The 299-room property in Heidelberg, a short walk from the central railway station, offers hotel rooms as well as one- and two-bed apartments, a guest bar and lounge and dining area. Built in 2018, the property, which is owned by German institutional fund Commerz Real, is Staycity’s second in Germany after the opening in 2019 of the 48-apartment Wilde Aparthotels by Staycity, Berlin, Checkpoint Charlie. Staycity has additional German sites under development in Frankfurt and Nuremberg.

The southwest city of Bordeaux sees the opening of a 125-apartment Staycity Aparthotel offering contemporary studio apartments sleeping two, three or four people as well as a café, gym and car park. The property, which is owned by La Francaise Group, is a short walk from the riverfront.

Bordeaux and Heidelberg are the first Staycity properties to open post-lockdown and mark the ongoing growth of the Dublin-based company’s European estate, which will see 10 further sites opening during 2021/22.  With the gradual lifting of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions across the UK and Europe, Staycity is reporting healthy forward bookings as people start travelling again.

“The UK in particular has been busy since restrictions were lifted in the middle of May. Across all 11 of our UK properties occupancies reached 85 per cent during the second May Bank Holiday which compares favourably to the same weekend in 2019 when occupancies were 91 per cent. The same weekend last year, during the height of the pandemic, saw occupancy drop to just 25 per cent,” said commercial director Paula Mullaney.