At beck and call

Next time when Samar Chatterjee, a Mumbai-based general manager with a MNC, visits Kolkata for a six-month stay, he can just walk into a furnished, air-conditioned service apartment stocked with everything from kitchen appliances, crockery to bed linen. He needn''t waste time to house-hunt or opt for expensive hotels. As Kolkata rides high on the corporate wave, service apartments are a great option for those who have to stay here for a few months for work.Projects with such apartments are already coming up in Bypass, Diamond Harbour Road and VIP Road.
"We decided to provide service apartments primarily for executives in transit in a residential project located on Diamond Harbour Road. They will be self-contained one BHKs. We are also planning to tie up with a hotel chain to look after its services and management," said Jitendra Khaitan, director of a property consultancy firm.
While a premium service apartment would have a pool, health club and an in-house mall, it would also have an individual attendant to look after cleaning, laundering and running errands. "Service apartments are the need of the hour, particularly for single executives. These have to provide much more than a hotel and yet have a homely feel to it," said real estate developer Piyush Bhagat, who is coming up with a service apartment project in Bangalore and is also planning one in Kolkata. These apartments are most viable in a single or double bedroom format. "Here, we are waiting for a greater influx of corporates," added Bhagat.
In Mumbai and even in Delhi, where plush service apartments are very popular, they come for anything between Rs 7,000 for a one BHK to as much as Rs 1 lakh for a luxury suite as rent. With high-end salary packages, it won''t take long for these to become commonplace affair.