Life in a “self”-service apartment

The rapid pace of growth in business in Bangalore has led to a surge in demand for temporary housing. Hotels have no vacancy and room rates have gone through the roof ($300-400/day is the norm in the city). There is a construction boom in the city and huge residential complexes with hundreds of apartments are being built all around. A service apartment industry has been created to provide alternate housing to accommodate business professionals and executives.

Full service apartments are regular apartments that are rented out for a few days to several weeks. These apartments offer home-style comfort with full-services that include laundry, meals, cleaning services etc. The apartments have a full-time caretaker, who lives in the premises and is your primary service provider.

Unfortunately, we landed in a service apartment that was more like a self-service apartment. The place was sparsely furnished and the poorly maintained. On the first day, when the handle to one of the bedroom doors came off, I knew we were in trouble. Kitchen supplies were minimal and there was no facility for food and hot beverages. We ended up buying basic supplies, cooking breakfast and keeping the place clean and organized. Mona had to take charge and began supervising the caretaker. I had to iron my shirts for the first time in years.

But don’t let this scare you off. I spent six weeks at a different service apartment in October and November. It was quite a different experience there. With the right caretaker and management in place, these can actually be pretty comfortable places to spend a few weeks in.