Medical travel is driving occupancies of service apartments, which usually are preferred for longer stays. If premium service apartments are receiving more international guests, domestic travelers largely prefer budget apartments.

Patients who undergo operative procedures in a new city for a longer duration prefer service apartments. They would either need a follow-up treatment, or would be under clinical observation. According to Shyam Znwar, CEO of Alacurity, a pre and post-hospitalisation services provider, a service apartment provides a home like atmosphere and also allows the bystanders to stay with the patient.

“Service apartments also have kitchen facility and special dietary requirements of the patient are taken care of,” said Sid Narang, founder and CEO of Ratedpartments.

According to Narang, the cost of stay in service apartments is also much cheaper than hotels. “If a hotel rated three-star or above charges Rs 7,000 per night, a three-week stay will cost around Rs 2.1 lakh, whereas, a premium service apartment can cost between Rs 75,000 and Rs 1 lakh,” he said.

Ratedapartments, which has tie-ups with over 500 service apartments in India, including Fraser Suites, Leela Kempinsky, House of Modern Living and Seista Hospitality, says in some cities like Gurgaon, the occupancy of medical travellers in service apartments are as high as 70 per cent. In Delhi, almost one-thirds of guests are medical travellers, and in cities with good super specialty hospitals like Chennai and Hyderabad too, the occupancies are higher.

International patients account for 60 per cent of the guests in premium apartments, while domestic patients as well as those from the neighbouring countries prefer budget apartments. The average duration of stay is three weeks, longer than that of a leisure, or a business traveller.

“Across cities, 30 to 40 per cent of occupancy of service apartments is taken care of by medical travellers. The numbers have been growing in recent times. Earlier, we used to get enquiries on a weekly basis and now we are receiving on a daily basis,” said Znwar of Alacurity.

Source: mydigitalfc.com – Sangeetha G.

Subject: medical travellers in serviced apartments