- Get your paperback, kindle, or PDF edition of Art of Coliving Book.
- Starting or operating coliving space? Level up and Join the Coliving Incubator Program.
- Are you building a coliving business? Get Free Coliving Advisory
🔁📝In our last post, we dove into innovative crowdfunding models and community-driven towns, concepts that connect to today’s focus on policy changes. Missed out on the last one? No problem! Click below to catch up:
How Coliving Spaces Can Learn From AirBnb’s New Vision
The goal here is not to develop a Generative AI model. This will be left to Google and OpenAI to sort out.
Where AirBnb can excel is creating an AI layer in the interface. According to Chesky’s internal email to AirBnb employees:
“Imagine an app that you feel like it knows you, it’s like the ultimate Concierge, an interface that is adaptive and evolving and changing in real-time, unlocking no interface you've ever seen before. That would allow us to go from a single vertical company to a cross-vertical company.”
Why is this interesting?
Because coliving companies can evolve accordingly:
- There is a big change coming when it comes to digital experience and user interfaces. Websites might become obsolete - or rather, they will be individualized. Digital experiences will be tailored. Which leads to the second point of…
- Coliving companies can position themselves as more cross-vertical. Instead of just focussing on one experience - the rental one - it could offer a more personal concierge type of experience, integrating local events, happenings, discount, but also connecting to services in the space. Which leads to the last point of…
- The role of interconnected spaces (and IoT in general) will now make more sense as it can benefit the user. Parcel lock stations can be integrated to your AI assistant, telling you which parcels are waiting for pick-up. An AI could tell you where things are happening in the building if connected to people counting sensors.
In short, the combination of “digital experience + multiple verticals + IoT” could be one key differentiation point of a coliving business and experience.
And probably, in a few years, we’ll witness new service providers specialized in offering these technologies to operators.
👉 Are you currently innovating in AI x coliving? Let us know!
It Takes Time To Integrate Within Community
What does that mean? Simply that it takes a few weeks before new residents
- Know where things are and how things are done
- Do not feel like “the new kid” anymore
- Have established routines (on their own and together with others)
- Have contributed to something for the space and/or the group and received from it too
In this article, you will see how certain coliving spaces opt for one, two or four weeks of minimum stay - to ensure that new residents have time to integrate.
Concretely speaking, you can be proactive and help during that time of the so-called Onboarding Phase.
I remember Brad Hargreaves, former CEO of Common, once sharing during a conference:
“If new residents make at least two new friends within the first two weeks, the renewal rate is 60% higher. It’s all about integrating in the first weeks.”
As an operator, your role is to craft a resident journey that helps new residents to feel at home. Depending on your space, this can include:
- Personal welcoming at the space and introduction to other residents
- The assignment of a mentor or older resident as guide
- Welcome events on a weekly basis for new arrivers
- Personal check-ins with new residents a week after arrival to help them integrate more and offer them to be proactive in event creation
- Weekly coffee sessions with older members to get to know key people over time
The list is long. If you want to know what else you can implement in your user and community experience journey, join our Coliving University webinar next Tuesday on that subject!
A New PMS is Coming To The Market
Crib made an investment exceeding $1 million to develop Crib Plus. The new version will cater specifically to the needs of large-scale student housing and co-living brands.
And yet - coliving operators still struggle to find the “right” property management software.
While we have some frontrunners on the market - such as Res:harmonics, Lavanda, Mews, ColivHQ and The House Monk, innovation in the market is still needed.
The future is for those PMS who will listen to specific coliving operator needs, including:
- Managing short and long term offerings (as more operators become hybrid)
- Adapting the application journey to the operator needs
- Offering seamless payments methods including bank debit
- Automated contracting, invoicing, billing, and task creations
- Creating customized customer journeys
- And integrating with leading tech providers (such as smart locks)
👉 Are you currently choosing your technology providers? Feel free to let us know and we’ll be happy to advise! Just respond to this email.
Everything Else Coliving
- If you’re in San Francisco, check out The Neighborhood: a non-profit association dedicated to reproduce the vibes of a university campus in one square mile in the heart of SF - but for all generations, with cohousing and coliving amenities.
- Coliving and apartment provider Help Housing is expanding in Spain, looking now to increase to 1500 beds by 2025.
- Singaporean coliving startup Cove raises $3.36m via convertible notes.
- Singaporean coliving player The Assembly Place (TAP) has dealt with massive growth and now plans to expand overseas. The startup surpassed 1,800 rooms in 102 assets by end-2023, and manages S$500 million in assets. In 2021, it was managing 550 rooms in 16 assets worth S$250 million. Net revenue shot up from S$282,851 in 2019 to S$15.6 million in 2023; Ebitda has been positive since 2020, with the latest figure at S$1.18 million in 2023. Read more here and see their diversity of offerings:
- BlackRock and Outpost conquer £170m Castle: coliving development deal marks third acquisition for £1bn living joint venture
- Plans have progressed for a series of blocks up to 17 storeys-tall in Greenwich, including nearly 500 co-living rooms and a hotel.
We hope you enjoyed this edition and wish you a good weekend,
Gui Perdrix & Mayank Pokarhna
The Artof.Co team
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