Demand for serviced apartments has fallen in recent months due to the slowdown. This apart, real estate experts feel that lack of dedicated players and lower hotel room prices too have impacted the demand in this segment. This, however, was not the scene a year ago. “Last year, the boom had resulted in corporates offering a lot of privileges like frequent travels, which had seen a rise in demand for service apartments. However, lately, with the domestic travel reducing and even hotels offering cheaper prices, the demand has dropped a bit.

Many agree that serviced apartments are better than hotels as far as corporates are concerned. “Service apartments carry facilities that support stay with a duration of 15 days as well as over six months. Compared with that, staying in hotels tend to be costlier. Longer stay, however, is being ruled out by corporates as of now. Rather, they are now relying on video conferencing and other cost effective means,” says Ashutosh Limayi, associate director, strategic consulting at John Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM), a real estate consulting firm.

After being launched in cities like Delhi, Bangalore and Pune, service apartments will soon be a reality in Tier II and III cities.

Considering the growing number of corporates visiting the tri-city, Ludhiana and Amritsar, real estate developers will soon introduce service apartments in these cities. Another reason that has evoked developers’ interest in service apartments is the slump in the real estate industry. The negligible sale of apartments in the tri-city has forced them to convert these into service apartments.

These apartments are aimed at offering corporates nice and cheaper accommodation compared to hotels.