In March 2004, a Bangalore-based Business Process Outsourcing firm retained Elizabeth Barker, an American voice and accent trainer for a four-month training assignment. Barker was thrilled to land the project, but she wasn't overjoyed at the prospect of staying in a hotel for an extended period. The last time she had done so-trainers like Barker are much in demand in India-she had found the room small, the service, impersonal, and the tariff, high. "I missed the small things," recalls Barker. "Like ordering a pizza from outside, something I was dissuaded from doing by the hotel." So, on the recommendation of an Indian friend, Barker decided to stay in a service apartment, a decision she hasn't had cause to regret.

Across the country, people like Barker are discovering that India has woken up to the service apartment revolution. Make that 'parts of India': while service apartments can be found in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai are still 'guest-house' territory. The immediate reason for the boom-it is nothing short of that, especially in Bangalore-is the increase in number of long-stay visitors, a direct result of the it-enabled services revolution in the country, and India's growing importance to multinational companies. The it-thing rings true: Delhi satellites Gurgaon and Noida, both it and ITEs hubs play host to several service apartments. "Long-stay guests like some facilities that only a service apartment can provide," says Arjun Baljee, Director, Royal Orchid, a Bangalore-hotel, and the head of the Baljee Group that is currently expanding its eight-month-old business of service apartments. "Every sixth hotel in the world is an apartment hotel," adds Rajeev Menon, General Manager, Lakeside Chalet Marriott Executive Apartments. "(A service apartment) takes the anxiety out of an extended absence from home and helps one settle in by providing a warm, familiar environment." There are other benefits (see Why Service Apartments?) ranging from price to freedom; Barker, for instance, can order any take-away she wants from a service apartment.

WHY SERVICE APARTMENTS?

PRICE: A typical service apartments works out 25-30 per cent less expensive than a star hotel with similar facilities SPACE: A suite (Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 a day) in a star hotel is typically around 1,000 square feet. A three-room service apartment could be as big as 2,000 square feet and cost around Rs 5,000-7,000 a day PERSONALISATION: For long-stay guests, most service apartments customise everything from the furniture, the décor, the bed-linen, even the colour of the drapes FACILITIES: Service apartments offer all the facilities of a star hotel (think gymnasium, swimming pool, 24-hour restaurant, room-service, laundry). In addition, most come with fully-functional kitchens. Better still, pets are allowed

A typical service apartment resembles a cosy apartment: a well-furnished lounge equipped with TV and DVD player; a bedroom or two; a closet; a safe; a kitchen replete with appliances; even groceries. And for long-stay guests there's the added benefit of personalisation. "Our long-stay guests can even choose the colour of the curtains in their rooms," laughs Rahul Singh, Marketing Manager, Halcyon, Bangalore's largest service apartment complex with 70 suites in gated enclave Koramangala. Halcyon even offers the service of a dog walker to look after the needs of the pets of the guests. "My 10-month old dog is here with me," gushes Maria Teresa Salvador Juaree, a 29-year-old Spanish engineer on a nine-month assignment in India (she works with Ericsson). "My parents are also currently here on a visit; all this would not have been possible at a hotel."

The concept seems to have caught on with most service apartments doing reasonably well. For instance, Wadia Parkash, the CEO of Ascot Hotels, which runs Savoy Suites, a 44-unit service apartment complex in Noida, claims the average occupancy is between 70 and 80 per cent. Understandably, a clutch of real-estate developers such as Brigade Group (Bangalore) and Vipul Developers (Delhi) and other entrepreneurs are jumping into the fray. And international majors such as Oakwood from the US and Shangri-La Hotels, one of Asia's leading luxury hotel chains are reported to be testing the waters. Halcyon's Singh expects the market to grow by 20 per cent a year. "We are looking at expanding all over Southern Indis in the next 12-18 months," he says. "Our current complex has an occupancy rate of 90 per cent, so we may have to add capacity here too." That spells great news for people like Barker and Maria Teresa.

additional reporting by Abir Pal and Aditya Wali