Industry News Premier Hospitality

‘MICRO-STAYS’ COULD INCREASE UK HOTEL REVENUE BY £100K

Aspire Executive Lounges, Swissport's global airport hospitality brand, has joined the British Institute of Hospitality, the world’s leading and award-winning membership body for hospitality professionals. Aspire Executive Lounges becomes the first business partner from the airport lounge hospitality sector to join the Institute of Hospitality. Aspire Executive Lounges, the fast-growing Swiss brand in the airport hospitality business, has joined the British Institute of Hospitality (IoH), the world’s leading membership body for professionals working and studying in the hospitality leisure and tourism industry. Aspire Executive Lounges is the first business from the airport lounge sector to become a member of IoH. The collaboration will foster an exchange of expertise and insights: IoH will benefit from Aspire's expertise in airport hospitality, while Aspire, by sharing its wealth of experience with IoH members, can extend its professional network to the hotel and catering sectors and hospitality management schools. “Our vision for Aspire Executive Lounges is clear and simple: We want to deliver a guest experience that is similar to what our guests are used to from their preferred hotels, meeting the needs and exceeding the expectations of today’s travelers,” says David Collyer, Global Vice President of Executive Lounges at Swissport International AG. “We strive to deliver an unparalleled experience and set a benchmark that transcends our industry, redefining excellence across the hospitality sector. The Institute of Hospitality is a great network to exchange insights and experiences, and to learn from others in the hospitality sector, which will help us bring our vision to life.” Robert Richardson, CEO of the Institute of Hospitality: “Our aspiration at the Institute of Hospitality has been to develop and grow our membership, the number of countries we operate in, and the number of hospitality sectors represented within our organization. With that in mind, it is a natural partnership for us to welcome Aspire into our family, and to learn from their teams, who serve travelers with passion and dedication. As two organizations with similar values, we look forward to collaborating in promoting high levels of excellence within our profession.” With over 30 years of experience, Aspire Executive Lounges is Europe’s largest brand in the airport lounges sector. In 2023, Swissport welcomed more than five million customers worldwide at over 69 lounges in 20 countries. The airport hospitality brand recently opened new lounges at Toronto City Airport in Canada, and Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in Finland. Aspire Executive Lounges recently created a new lounge concept in partnership with the airline alliance oneworld. The first oneworld branded lounge was launched at Incheon Airport in Seoul, Korea, in December 2023. Aspire Executive Lounges is owned by Swissport International AG, the global leader in aviation services, serving airlines at 286 airports in 44 countries across 6 continents
Written by Amy

BYHOURS, THE UNIQUE PAY-PER-USE HOTEL BOOKING PLATFORM URGES UK HOTELIERS TO COPY SPANISH COUNTERPARTS AND CAPITALISE ON REAL CUSTOMER DEMAND.

As we approach 2017, ByHours, the unique, pay-per-use hotel booking platform is urging UK hoteliers to offer customers hotel room stays as short as 3 hours in the year ahead, to capitalise on a very real demand for ‘micro-stays.’ The award-winning start up whose largest market is Spain, has seen Spanish hoteliers offering micro room stays (of 3,6 or 12 hours) using the ByHours platform increase their annual revenues by an average of 100,000 euros and RevPAR between 2 and 4 euros.

Guillermo Gaspart, ByHours’ founder and Chairman believes responding to how modern consumers behave, and hotels not limiting themselves to the traditional per night booking model, is key for the future health of the industry when ‘every day a new Airbnb user is born.’

Far from a PR gimmick, micro hotel room stays are answering a very real gap in the market, largely driven by how technology has changed the way we work and raised consumer expectations to live seemlessly. Visit any Starbucks in the worlds’ biggest cities on a weekday and the hoardes of businesspeople on laptops demonstrates the Wifi-enabled need for comfortable places to work in city centres. Amongst consumers ‘an app for that’ mentality has created a demand for GPS-located services which will make their lives ever easier.

Whether that’s locating the nearest hotel room for a few hours sleep while visiting relatives in hospital or using a room to get ready for a night out after a day of shopping, consumers are more open than ever to smart services which are convenient and will allow them to make better use of their time. With hotel rooms offering upgraded home-from-home comforts and privacy, at the same time as being in city centre or strategic locations (ie: airports), there is a massive opportunity to make more use of rooms within a 24 hour booking window- evidenced by some of the most well located hotels in Barcelona increasing revenues by over 150,000 euros a year.

Guillermo Gaspart of ByHours said:

“There is an exciting gap in the hotelier market for short term room use which we are seeing work hard and drive impressive revenue returns in Spain. Consumers are increasingly demanding clever solutions which will make their lives more comfortable and efficient – qualities epitomised in beautiful hotel rooms with convenient services, located in key city and transportation hubs. The demand is there and UK hoteliers have a massive opportunity to boost their occupancy when thinking more widely than just the traditional booking model.

It is crucial that hoteliers do things differently to suit the needs of the modern consumer. It is no use resting on your laurels and breathing a sigh of relief for the Airbnb 90 day limit, there will be new Airbnb propositions and other smart services, to survive hotels must be creative and resourceful with what they have – useful and comfortable rooms in great locations.”

It costs nothing for hoteliers to try the returns offered by the ByHours hotel booking platform for themselves. The platform allows hoteliers to increase their occupancy several times a day by reselling rooms when they are empty, in flexible 3, 6 and 12 hour booking slots (without having to increase their prices or reduce their commission.) With no setup or maintenance costs, the platform is fully managed by hoteliers allowing them to set their own prices, allocate micro-slots as rooms become available and design convenient check-in times.

The platform operates seemlessly with hoteliers’ own PMS Channels, allowing properties to use ByHours when it is most profitable for them. ByHours works with both large hotel chains and smaller, individual boutique brands and is open to partnerships with accomodation in the UK’s smaller towns as well as its largest cities. Since launching in 2012, ByHours has attracted over 150,000 regular hotel customers and over 4 million euros worth of investment funding.

To sign up, and for further information, hoteliers should visit the trade section of the ByHours website: Are you a hotel manager? or call ByHours on 00 34 934 124 622.

About the author

Amy