StarRez benefits from having a global community of leaders that seek continuous improvement. The pandemic made us all overuse the words and actions of pivot, adapt and recover. There have been some wonderful new trends that will help the industry accelerate into the future.
As a technology company, we have seen first-hand what it meant to be flexible, to drive digital transformations (for ourselves and our community) and to embrace a world of uncertainty that is constantly changing. What we have seen is that the sense of community is more important than ever. And if we can collectively help our residential communities thrive, then we are well placed to deliver a great experience where people are connected, safe and prosperous.
We know that many of our communities continue to grow and expand through new developments or renovation projects. Technology is at the heart of the resident experience and the staff experience. It can be a competitive advantage to enable your vision and mission with the use of highly scalable and flexible software platforms.
A special thanks to all of the wonderful leaders that contributed to this insightful overview - The Big Shift. Your insights, learnings and recommendations can help all of our global community thrive.
As we all emerge from the turbulence of the past few years and head into 2022, one thing is certain - the pandemic has left an indelible mark on the student accommodation sector.
How has the pandemic changed the industry’s approach to student well-being and what is the role of existing and new technologies in student residential communities as a whole? We’ve chronicled our perspective (and those of our community) by examining the forces shaping the future of the student accommodation sector in 2022 and beyond.
We hope you find these insights useful as you continue to navigate the exciting, evolving world of student accommodation.
Residents thrive when they’re socially connected, healthy and safe. This chapter explores practical initiatives and technology solutions that address some of the most critical mental and physical health problems facing residents.
Humans are social creatures. Having people around makes us feel secure, supported and gives us a sense of purpose. Without these connections, we can start to feel lonely and isolated.
This is why it’s so important to give residents a feeling of belonging in their community.
A connected community supports every stage of the resident lifecycle: helping residents settle into their new lives, supporting social activities, catching early warning signs if things go wrong and pointing residents to the support they need. It also raises engagement levels and bolsters customer satisfaction — the key to building a thriving residential community.
Today, technology plays a pivotal role in bringing residents together safely. Housing operations can leverage a diverse range of residential and staffing solutions purpose-designed to deliver exceptional residential experiences.
Student Property Management (PBSA) provider: Unipol
Country: United Kingdom
StarRez solution: Maintenance
Maintenance and repair communications were getting lost in translation resulting in residents having to follow up and reach out for updates on job statuses – an annoying, tedious process. It also become incredibly challenging to coordinate multiple external contractors across multiple residential sites.
A fully streamlined end-to-end maintenance solution to support seamless communication between residents, contractors and staff.
Using StarRez maintenance tools, Unipol saved hours of staff and student time by enabling internal team and process efficiencies. Unipol also collected feedback to use for future enhancements and to maintain an excellent level of customer service for their resident community.
We were able to use the flexibility and tools in the StarRez system to create a bespoke repairs solution that met Unipol’s needs. Using Data Subscriptions, we were able to automatically send emails to both tenants and external maintenance contractors when a repair was logged. These emails contained specific information about each repair without the need for staff to send these manually. We also used the StarRez API to import data from maintenance contractor back into the system and use this to update tenants on the status of their repairs. This meant information is being shared much faster than in our previous housing system.
As we look towards the next normal, residential providers that strike a balance between delivering student-centric experiences and reducing risk will be the ones to forge stronger operational resilience and a sustainable competitive advantage.
Good communication is the foundation of any successful relationship – both personal and professional. Communicating with transparency and empathy builds trust. Without trust, relationships can’t grow. Given the chronic uncertainty of the past few years, the value of honest communication has never been clearer.
In the property management space, improving communication with residents has many benefits. Here are some strategies you can implement to support more effective communication between your staff and residents.
We believe communication is the hallmark of great businesses. It can be easy to get wrong, but when you’re using software that makes it simple, getting it right will change the game.
Taking a gender-inclusive approach to student housing both accommodates and respects the complexities of gender identity and the individual while creating a welcoming and safe residential experience.
For many students, completing a housing application is the exciting first step to living in a student community. But for students who do not identify on the gender binary, it can be incredibly stressful. This is why gender-inclusive housing policies are being adopted by universities and residential living spaces.
Gender-inclusive roommate matching is one impactful way that universities are supporting and showing acceptance for all student gender identities. Knowing that same-sex room assignments are not appropriate for all students, gender-inclusive roommate matching provides students with the opportunity to self-select their roommates, regardless of biological sex.
