The student accommodation sector has been transformed in the past decade, growing to about $240 million a year in revenue and that’s tipped to jump another 3.3 per cent this year.
The pandemic has reshaped what residents expect from their homes, which is the subject of a report from technology provider StarRez, The Big Shift.
The report explores how property managers can deliver the right experience today that puts resident well-being first, while improving their chances of winning market share.
Bringing together information about the technology on offer with insights and experiences from industry leaders, the report tackles the subject in three sections.
The report details the importance of human interaction and, when that isn’t physically possible, the pivotal role technology can play to bring residents together.
Within student accommodation, technology can carry out many functions—from student profiling and a platform for reporting well-being concerns to a way to book safe, shared spaces and report maintenance issues.
Student accommodation provider Unilodge Australia used StarRez resident and property management solutions to improve staff efficiency and better engage students, which in turn has led to a greater market share.
Some of the tools highlighted include an automated-booking engine, financial reporting function and resident engagement tracking.
“We replaced multiple system instances with a single StarRez solution serving the entire business,” Unilodge Australia chief executive Tomas Johnsson said in the report.
“This immediately shortened employee onboarding while allowing staff to use the same, familiar system as they moved around our properties. To further unify the system, we used the StarRez API to connect with various external providers and payment gateways to automate payments.
“For our students, offering connected systems has simplified their interactions with us.”
As technology drives operational efficiencies, Internet of Things (IoT) devices are growing across the student property sector. In fact, IoT-supported student housing not only creates safer and smarter community-living environments for residents but such devices also free up staff time so they can focus on innovation and business growth.
A lack of visibility into operations at Campus Living Centres in Canada was undermining the student accommodation provider’s ability to proactively manage facilities and improve the resident experience. StarRez’s reporting and analytics solution provided a clear dashboard and automatic system that positively impacted resident retention and satisfaction.
While security has always been important, headlines over the past few years of high-profile data breaches have made this a greater concern. The report goes into the details of how a software platform must comply with privacy and security laws, as well as payment standards.
Another growing subject for operators to tackle is sustainability.
The report details how the Rochester Institute of Technology is not a centre for sustainability research but practises what it preaches across its campus. The institute’s aim is for carbon neutrality by 2030 and students are actively involved in sustainability initiatives.
Deploying the right technology has made a huge difference to operators and residents during the pandemic and the report provides examples and tips throughout.
Overall, it paints a view of how the world can move into a new normality, with technology that can tackle anything from health concerns to building maintenance.
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