Results of the essa Survey on Industry Associations.

Just under 1500 individuals were exposed in some manner to our Associations survey.
I am not a Statistics purist and the figures below are presented more for general interest than conclusive evidence. I have added my comments at each question. Many thanks. Richard Majewski

1. How important do you feel Associations are in the development of professional standards in the Serviced Apartments sector, with 5 being extremely important and 1 not at all important?
5 – 53.13%
4 – 25.00%
3 – 15.63%
2 – 06.25%
1 – 00.00%
Comments: Over 78% of respondees felt positively towards associations. As the sector continues to develop, there is an increasing tendency for serviced apartments to be listed on the large Online Travel Agent sites (OTAs). Properties and groups have greater control over volume channels and may not feel the need to be part of an association.

2. At which Associations have you ever attended an event or meeting ?
SABA – 84%
HBAA – 44%
ASAP – 40%
ARP – 24%
ERC – 24%
CHPA – 8%
Others – 32%
Comments: the essa Consultancy is directly involved in the SABA association which means that, whilst hundreds of individuals received the survey, those who had attended a SABA event may have been more inclined to respond. Nevertheless, the figures might also reflect the fact that a broader cross-section of the industry attends SABA events.

3. What do you feel should be the priorities of an Association?
Networking Events – 84.38%
Developing & policing Codes of Best Practice – 71.88%
Discussion Group – 40.62%
Conference forums for industry presentations – 34.38%
Providing stand at exhibitions -18.75%
Comments: This does reflect the importance of developing one single industry-wide Codes of Best Practice.

I hope you found these figures of interest. Please complete the current survey on Routes to Market in the serviced apartments sector.