Home from hometel

• Just as those outside the industry are starting to get their heads around the various definitions of the hospitality offers we have – serviced apartments, aparthotel, corporate housing etc – then along comes another one, this time created from within the sector!

Lamington Group describes its new room2 brand as a “hometel”. Managing director Robert Godwin explains: “Aparthotel simply describes an accommodation and service type based on the words ‘apartment’ (a type of building) and hotel (a set of services). But Hometels are different. A home isn’t a building, it’s a feeling. It’s a set of rules you and your family create and live by. And it’s different for everyone. Hometels are flexible living environments that don’t force you to conform to a set of rules. It’s somewhere you can treat as your own. Somewhere with all the best bits of home, but with the services and security a hotel gives you.”

Godwin says the brand has been created after extensive consultation with guests about what they want from a flexible, longer stay property. How long until hometel becomes an accepted part of the industry lexicon?