Are Harpenden Hotels a thing of the past?

In recent years Harpenden has changed. We've seen progress in the form of newer upgrades to schools, supermarkets and the town centre, the opening of new businesses serving a more discerning customer base and the influx of money from London with people abandoning the capital for life in a more quiet place that is better suited to raising families than cocktail parties and the buzz of city life.

With this change has come a greater demand for housing which most notably saw the closing of the Glen Eagle Hotel to the north of the high street which has now been rebuilt by Jarvis as luxury apartments selling for roughly £1.5m each. Then we saw the closing of the Harpenden House Hotel on Walkers Road at the South end of town. It slowly dawned on the local population that we actually didn't have any hotels, unless we wanted to part with £2145 for a weekend stay in the Mansion Suites at Luton Hoo Hotel.

What options, therefore, are the discerning travellers and families of local people to do when they wish to stay in Harpenden and experience the local area face-to-face?

Enter the serviced apartment - a recent boom in serviced apartments offered by local entrepreneurs such as Harpenden House Serviced Apartments and H-STAR are proving extremely popular.

Local estate agents Hawk & Chadwick have turned their hand to securing bookings for the apartment owners;

"With no hotels in Harpenden, serviced apartments are the only option for people travelling for business or leisure purposes from further afield" says Leia Pearce, co-owner and Marketing Director for the company. "The rates are often better than those on offer from local B&B's and they give guests the autonomy to come and go as they please, but they retain the full laundry and towel service provided at a hotel - it really is the best of both worlds"

Could we see more serviced apartments cropping up in the town over the coming months? There's certainly a market for it and Harpenden House show no signs of slowing down to wait for others to enter the market, with a selection of three apartments already available and one more currently being refurbished as we speak.

"The apartments work better for us due to the flexibility" says Tony, the owner of Harpenden House "we provide a high quality luxury service that local people need at a very reasonable price - we find that we're undercutting local B&B's by a good margin".

Sarah and John, the owners of H-STAR Serviced Apartments are trying a different approach, with just one apartment available to let in a brand new block, they've found that it's offering them a better deal on their investment than offering a six month or twelve month tenancy. All landlords want to see a healthy bottom line, and letting their property as a serviced apartment offers them a great return as well as a huge degree of flexibility if they did later decide to take on a long term tenant.

To make a booking for H-STAR or any of the apartments discussed in this article, visit the Hawk & Chadwick Serviced Apartments page.