A luxury extended-stay hotel chain will open more locations after skyrocketing in popularity during COVID-19 see inside one of its high-end NYC locations

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• Luxury extended stay hotel chain Aka Hotels and Hotel Residences saw its strongest year in 2021.
• During COVID-19, Aka began accommodating a variety of guests like healthcare workers and college students.

Leisure travel has continued its meteoric recovery amid COVID-19, but one segment of the travel industry has yet to see this same full comeback: corporate travel.

AKA

Business travel — and the companies that cater to this — is still recovering as it batters waves of COVID-19, the rise of remote work, and travel restriction.

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Source: Insider

But extended stay hotels, once beloved by the corporate travel segment, have managed to successfully avoid this depression while maintaining their status as "ATMs with a roof" that "print money," Ryan Meliker, president of Lodging Analytics Research and Consulting, told Craig Karmin for the Wall Street Journal.

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Source: Wall Street Journal

And one chain, in particular, is doing this with a high-end flair: Aka Hotels and Hotel Residences.

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Aka isn't the type of hotel you'd stay at for a long weekend. Instead, it calls itself the "world's most livable hotel" with the intention of attracting guests for weeks to months at a time.

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Source: Aka

Its locations are filled with luxuriously finished suites, private cocktail lounges, large gyms, and movie theaters …

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Source: Aka

… all at around $250 to $400 a night for guests staying for several weeks.

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It's pricier compared to the average hotel (extended stay or not) but so far, Aka has seen no problems attracting guests despite the lull in corporate travel.

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Business has been booming for the chain, which has locations throughout the US and one in London

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Despite the onset of COVID-19, in 2020, Aka saw a 140% increase in the length of stays compared to 2019, a spokesperson told Insider.

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And at the end of 2021, Aka's strongest locations like Miami and Los Angeles saw almost 90% occupancy rates, ringing in the brand's strongest year.

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From 2020 on, Aka no longer served as just a business traveler's home away from home.

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Now, the brand has become a getaway for domestic leisure travelers, a demographic that made up about half of its guests during the peak of COVID-19 into 2021, Larry Korman, the president of Aka told Insider in an interview.

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Since the start of COVID-19, the chain has seen strong bookings from a wide variety of guests like families, healthcare workers, and wealthy college students who don't want to live in a dorm …

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… film production companies, people going through divorces …

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… and guests traveling for medical procedures, according to Korman.

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And now, Aka is capitalizing on its booming business with plans to open about 20 locations in the next two to three years in both existing and new markets, whether it be in New York, California, Texas, or Arizona.

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Let's take a closer look at its Central Park location, which "has done great and did well during the low point" of COVID-19, according to Korman.

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Like other Aka locations, the Central Park outpost is lined with studios, penthouses, and one to three-bedroom suites.

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The large one-bedroom suites have all the furnishings and amenities to create a "home away from home" environment.

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There's a kitchen with typical appliances like a sink, oven, microwave, and stovetop …

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… as well as a marble-filled bathroom with all the basic amenities.

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Both the living room and bedroom are sizable compared to the average hotel room or New York City apartment ...

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… and include furniture and necessities like couches, televisions, WiFi, cable, and a dining table.

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Other than the elaborate suites, Aka has several common spaces that set it apart from less luxurious extended stay accommodations.

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The Central Park location has a 2,500-square-foot fitness center with a massage room, an eleven-seat movie theater, and laundry facilities.

AKA

There are also iMac stations, a grocery delivery service …

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… a downstairs cafe, room service with meals from local restaurants …

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Source: Wall Street Journal

… and a cocktail lounge accessible only by Aka residents.

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These extra amenities and common spaces are what attracted Aka's budding leisure travel segment during COVID-19, according to Korman.

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"I think the reason we're getting higher occupancy and higher rates now than we ever have is because the world is recognizing the advantages of residences," Korman said. "That's something I attribute domestically to Airbnb."

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