Base2Stay is a new concept in urban accommodation offering 'edited' service and stylish design at highly competitive prices.
"Edited service" is how property developer Robert Nadler describes the ethos of his first foray into the hotel world, a 67-room operation in Kensington.
Nadler believes he has spotted a gap, towards the budget end of the market, but offering a high quality product, somewhere between that of a serviced apartment and a traditional hotel.
Infuriated by the tendency of hotels to build charges for services that guests may neither want nor use into the basic room price, Base2Stay sets out to strip out these frills whilst concentrating on the essentials.
But easyHotel this is not. The rooms are stylish, spacious and comfortable. Prices begin at £80 for a room - highly competitive in central London, but some way north of easyHotel's £30.
Most notably, Base2Stay has abandoned any food and beverage provision, other than vending machines in the corridors and a breakfast box delivered to the rooms in the morning. Instead, every room has a kitchenette with microwave, kettle and sink.
There is a wide variety in terms of room size, but the quality of the interiors in each is identical. Nadler says he was looking for "yacht quality" in the specification of the bedrooms, handled by brother and sister team Ben & Sara Mathers of CA1, who have manufactured and installed all the casegoods. Other items of furniture have been sourced by Nadler himself, who says he has always been interested in design - to the extent that his home has frequently graced the pages of the design press.
He takes evident glee in showing how quickly the chair and sofa beds, by an Italian manufacturer, can be assembled.
Another significant aspect in the development of this first project has been an insistence that all rooms are fully air-conditioned. This has necessitated some major behind the scenes work in the restructuring of a collection of Victorian mews houses, overseen by architects Burgess Mean.
The essentials that Base2Stay has retained include a 24 hour reception, daily maid service and an in-room 'base directory' which highlights the wide array of local amenities available to guests including supermarkets, restaurants, cafes, shops, gyms and launderettes, all of which are only a phone call, click or short walk away.
The backers of Base2Stay will be hoping they can roll the concept out quickly, and their pedigree suggests they have the potential to do so Nadler is currently an Executive Director of private property investment company Western Heritable, who are also the principle investors in Base2Stay. A Scottish-based business founded over 100 years ago, Western Heritable owns and manages a sizeable portfolio of residential and commercial properties in London, and New York.
Nadler himself may be a novice in terms of hotelkeeping but his vision for base2stay came from extensive experience of staying in hotels all over the world, both for business and leisure. He has also enlisted the help of expertise where necessary - general manager Nasser Khalil has managed various, much larger, central London hotels, whilst PKF assisted the launch of Base2Stay with professional advice. Yet the beauty of Base2Stay is that someone from outside the traditional hotel industry has given the public a greater choice in where to stay and what to pay by challenging preconceived ideas of what guest's expect.
