fever that results from too much time spent staring at the four walls of a hotel room.  Serviced City Pads is a Liverpool based company that represent a number of luxury apartment owners across the city. Our aim is to offer good quality and reasonably priced serviced apartments to Liverpool’s visitor, ensuring the perfect stay. 

If you are an apartment owner curious as to what Serviced City Pads can offer you, or a future visitor to this tremendous city who fancies a change from a poky hotel, why don’t you give us a call? We’ll be delighted to have a chat about how we can help you.

Contact Serviced City Pads on +44 (0) 151 709 8000.