Ascott has rolled out two new initiatives to target remote workers and corporates seeking alternative workspace locations.
With the remote working more common than ever during the Covid-19
pandemic, Ascott has quickly pivoted its serviced apartment offerings to
target not just long-term stayers but guests, corporates and students
seeking alternative locations other than their own abode to conduct work
or study.
The launch of Ascott's Work in Residence service, which follows after
the programme's successful pilot in countries such as Australia,
France, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Turkey, is now available across
over 60 participating properties in more than 30 cities and over 10
countries.
These selected apartments turned work suites are fully-furnished and
well-equipped work suites that enable guests to just check-in and start
work with minimal disruptions. Larger apartments with separate living
and dining areas, kitchen and individual bedrooms are ideal for project
groups.
Guests have the flexibility to choose either daily, weekly or monthly
packages. Depending on the length of use and location, the work suites
come with a dedicated workstation, regular housekeeping, complimentary
coffee and tea or complimentary parking at selected serviced residences.
Nespresso coffee machines are also available in selected apartments.
Telecommuting essentials such as high-speed Wifi, wide-screen
monitor, webcam for videoconferencing and Bluetooth speakers with
microphones are available on demand. To enhance the work-stay
experience, task lights, wireless charging stand for tablets and mobile
phones, adequate power plugs and USB charging ports, as well as a
stationery kit are provided for guests. Guests can also choose from a
range of services which include food delivery, grocery shopping,
printing, concierge or book-a-chef for in-room dining.
“To ensure that Ascott remains a dominant lodging player in the new
normal, we must be agile, continually adapt and develop new business
strategies to future-ready our company. We are evolving our lodging
products and services to cater to new customer segments, uncover
alternative revenue streams as well as deliver greater value for our
guests and business partners," said Kevin Goh, CapitaLand's CEO for
Lodging and Ascott’s CEO.
Meanwhile, Ascott is also exploring ways to offer more services to
guests while further optimising the use of space at its properties
though the Space-as-a-Service initiative, Ascott’s chief development
officer Leong Teng Wui added.
"This adaptive use of space and menu of new services will create an
even more productive, conducive and stimulating environment for our
guests to live, work, play and innovate in our properties,” he stated.
For example, Ascott has partnered with Nestlé to set up Starbucks
self-service kiosks offering coffee at special rates in the lobby of its
Citadines-branded properties around the world. The Starbucks
self-service kiosks are already launched in Citadines Balestier
Singapore and Citadines Fusionopolis Singapore, and is expected to roll
out to other Citadines properties elsewhere in China, Malaysia and Japan
by the end of 2020 and Europe in 2021.
Ascott is leveraging the strategic locations of its serviced
residences by exploring with MNCs, entrepreneurs and SMEs to use the
space at its properties to host cloud kitchens or as parcel collection
hubs.
In Singapore, Ascott has partnered with a food technology company to
set up a cloud kitchen in the shared kitchen of lyf Funan Singapore to
provide in-house guests with more dining options. In the Philippines,
Somerset Alabang Manila is piloting the conversion of under-utilised
spaces within the property into a parcel collection hub where delivery
firms can sort and store parcels.
Elsewhere in Asia, Ascott has tapped onto the popular live stream
ecommerce business by providing selected apartments at Ascott Raffles
City Shenzhen and Somerset IOC Hangzhou in China for live streaming
events and photoshoots for long-stay guests which include internet
celebrities and corporates from new media and ecommerce companies.
As well, Ascott Raffles City Chengdu and Somerset Riverview Chengdu
in China have converted some of their apartments into fitness studios
where instructors can reserve them at special rates to conduct classes
for the properties’ guests. In Vietnam, at Somerset Grand Hanoi,
Somerset Hoa Binh Hanoi and Somerset Vista Ho Chi Minh City, selected
apartments have similarly been converted into yoga studios.