“Allowing students to select gender-inclusive housing options at the very beginning in the application process has been a huge success and residents are happy that they can self-select their roommates and rooms on the portal. Staff are also very pleased that they no longer have to track special requests. We strive for inclusivity in all our processes and StarRez helped us achieve this goal.”
By aligning the StarRez solutions to raise the efficiency of their staff and the engagement of their students, Unilodge Australia provide a modern student experience that sets the benchmark for resident housing innovation in Australia. Tomas Johnsson, CEO at Unilodge Australia, shares how Unilodge Australia’s technology-led approach is helping them achieve their objective of growing market share in a highly competitive sector.
Attracting students and enhancing their residential experience is a key business objective at Unilodge Australia. Had we not set that goal, our market share would not be what is it today. This is because the connection between market share and a great student experience is undeniable.
In fact, many areas of our business are positively impacted by the excellent student experiences we create. Students stay for longer leading to higher occupancy, lower turnover and increased profitability. Positive word of mouth means less time and money spent on marketing. And of course, attracting and retaining students organically grows our market share.
At Unilodge Australia, we know that when it comes to boosting the student experience, efficiency is foundational. But it comes with considerable challenges. That’s why we didn’t attempt to tackle everything at once. Instead, we focused on implementing the processes and tools highlighted below in smaller increments, allowing efficiencies to accumulate over time.
“Staff training costs and implementing policies and procedures all add up. You can’t crystalize that easily and these are the kind of hidden savings that people forget about. It’s about having one common language and one common understanding on how systems work throughout your organization and it’s clearly embedded in everything that we do.”
Decentralized and unconnected systems were wasting time and creating unnecessary frustrations. We replaced multiple system instances with a single StarRez solution serving the entire business. 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. For example, a mobile app integration allows them to submit and track maintenance requests.
By using StarRez to automate our booking process, we have made it easy for students to secure accommodation and freed up staff resources for higher value tasks. Bookings once took 20 odd minutes to complete. Today, they drop straight into the property in just three minutes, without the need for staff involvement. With 30,000 beds currently under management, that’s a lot of time saved.
The finance teams use StarRez to introduce automated month-end reporting. This has eliminated the drudgery of report preparation while ensuring reports are delivered efficiently, accurately and on time.
It’s not just about efficiencies either. The Rez360 view gives us a bird’s eye view of resident activity and engagement, allowing us to measure resident engagement, and apply those insights to redirect operational efforts. Whether through tracking student time in buildings or completing a student survey, we now track the satisfaction of our students and use that data to build out the student experience within budget.
By unifying our systems and automating business processes, we are now using technology far more effectively. No longer bogged down in administration, our team can focus their energy where it makes the most impact – boosting the student experience and growing our market share.
I believe the years spent at university are some of the most influential years of your life. When I walk through our buildings today, I see groups of students using the study rooms, someone playing pool in the corner, a barbeque happening on the rooftop and the rugby team using the sports field. I know we are not just creating extraordinary experiences; we are also contributing to the creation of lifelong memories.
"A business should be focusing on the warm service delivery on the frontend rather than the administration, balancing of the books and getting stuck in technicalities in the office. That’s worth its weight in gold.”
Tomas Johnsson
CEO at Unilodge Australia
Technology has the potential to bring immense value to the property management space. This chapter discusses the powerful tools shaping the future of student accommodation as they drive operational efficiency, data-led decision making, resident-centric services and competitive advantage.
IoT – or Internet of Things – refers to devices that send and receive information via the cloud. A diverse array of IoT technologies are already streamlining building management and making the residence experience more engaging.
Housing operators are looking at ways to create safer, smarter communities that focus on the health, well-being and safety of their residents in a post-pandemic world. And IoT initiatives are central to this reimagination. When done right, IoT produces a range of benefits such as improvements in security and health, energy savings and, of course, invaluable talking points for residential marketing.
Here are the smart technologies and benefits being implemented to appeal to today’s digitally fluent students.
Advances in data and analytics are transforming the way student properties operate, while freeing executives and administrators time up so they can continue to innovate, set goals and drive aspirations. Robust reporting and analytics tools that surface important data and trends are a valuable tool for every user in your organization.
