Elaine Young, Shama CEO, is taking her successful serviced apartment model to gateway cities across Asia

A Hong Kong luxury service apartment chain is continuing to branch out into the Asian market, exporting its boutique service brand to the Chinese mainland and beyond. Shama Serviced Apartments was set up in Hong Kong in 1996, and has since opened luxury apartments in Beijing and Shanghai, including in the city's fashionable Xintiandi entertainment district. But Hong Kong was where the brand first caught on.

"We were lucky to have been in Hong Kong now for 12 years, so we had the first mover advantage," said Shama co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Elaine Young. But one of the key things she said that sets Shama apart from similar ventures, which have since sprung up, is location.

"We don't just say that we provide an apartment or a bed to sleep in. We're very much a lifestyle provider. We have a no-boundaries card, which we say fast-tracks clients' social lives. So to do that, we need to be in a neighbourhood that lets them quickly get into the pulse of the city and find out the best the city has to offer." Add to that Shama's high level of service and standards of decoration, which the company prides itself on. According to Ms Young, Shama, which means tranquility in Sanskrit, offers style and decoration that make it a very peaceful place to reside in.

Right place, right time

Ms Young, who has been in the real estate business since moving to Hong Kong in 1986, said she identified a niche in the market for luxury serviced apartments after buying 29 units in what is now a prime area in the Central District, just as the Hong Kong property market started picking up in 1996.

Shama now runs eight properties in Hong Kong's main districts. Two years ago, Morgan Stanley Real Estate acquired a majority stake in the company, with Gateway Capital as a secondary shareholder. The move allowed Shama to expand into the Chinese mainland market, where it opened its first Beijing property last month. New ventures are in the pipeline in Dalian, Chengdu and other secondary mainland cities.

According to Ms Young, the secret to the business' success is to "know your market, know who you're trying to appeal to, and focus on what you do and what you do best."
 
Now, there are plans to move further afield. The company is eyeing India, where she sees potential to replicate the company's success in the mainland. "I think the Indian market can be just as large."

And the plans do not stop there: Shama aims to have 40 properties across the region by 2010. "We want to be the leading boutique serviced apartment provider in Asia, and that will mean being in all the key gateway cities across Asia." But Ms Young said Shama will continue to be a Hong Kong-run business. "We're definitely based in Hong Kong. I'm not moving."

The exportable "boutique apartment" brand: made in Hong Kong 

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Shama Serviced Apartments