Quarantine in a luxury apartment

The Zug company "Le Bijou" is offering quarantine apartments with a high standard. An idea that has only emerged in the Corona crisis, and only works thanks to digitised processes.

The Corona crisis is having some bitter consequences: the Schweizerhof Hotel in Lucerne, for example, has had to temporarily close last week, for the first time in almost 150 years. But the corona crisis can also make you inventive and can create new business models. The "Le Bijou" company, based in Zug, is offering luxury apartments – including in Zug and Lucerne. There is currently an additional special offer on the website under the name: “Quarantine Apartments”.

On request, Alexander Hübner from “Le Bijou” says: “We have lost a lot of “normal” guests. But at the same time, we’ve noticed that more requests for stays for 14 days are being made.“  It turned out that some people were trying to book the Bijou apartments as quarantine accommodation. "That's why we turned it into an offer," explains Hübner.

The company now benefits from the fact that its processes are automated and digitised from start to finish. Because no contact with another person is necessary, this is ideal for quarantine stays. Enquiry, offer, payment - everything runs digitally. Even the door of the apartment is opened using a code.

Photo 1: This is what the offer on the Le Bijou homepage looks like.
Photo 2: In quarantine, but at least with a view of Mount Pilatus and the city of Lucerne.

If an enquiry for a quarantine apartment is made, the health status of the enquirer is also checked. Hübner says: “A stay makes no sense for people who are already very sick or who have even tested positive for the Corona virus. The travel to the apartment would be counterproductive.” Most enquirers are not yet infected, but "want to be on the safe side".

The health of guests is important to «Le Bijou». The company works together with a medical partner. Hübner adds: "If you want, you can request medical monitoring, call in a doctor, and even corona tests are possible."

The rooms are cleaned and disinfected before each stay. Whether an intermediate cleaning takes place is very individual. “There are guests who explicitly don't want it. If they do, our cleaning staff is accordingly equipped.”

Luxury and service come at a price
A middle-class apartment (approx. 100 square metres) costs between CHF 400 and CHF 500 a day. This only covers the rent – extras such as a delivery service for meals or an entertainment system to fight boredom cost extra. The price for a lowest-class room starts at CHF 150 per day.

Alexander Hübner sums up: “For us, this offer is an opportunity that we don't want to miss in the current difficult times. But it is also nice if we can do our part to fight the corona virus with the quarantine apartments.”