The last year marked a true consolidation of the serviced apartment industry, which has now found its place within the accommodation sector and in the investor community. This year's article includes the latest announcements in the sector, analyses the different operating models used within the industry through the review of the 2018 survey results, and looks at the future pipeline as well as the latest investment transactions in the market. HVS has conducted a survey to observe and understand the shift in trends in terms of the different operating structures and models used within the sector. The results show a real strengthening of the use of management agreements and the rise of franchises, providing operators with more flexible structures that enable the current expansion needs of brands and reduce the operator's risks. The results also give us no doubt that serviced apartment operating models and structures are increasingly moving towards the hotel sector. Hotel operators are keeping an eye on the rising competition and the serviced apartment sector is getting more and more crowded. Brands are benefiting from complete makeovers, being repositioned and new trendy concepts are emerging, such as Cuckooz Nest with its fusion of coworking spaces with childcare, and Cotels 7Zero1 fitness-focused serviced apartments.In terms of branded extended-stay product, yet another hotel group is jumping on the serviced apartments bandwagon, demonstrating the growing interest of hotel groups in this product type. Yotel has announced the arrival of Yotelpad, compact homes with clever design and smart technology, with already five deals signed. Others are adding new brands to their serviced apartment portfolio: Staycity has announced a premium brand, Wilde Aparthotels.The European serviced apartment pipeline has boomed compared to last year, approaching 20,000 units over the next five years. This is nearly double compared to last year's article, and thus it is safe to say that investors and developers see true potential in the sector. Brands are looking into consolidating their presence in those markets where they are already present, as well as expanding into new locations. The focus is not only on Western Europe; interest is starting to be shown in Central and Eastern Europe, in countries such as Austria and Poland, where further potential in the market can be found.There have been a limited number of serviced apartment transactions and there is relatively little transparency in terms of sales prices. However, recent transactions such as the acquisition of SACO by Brookfield are thought to result in an increase in awareness, security and transparency for the sector, as serviced apartments are starting to be perceived as an investor-friendly asset class.We would like to thank all of the survey participants for their generous input into the study. Your opinions and experiences are crucial in facilitating understanding of this thriving sector. We urge more operators in the sector to recognise the value of sharing data to enable serviced apartments to gain more attention from potential investors.Much has been announced in terms of product and brand expansion in the past year; we take a look at what has actually materialised.