Serviced apartment specialist Mysa says it is shaking up
the market with the launch of a new “fair and transparent” booking platform
that delivers “conscious accommodation to conscious companies”.
Called Myo, the platform currently incorporates nearly
3,000 properties in 31 countries, all audited for safety and security, and
available to book live if chosen as part of a corporate programme.
“Quantity of
inventory is not the yardstick,” said Mysa founder and CEO Gary Hurst. “It is
about finding the right level of quality properties that are safe, secure and
meet our hygiene standards.”
The platform provides “all the detail managers need to negotiate
rates and ensure inventory is of high-quality, comfortable, safe and secure,”
including meeting guidelines set out in ISO 31030.
The company says Myo provides a distribution channel for
serviced apartment operators that enables them to “really differentiate on
quality and value” and to acquire corporate customers “without the involvement
of specialist agents.”
Operators will pay a “small” booking fee to utilise the
platform which is “generally about 25 to 30 per cent of typical commission
payments,” said Hurst.
“Myo encapsulates all
the solutions to all the serviced accommodation challenges and frustrations of
corporate buyers that I have listened to over the past ten years.”
Hurst said that direct, online booking has not previously gained traction
due to a lack of adequate distribution models. Consequently, “we’ve seen an
ever-increasing reliance on specialist agents to manage the process” which takes control away from the corporate buyer.
“It’s been disappointing in the past as a sector how we have
sometimes treated corporates. That word ‘fair’ was often missing. This is about
bringing transparency to this sector for buyers who have suffered for many
years from it being behind,” said Hurst.
“The tech hasn’t previously existed to help serviced
apartments be booked by corporates and to make it more like [booking] hotels
and flights. In our sector there aren’t brands that many business travellers
will recognise so we’ve created an ecosystem that delivers auditing, transparency,
security and sustainability.
“We are pushing
boundaries and setting new standards in property quality and safety,” he added.
The company has established a corporate advisory board and will begin
establishing relationships with TMCs and online booking tool providers in due
course.