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.
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