Data is your most valuable asset. Make it clearer, easier to use, and more readily accessible with an all-encompassing data solution designed to help all areas of your business.
Student Property Management (PBSA) provider: Campus Living Centres (CLC)
Country: Canada
StarRez solution: Reporting and Analytics
A lack of visibility into operations was undermining CLC’s efforts to proactively manage facilities, improve resident experiences and create more efficient workflows.
CLC deployed StarRez reporting and analytics solutions and created maintenance dashboards to provide better visibility into ongoing tasks across the organization. Building managers created customized reports and dynamic lists for almost all workflow processes including automated payment reminders, application reminders, failed arrivals and departures, deliveries and even student birthday emails.
CLC’s customized dashboards allow the team to be more proactive in managing maintenance and the overall student experience, positively impacting retention, resident satisfaction, and revenue.
“We’ve found that by automating our acceptance process, we’ve been able to have a higher retention rate of students because they don’t have the time to start searching for off-campus housing while waiting to hear from us if they got in or not.”
Tori Stavenjord
Housing Coordinator, Campus Living Centres
In 2020, £5.77 billion was invested in the student housing market in the United Kingdom, making it a record-breaking year, despite the pandemic. Additionally, 2020 saw several large acquisitions and new investors enter the market, each with accelerated launch dates. With so many new providers competing for attention, now is the time to make yourself stand out. The answer is brand differentiation.
* Savills (2021), Spotlight: UK Purpose-Built Student Accommodation
A unique selling proposition (USP) is that special something that makes your business different from your competitors. Sharing your USP can be a beacon for your business, attracting new residents who are looking for the perfect match.
Residents want more than a place to live, they want a lifestyle. Use your website and social channels to highlight your community features that appeal most to your residents: fitness centers, coffee stations, and communal spaces.
When searching for accommodation, residents place their well-being and overall residential experience high on the priority list. Providing high-quality, fully resourced communal spaces and residential activities goes a long way to addressing your future residents’ social and emotional needs.
Potential residents want to see your full offering. Make sure your website is impactful and clearly positions your brand, offering and full services, not just the price of a room.
As modern consumers, residents expect intuitive and embedded digital experiences. Meet these expectations by providing services such as 24/7 access to pay rent, online maintenance requests, easy payment options and a self-service resident portal to keep them connected to their community.
Host Students: host-students.com
"Our Mission at Host is to offer the best student experience in our market. The experience we deliver is underpinned by operational and management excellence – supported by the latest technology. StarRez allows us to easily reflect our brand through PortalX and gives us the tools for an efficient and seamless booking process. It provides solutions for any eventuality in today’s market."
The steady drumbeat of technological transformation has increased in tempo since the pandemic began. At the height of the virus, property managers were busy pivoting to mimic the resident experience online.
Damian Fasciani, Chief Technology Officer at StarRez, shares his perspective on the technology trends we need to look out for in 2022 and beyond.
The digital age is well and truly in motion and is central to this shift. The pandemic not only accelerated the move to a digital lifestyle, but it has also completely reset student expectations of university life. And student housing operators must follow suit.
Throughout 2022, existing and emerging technologies will present new ways to work smarter by capturing and managing our data more efficiently in the student housing environment.
Our students with future generations to come are precious, they will run and care for our world. At StarRez we want to be at the center of ensuring that our housing operations can provide the
best possible digital experience and I am committed to continue to build a world-class product offering that enhances the lives of students everywhere.
As we move to a more mobile and hybrid way of living, there is a need to understand the lives of our residents and ensure it transcends, no matter the location, and using any device. Technological trends have evolved to meet the demands of the digital evolution but we also require access to data on demand and apps that present information in the form we desire.
Our experience and interaction with digital technology means that our habits form trends and moving forward we can expect recommendations from data-centric solutions that anticipate our needs. The move to solutions such as digitally signing leases, contactless move-in, and self-service parcel collections is just the beginning of what students (and guardians) will look for when choosing accommodation.
Today’s generation was born into a digital world; they will expect an expansion of self-service options. For the housing provider, that could range from facial recognition upon entry to keyless entry. More importantly, the rate of technological change is occurring faster than ever, and so are the needs of students and our industry.
