Victor Aguilar, Director of Operations for Carbon Thompson Multifamily Management, had a challenge on his hands.
Aguilar’s communities were state-of-the-art with world-class amenities, but residents were showing interest in individually tailored services, such as package pickup, food delivery and home cleanings. Unsurprisingly, residents were turning to the only thing they knew, third-party vendors, to acquire those services.
“We tried using third-party services on our own: meal delivery and maid services… there wasn’t really much buy in,” Aguilar says.
What Aguilar experienced is not unique. There is an increasingly rapid demographic change occurring within multifamily communities. More residents are choosing to become renters by choice, bringing with them greater disposable income and a unique interest in technology-based services.
Aguilar found his solution to the demographic shift with Valet Living Home, offering his residents a one-stop shop of services from a vendor he was already familiar with and trusted as an extension of the community.
In November 2017, Aguilar became an early adopter of Valet Living Home, the only resident services app developed specifically for multifamily communities by multifamily amenity experts. Residents at his Valet Living Home community can now order home cleaning services, have their pets cared for, save money on local deals and more through a single app.
This gives his residents more time to spend with family and friends instead of worrying about pesky household chores.
“Having the app and being able to use the services from one vendor was one of the successes of Valet Living Home,” Aguilar says. “The residents see the Valet Living crew daily so they view them as an extension of our leasing office and thus develop that trust, and then use them for pet walking and other services.”
Residents quickly became enamored with the intuitive nature of Valet Living Home and the added level of convenience that it provided.
“Valet Living Home has made my life super easy,” says resident Marcus Warren. “My packages are there on time; my apartment is clean when I come home. I’m happy—it felt like I was coming back to a hotel room!”
Years of research and development went into creating the Valet Living Home app. Valet Living surveyed thousands of multifamily residents to understand their expectations from an amenity services provider. The information that Valet Living gathered ultimately fueled the development of today’s Valet Living Home app.
“Industry experts credit tech-enabled amenities with driving new leases and resident retention,” says Valet Living Chief Marketing Officer, Patti Girardi. “Data shows 83 percent of new residents are downloading the app [three times the industry average] with 64 percent of registered users placing an order [twice the industry average].”
The goal of Valet Living Home is in line with Valet Living’s core mission, setting the standard for residential living to make lives easier for both property managers and residents, while improving property values.
“Amenity services need to evolve. Other properties are evolving and, if you don’t do it, you’re going to fall behind,” Aguilar says.
Valet Living Home is active in ten markets within the United States and will be announcing additional markets in the upcoming months.
