Homing instinct to bring enterprise

Jan 4 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

A YOUNG entrepreneur who studied at Newcastle University is planning to expand his latest enterprise to the city this year.

Adam Thorpe, 27, launched SuperiorStay in Harrogate last year to provide luxury, serviced apartments for people visiting the town for business or pleasure.

He said: “We want people to see SuperiorStay as an alternative to say, staying at the Hilton, certainly locally. It’s like having an amalgamation of an apartment and a hotel suite in one.”

Harrogate was chosen as the launchpad because it attracts so many business visitors due to its popularity as a conference venue. Mr Thorpe believes Newcastle is the logical place to develop the idea because the city also pulls in a high number of business travellers.

SuperiorStay guests are treated to fully serviced apartments, including maid service, laundry and a chauffeur service which collects customers from the airport or railway station.

Mr Thorpe is aiming to attract more landlords of apartment blocks to join the enterprise. He said: “It’s a business which provides an efficient and proactive service to landlords at a time when they are facing increased risks in a tightening market.

“We keep them informed and achieve the best rental yields we can, which at up to £2,750 a month for a two-bedroom apartment are among the highest in the North. It’s not easy to compete with hotels and the fact that landlords could take the safer option of assured shorthold tenancies, but we’re proving that there is an enormous demand for what we’re offering when you get the product right.”

Adam is a member of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, where his mentor is Nigel Mills, hotel owner and chief executive of the Mills Group at Whitley Bay.

He said: “Nigel has been a huge source of drive for me in the SuperiorStay business, calling often just to make sure I am on track and providing assurance that it will be a hugely successful enterprise tackled in the right way.”

Aparthotels are fast becoming popular alternatives to traditional hotels in the UK, Europe and the US. Glasgow company the McKever Group has already opened two aparthotels in Newcastle city centre a year ago and has plans for more sites in the city.

And Wearside developer Hackett Property has opened the first in Sunderland this year with a 20-apartment business in the restored Victorian building Hawksley House, near the Museum and Winter Gardens.