Student Property Management (PBSA) provider: PeakMade Real Estate
Country: United States
University Center (UC) offers students in downtown Chicago a full on-campus housing and residence program spread across several Colleges and Universities. Across their site, they manage 1,732 beds, 12 retailers, and a 15,000 sq ft conference center. They can experience over 2,500 check-ins between diverse groups and individuals during their summer housing program and can expect to provide full-service meal plans to 2,200+ residents.
Managing multi-purpose facilities using manual processes is not efficient. Through their operator, PeakMade Real Estate, UC decided to review their operations and improve efficiency in the way they work. The multi-purpose facilities were operated using 10 different software systems and the team needed to move to a single platform whilst still driving their market-leading brand and resident experience.
“At PeakMade, our top mindset is People Matter Most, followed by Evolve. This StarRez integration, and all the improvements it brought to our operations at University Center, was centered in these commitments. A true highlight for us was the increase in resident engagement.
We are dedicated to our partnerships with the universities we serve, and building an interactive residential community is key.
StarRez has created an all-in-one platform for our team to use data- driven approaches to accomplish this goal and continue to improve.”
University Center, in partnership with StarRez, won Best Vendor/Operation Solution for their collaborative efforts that were implemented at the 2021 Student Housing Business Interface conference held in Austin, Texas. University Center streamlined their paperless processes and have brought their entire housing practice online. StarRez fundamentally changed how University Center operates and interacts with residents and clients, increasing efficiency while supporting sustainability initiatives.
Technology has the potential to bring immense value to the property management space. This chapter discusses the powerful tools shaping the future of student accommodation as they drive operational efficiency, data-led decision making, resident-centric services and competitive advantage.
"Over the years, the landscape for PBSA has changed dramatically. The focus has placed an increasing emphasis on the customer experience and the community narrative created in buildings, alongside modern amenities, and high spec rooms. Students expect an all-encompassing experience that’s supportive of both social and academic developments, with well-being more prevalent than ever."
Using a management platform that enhances the resident experience and creates efficiencies for the entire management team is important. But with attacks growing in frequency and severity, meeting your compliance and security needs is equally critical.
Here are some key considerations when choosing safe and secure software.
“Choosing a SaaS partner comes with a host of benefits. As part of the selection process, ensure that you conduct a level of due diligence by focusing on data handling and security best practice. SaaS partners should be able to clearly articulate how they store and manage data, how the software service allows you to control, configure and manage the solution, and from a reliability standpoint - their uptime, disaster recovery and performance commitment."
Student Property Management (PBSA) provider: International Students House London
Country: United Kingdom
Attending university is a major life experience. While some students might be influenced by friendship groups or peers, others are drawn by location, amenities, services, and a packed events program. StarRez is proud to partner with International Student House London (ISHL) who thrive on bringing students from different cultures and communities together in a residential environment completely different from anything residents would normally experience.
ISHL works to promote a multicultural diverse living environment, with multiple language speaking students. They provide a packed events program to enable their residents to communicate, socialize, learn and take part in culturally diverse events that occur frequently to ensure that students away from home feel like they are part of a well-rounded and connected residential community.
“Part of ISHL’s mission is to be as diverse as possible, from our initial application process to the numerous cultural events we host to integrate residents into our community. This adheres to our founder Mary Trevelyan who exported the ideals of internationalism and global understanding amongst young students. We currently house people from 62 different countries and maintain relationships with previous residents from over 200 nationalities. To summarize; bringing cultures and communities together is ingrained into all we do.”
Jamie Sutcliffe
Deputy Front of House Manager
A survey by Global Student Living(GSLI) asked students in Summer2021 how they would best describe their accommodation provider to a friend or relative. Over 84% of students ranked ISHL in the top two highest brackets of “good – very good” and provided feedback
on their living experiences withISHL, including:
Our positive ratings reflect the fact that we listen to suggestions from residents and take their feedback on board. Many residents describe International Students House to be their home away from home and appreciate the celebration of diversity and sense of community that we foster. The factors that our residents value most about ISH are our central London location and proximity to their places of study, as well as the safety and security of the building.
What are the architectural and design trends sweeping the student accommodation sector right now? This is just one of the questions we put to Chapman Taylor, a global practice of award-winning architects, master planners and interior designers, who are known for embedding sociability and sustainability into their well-considered building designs. Here’s what they shared.
