SilverDoor's Market Update is a comprehensive review of the global travel landscape using our own booking data, wider economic context, and our experts' experience and predictions to build a picture of serviced apartment trends worldwide. Reflecting on the past quarter and forecasting for the year ahead, the report advises corporates on rates, supply, demand and traveller preference to inform booking practices.
SilverDoor captures more than 127,000 datapoints from an average of 593,000 enquired room nights each quarter, the largest and most extensive sets of data available in the sector. This means we can provide the most accurate trend commentary and forecasting for those in the know across the business travel and mobility industry.
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| SilverDoor Snapshot
Evolving tariffs and trade deals aren’t just influencing financial markets, we’re already seeing their impact on corporate booking behaviour: how might supply chain diversification and new opportunities for trading relationships and investment affect your travel and mobility plans this year?
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| According to SilverDoor booking data...
A lull in Singapore requests driving rates down in APAC, booking behaviour seemingly unchanged in the US despite legislative uncertainty, and shorter corporate trips in EMEA amidst continued conflicts.
In general, average daily rates (ADR) are lower across the board both compared to the same period last year and last quarter. We’re seeing the largest decreases in the APAC region, where current ADR is S$219 (12.5% lower YoY and 9.1% lower QoQ) – this is likely driven by a sustained lull in Singapore volumes, where current ADR (S$243) is 34% lower than it was this time last year.
ADR in the Americas is following suit at $193, down 10.9% YoY and down 9.1% QoQ. We reported increased enquiries last quarter despite what most expected to be a quiet market amidst the uncertainty of election results, and again we’ve seen reservation figures hold firm this quarter.
In EMEA, ADR has remained steady YoY, showing just a 1.3% decrease to where it currently sits at £148. ADR in this region is 8.3% higher compared to the previous quarter – an upward trajectory that we can expect to continue throughout the summer season.
Average length of stay (ALOS) in the APAC region has barely moved; our data showing 62-night stays as the norm which is very typical for the requests we usually manage here. This ALOS is just 1 night shorter YoY and 1 night longer QoQ.
It’s a similar story in the Americas where ALOS is currently 65 nights, which is again very normal for us to see in this region. Whilst this LOS is 6 nights longer compared to the average for the same period last year, it’s stayed the same compared to last quarter indicating that booking behaviour hasn’t been too affected by the change of US administration.
It is worth noting that there tends to be a lag in terms of how relocations are impacted by market shifts: the relocation of an assignee typically has a lengthy approval lead time, so ones already signed off are likely to go ahead as planned but we may see the impact on new initiations becoming clear next quarter.
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SilverDoor average length of stay (ALOS) data shows a significant 17-night shortening for bookings in EMEA compared to the previous quarter. Businesses seem to be opting for shorter trips perhaps to minimise risk amidst continued conflict in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. |
EMEA has seen the most significant changes in ALOS. In our experience, EMEA always tends to have the shortest regional LOS so the current 41-night average is typical, but this figure is 17 nights shorter than it was last quarter. This suggests businesses are organising shorter, more targeted trips perhaps to contain costs, but also in response to the political and tariff-related uncertainty, as well as continued conflict in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, which may mean businesses (and assignees) are less willing to risk an extended trip.
Overall, lead times haven’t deviated too far from where they were last quarter or last year. APAC average lead time is 38 nights (1 night shorter YoY and 3 nights shorter QoQ) and the average in the Americas is 48 nights (1 night shorter YoY and the same QoQ). In EMEA, average lead times are 45 nights: 4 nights longer YoY and 8 nights longer QoQ, which aligns with ALOS trends as trips to higher-risk locations may need longer planning and approval windows.
| SilverDoor booking data for average lead times also shows the largest QoQ and YoY changes in the EMEA region: longer lead times could be a result of lengthier approval windows in high-risk locations. |
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| According to SilverDoor Account Managers…
Fintech continues to boom, so we’re seeing banking interest in tertiary European cities like Braga, Portugal and Vilnius, Lithuania. Valencia has also been a hotspot, but availability here is always tight. New legislation for short-term rentals (stays less than 11 days) came into effect in April which mandate compliance with more comprehensive health and safety guidelines and cap the number of rentals permitted in residential buildings.
These stricter controls are positive in terms of protecting local people from rising house prices as a result of disproportionate numbers of rental properties, but are making it more of a challenge to find corporate accommodation availability to meet demand here.
Other in-demand European destinations include Manchester and the Netherlands, and London volumes were up compared to a quiet Q4 2024. Longer lead times are recommended in the UK capital now as we head into the summer: the Wimbledon tennis championships will impact availability around south and west London during June 30th – July 13th, guests working in London should also expect delays on London transport during this period particularly on the District Line.
