The footprint for Signature Living emanated from two unsuccessful weekends that I had to endure, several years ago.
The first of my trips was to be a stag party in Newcastle, needless say we were far from organised and far from the centre of the city. We spent the night queuing out in the cold, getting refused entry into all of the various hotspots. Very much deflated we decided to head back to our hotel in the middle of nowhere at the tender time of just 11.30pm.
My second trip had been organised for my birthday by my wife Katie, we had a great time, but the rate of extortion got to me, to my amazement when I came to settle my bill they had charged me 85 euro’s for 5 films, 30 euro’s for the use of their Wi-Fi and to cap it all 9 euro’s for a Kit Kat and a bottle of water.
I was getting very tired of how Hotel groups looked after their clients and it seemed to me the larger the Hotel group the worse the service. My job at that time was a clothing buyer and I was staying in Hotels all over the World and yet I was always concerned, when I received my final bill, I knew that there would be something that I had eaten or watched that I assumed would have been part of the price. It seemed to me that all large hotels had fallen into the same awful trait and that was to extract as much extra cash over and above the room rate that they could. They even pride themselves on the average extra spend that they can attain from a client.
It was then that I decided to create not only an Aparthotel that could provide our guest’s with un-rivalled service, with excellent accommodation and above all a space that you could actually live in. I would also ensure that there were no hidden costs to our client.
The main issue was that I had to find a building that would suit large groups and families in the centre of Liverpool. Liverpool was the new hotbed for hotel chains, they were clambering to build and open one of their hotels in our city. I then set about selling my retail business and bought our Victoria Street building, now known as Signature Living. The year was 2004 and for the next four and a half years I painstakingly designed and built what it is today. It took me 4.5 years due to some of the biggest problems that I have ever had to encounter, but in the end, with Katie’s backing, we prevailed.
Our doors opened to our first clients on the 23rd August 2008, while Kate and I were on honeymoon. Over the coming month’s we had to endure an aparthotel in the middle of Liverpool’s city life without many guests at all, to say that these were worrying times would be an understatement. Little wonder as we had no knowledge of the hotel industry to start with. Katie’s background was in Human resources and mine was in running retail shores and importing clothing. You couldn’t get any less connected to the Hotel industry than we were, but what we did have was a belief that there was a gap in the market. Hotels had become bloated and aloof they were not allowing their clients the possibility to be befriended by them in anyway, when was the last time a Hotel manager walked up to you and handed you his card allowing you full access to him, why do you only ever see him, if you have a complaint and that’s if you see him at all. Hotels simply do not do enough, and we knew that we could offer so much more.
In the word’s of Kevin Costner, Build a field and they will come. Our belief was strong in our vision but certainly lacking in knowledge, but we both believed passionately in our belief.
I suppose that was the only attempt at a business plan that we possessed. We knew that there was a gap in the market and thankfully apart from the first 6 month’s I’d like to think that we have been moving in the right direction ever since.
Obviously, we have been aided by the amazing resurgence of Liverpool as a city. In my view making it certainly the number 1 shopping destination in the North West and coupling that with its cultural heritage and the capital of culture award, not forgetting it’s nightlife and our architecture which is second to London only. Liverpool certainly has a lot to get enthused about.
We are perfectly positioned nestled between The wWalkerart gallery, Liverpool 1 and Liverpool’s exclusive Victoria Street nightlife, making Signature Living serviced apartments the ideal accommodation whatever the reason for your stay, please look at our Trip Advisor reviews and let our clients advise you on where to stay I have supplied a link below for you to see for yourself.