We focus on the residents’ experiences, their relationship with the management team and creating a comforting home-from- home environment. Spaces need to be developed to support human interaction and promote good health. To support this, well-designed amenity provision is important. Post-pandemic, once taken for granted spaces, such as study areas and gyms, are now fully appreciated.
We can also create a unique selling proposition (USP) for our buildings by creating accommodation that helps residents support their sustainability goals. This is fundamental.
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) credentials are now at the forefront of conversations and influence all aspects of the design process. In addition to the environmental benefits, it is important that the social benefits to the resident, the brand and the customer experience are not overlooked.
A survey carried out by the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom (NUS-UK) in 2018 focused on expectations for sustainable development in universities. The results showed that 81% of students wanted to know more about sustainable development. Students are now starting to look at these factors when choosing their residence.
Technology can play a vital part in the success of a development if it is well designed and integrated from the outset (often referred to as PropTech). Residents want apps with easy interfaces to manage their day-to-day tasks from accessing the building to reporting maintenance issues.
Done correctly, this can also simplify the management of the building, reducing operational costs and allowing staff to focus more on pastoral care.
Integrated technology can also support the sustainability agenda, particularly with in-use energy consumption. Mobile integration and automation can make it easier for residents to reduce their energy consumption. This can also be linked to data collection and analysis, allowing the management team to better understand how the building is operating.
If you allow residents access to the data, you can start to get them engaged in the process and educate them on how they can reduce their personal energy usage. This helps challenge the mindset of ‘all-inclusive accommodation’ with an unlimited energy supply.
"Designing for PBSA is about creating a vibrant, sustainable community. You need to provide flexible spaces to suit individual student’s needs. It’s important to be adaptable and keep an eye on trends so that your scheme works successfully for students now and in the future.”
The pandemic has highlighted the harmonious relationship between well-designed and well-managed accommodation. The relationship with the management team is vital in terms of the pastoral support and sense of security that they can provide, so they need to be visible and accessible.
A lot of the trends we are looking at, for example around well-being and high-quality amenities, were being discussed pre-Covid. The pandemic has brought them into sharp focus and these will continue to be a priority.
The Build-to-Rent market has found success by being user-centric with a focus on customer experience and this is heavily influencing the purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) sector. We must design from the inside out, creating buildings that can provide for the residents needs whilst supporting the management team in their operations.
PBSA is all about providing a nurturing environment for residents, which caters to their lifestyles and aligns with their core values.
With more and more organizations engaging in sustainability practices and leveraging their influence to be ‘purpose-led’, the time has come to ask a couple of important questions: what are the business implications of sustainable operations, and how do you go about balancing the quality of our environments and health with long-term business profitability?
LEED is the most widely used green building rating system in the world used in 167 countries and recognized as a benchmark for industry excellence in sustainability.
RIT not only undertake ground-breaking sustainability research, they also live the principles of a sustainable community and aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. They currently house 8 LEED certified buildings and have committed to LEED certifications for all future residential construction. Their award winning property - Global Village - is LEED Gold for phase one and LEED Silver for phase two.
All of RIT’s newer residences and many of their older ones feature low water flow fixtures, Energy Star rated appliances, LED lighting, occupancy sensors to reduce energy consumption, and high efficiency laundry facilities.
“RIT is a leader in ground-breaking sustainability research, teaching, and engagement. The RIT campus works as a living laboratory for sustainable technologies, practices, and philosophies within the built and natural environment.”
Getting residents on board can be a great first step in moving a business towards a more efficient future. For example, smart meters can be used to digitally measure electricity usage, and provide consumption insights and practical energy saving tips to residents. This transparency creates a clear link between energy-saving behavior and environmental impact, and provides residents the information to make positive changes to reduce their individual levels of energy consumption.
The word unprecedented gets used a little too often these days. But sometimes it’s good to remind ourselves that we’re living through a once-in-a-century disruption. Things are moving fast. And your residential community deserves technology that can keep pace with the COVID-19 recovery, however it’s unfolding in your part of the world.
When this crisis first hit, our technology helped our users move thousands of residents to safety while tracking individual health concerns and acting as a reliable port of call for essential information. Now we’re continuing to adapt and improve, because that’s what we’ve always done. We’ll always be in the business of making residential life easier, no matter how big the obstacle.
StarRez lets you focus on what really matters—providing a great resident experience for learning and connecting.
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