We predicted more group bookings in the December Market Update, and that trend is showing no signs of slowing. From technology graduate groups into Amsterdam and long-term group requests in Scotland’s Leith, to theatre/media production group requirements in Glasgow and Reading, serviced apartments are increasingly favoured for extended-stay group bookings.
Over in APAC we had been seeing more moves to Mumbai for oil and gas project work, and the last two quarters saw growing demand and inventory for a number of hubs including New Delhi, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Chennai, Noida and Pune. As investment into these markets grows, corporate travel volumes to tier-one and tier-two tech cities are also expected to follow suit. We may now see a drop-off in India due to the India-Pakistan conflict. Major airports in India have been reopened and airspace restrictions lifted, but travellers with travel plans to India are still advised to check flights prior and keep up to date with travel advice. Several of our clients have increased security approval requirements for travel to India, so bookings for the next quarter at least may be lower.
The challenge in India since corporate interest began to emerge has been a lack of quality mid-range serviced accommodation stock and disproportionately high nightly rates for the limited options that do exist – something SilverDoor’s Partner Relationships team has been working to change. A recent property tour has resulted in onboardings to our operator network totalling 130 new units across India, and a further 12 properties currently being onboarded to widen inventory in key hubs including New Delhi, Hyderabad, Gurugram, Mumbai and Chennai.
It’s important for international travellers heading to India for business to remember that accommodation norms can differ to what they might be used to in locations with a broader range of serviced apartment options. Virtual and in-person property viewings can help to manage expectations and support a successful trip for assignees preparing for their first visit.
Singapore has remained quiet, but we are expecting volumes to pick up over the next few months. Operators will be pleased to know we have more Singapore requests on the horizon, and other APAC locations with promising corporate interest are Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Malaysia, and we’ve seen a noticeable uptick in demand in both Taiwan and Taipei. Tertiary locations like Tainan and Hsinchu are also welcoming a growing number of corporates, and the ALOS in Taichung is currently just over 4 months, at 122 nights, suggesting that long stay demand in these locations is also strong and set to continue.
Saudi Arabia’s temporary suspension of short-term visas, including business visit visas, is still in place for nationals of 14 countries across Africa and Asia. The visa suspension is a strategy to ease overcrowding during the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and will impact travel to Saudi until at least mid-June. Affected countries are Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen.
Aside from this, corporate demand in the Middle East remains strong and SilverDoor’s Gulf Office in Dubai is working to expand our supply chain and market presence to fulfil growing client requirements.
| Tariff this, tariff that: what are trade tariffs and why are they imposed?
All information accurate at time of publication.
They’ve been the star of many recent headlines, geopolitical debates, and the US presidential policy so far, but what are tariffs and why have they been so polarising?
A tariff is a tax on imported goods, imposed on companies importing goods from another country. Tariffs are added as a percentage of the imported product’s value: a 20% tariff on a £100 product would increase its cost to £120.
Tariffs can be used as a governmental strategy to help balance a trade deficit, where country A imports far more from country B than they export to them. For example, the US increasing the tariff on goods imported from China means US businesses must pay more tax to the US government to import Chinese goods.
Governments might also impose tariffs in an attempt to stimulate the production and consumption of domestic goods as the price hikes on imported products encourage consumers to buy locally. In theory, this heightened demand for domestic goods will promote the growth of local industries and create more jobs for local people.
| What could tariffs, and other political changes, mean for your business?
Supply chain diversification is one potentially good outcome of tariffs hikes, as businesses seek to reduce overreliance on one or few production markets. Whilst the severe tariffs between China and the US have been lowered (for 90 days) in a reset of trade terms after what was feeling like a deadlock dispute, the uncertainty of the past few months has highlighted the risk of relying on one country for sourcing and production. Many businesses aren’t willing to wait for the outcome of trade negotiations before safeguarding their supply chain from the potential impact of tariffs, so have accelerated existing plans to diversify away from China.
Technology giants, Apple, Google, and Nintendo, for example have already started taking precautions by moving manufacturing to Vietnam, India, Thailand, and Indonesia in a bid to spread the risk of focusing operations in one location. We’d already been noticing increased demand in these locations, so these moves will only continue to increase corporate travel volumes into these markets like for the construction and development of new factories and stores like Apple’s retail expansion into Noida and Pune.
As more large companies bring operations into these markets, we’re likely to start seeing an injection of investment into infrastructure for locations like Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. This could increase engineering opportunities in these markets, so procurement for contracts and project-based or construction assignments might be on the rise in these locations.
Perhaps another consequence of the recent US tariff increases is that the UK has accelerated existing negotiations with several nations and has been busy shaking hands on trade deals to bolster international relationships and boost export opportunities for UK companies.
