How to Deliver a Connected Student Living Experience

The student property management industry, like many others, is becoming very connected. As one might expect, putting heads in beds largely comes down to finding where students are online.  For student housing operators, increasing resident retention and creating a sense of community now extends from the pool and club room to online venues. Frequenting social media sites for leisure activities and e-commerce outlets to buy books, clothes and pay for housing are as much a part of college life as lectures. Building retention by being available 24/7 To keep residents and attract new ones, student housing operators have to be there to connect, says Whitney Kidd, Vice President, Student, at RealPage. Kidd, who grew up in a family of multifamily owners and operators and has firsthand experience managing properties, understands the difficulty of renewals.  “For me personally, when I was on site, managing renewals was a tedious and complex process,” she said in a recent webcast. “With renewal management, we were calling guarantors and students in an ongoing cycle.” Today it’s even tougher, she says. Business doesn’t stop at 5 o’clock and students – even guarantors – don’t make personal visits to the leasing office as much like they did when she worked at Riverstone Residential Group and Peak Campus Communities nearly a decade ago. It’s all about connecting with students and their parents or guarantors in the mode of communication they prefer and working referrals. ActiveBuilding manages the entire student lifecycle, from paying rent to community involvement. Kidd believes the platform is a lifeline for building a strong sense of community between students and operators, along with driving renewals.   “The best advocates are your happy residents,” she said. “If they let residents know what’s going on in the community and why they love living there, there’s a m...