First came the UK-India Free Trade Agreement. Years in the making, this pact will include cutting tariffs on goods imported from both countries, as well as exempting temporary Indian workers in Britain and their employers from making social security contributions for three years and opening India’s goods, services and construction procurement market to UK businesses. An important development for UK clients already exploring expanding operations into India and will make relocations or secondments of Indian citizens to the UK even more commercially appealing.
Next was welcome news for the construction world and automotive manufacturers as the UK-US trade agreement was announced, which saw planned tariffs on steel, aluminium and cars (the UK’s biggest export to the US) lowered from the planned, more punitive levels. Pharma, services and creative industries are also still protected from the tariffs for now, which is all positive news for many of our UK clients in those verticals.
Lastly, the new UK-EU agreement promises to ease some of the barriers to trade and relations following Brexit and, most imminently for our industry, make it easier for UK travellers to move between EU countries. The deal has reversed the law stopping UK citizens using EU airport e-gates so, whilst it’s still at each country’s discretion whether they allow UK citizens to use their e-gates, it should make movement within the EU increasingly more convenient for UK travellers. Another positive outcome for those who prefer to take their pet with them on business trips is that you’ll no longer need repeat animal health certificates to travel between EU countries with pets.
| Where does sustainability currently fit into the business travel and mobility agenda?
We recently hosted a Sustainability Roundtable with representatives from all our stakeholder groups, RMC, TMC, corporate client, and property operator, to understand the current attitudes towards sustainability in serviced accommodation and corporate travel and mobility.
Among insights gathered, the overarching consensus is that the noise on sustainability seems to have been dialled down slightly. Perhaps it feels like new governmental priorities have shifted away from sustainability so the top-down pressure has lessened, or perhaps companies are nearing their net zero deadline year and realising they might not reach targets – either way, the heat around sustainability does appear to have cooled off.
Whilst it perhaps does feel like sustainability has been replaced by AI in the global trend conversation, what’s not changed is that companies doing business with the EU still legally have to measure and report on Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in line with CSRD reporting requirements. So, reporting obligations have gone nowhere; we even have clients mandating that every property on their preferred accommodation programme must have entered their emissions data into the SilverDoor Carbon Calculator and received a per-night carbon estimate, and any property not compliant will be removed from the programme.
We’re seeing wider ESG considerations, equality, diversity and inclusion, also playing a key role in procurement exercises and preferred property programme selection criteria. Large corporates are interested in the EDI policies, codes of conduct, and practices of their supply chain, sometimes weighting these initiatives equally to sustainability. More difficult to mandate on a global scale, yes, but many global clients expect consistency across their global programmes, so it’s important that businesses don’t overlook work in these areas.
Other insights from the Sustainability Roundtable on the current market attitude towards environmental considerations in business travel and mobility:
Seb Hutchings, VP Client Services at Graebel, indicates a challenge for relocation management companies is the diverse methodologies and data sources out there which make it difficult to gather holistic data for the entire relocation process. More cross-industry collaboration is still needed: “Because we work in so many different sectors and with so many different partners, it's difficult to be able to get a number right. It can be very challenging within certain frameworks to get the data that you need.” He went on to say, “We're very much in silos at the moment [so] how do you get all of that data fed back from your supply chain?”
Edyn’s Head of Sustainability and Risk, Pete Richardson, pointed out another key challenge lies in the lack of knowledge for our benchmark of how much carbon is good or bad, highlighting the need for comparative, relatable data and more booker education: “When you look at the price of a hotel in a particular area, it’s easier to know if you’re getting a good deal, but with carbon, you don’t really know the benchmark. You see a number and can wonder is that good?”
When discussing where on the priority list sustainability fits, Sophia-Bella Pinnock, Sustainability Delivery Executive for Clarity Business Travel, confirmed that “a lot of clients are still focused on keeping costs down”. The panel agreed this is the trend they’re seeing, and with Edyn’s Pete Richardson when he pointed out that “you can only be a sustainable company if you’re still a company. You can’t expect people to be putting sustainability above cost […] because you need to be financially sustainable as well.”
In terms of procurement, Sustainable Procurement Lead at EY, Siân Ellis outlined that their strategy when assessing the sustainability goals, initiatives and accreditations of a supplier is to “adapt to have some flexibility.” She points out that EY do want to select suppliers that align in some way to their own sustainability goals, but they also recognise the importance of being realistic that no two businesses’ goals will exactly align. If your business doesn’t have the requested certification, then, it’s always better to give the reason why and suggest what you have instead that you believe fits your goals more closely.
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If you would like specific topics or trends to be discussed in a future SilverDoor Market Update, get in touch with us at [email protected].
