Underutilized Amenities

1, Oct

At any condo building, there has to be a detailed calendar for the amenities, including the party room, movie theatre, guest suite, or any other rented amenities. Property managers need to make sure that everything is organized to keep double bookings from happening and to make sure that payments are collected.

A reality that many property managers face, though, is the underutilization of their amenities. In Western Canada, one major property management company found that their guest suite was operating at around 20% capacity all year. Running at full capacity is not realistic, but 20% seems oddly low. Their guest suite cost $75 a night to rent, plus refundable deposit. With hotels running at $150-$300 a night it would seem that residents of the condo would encourage their guests or friends and family visiting the city to stay in the guest suite instead of booking a hotel.

When the benefit of using a guest suite over booking a hotel being so high, it makes you think about what needs to be done to boost amenity usage so that property managers can earn additional income off of its use but also so that residents feel that they are getting all of the benefits that their condo has to offer.

It seems that there are two reasons why residents are not booking party rooms, movie theatres, and guest suites. The first is that it does not occur to them that these amenities are solutions to their problems. The second is that there is no convenient and easy way to book amenities.

Property managers who are looking to boost the occupancy of their amenities first need to make sure that their residents are continuously aware that the amenities are available. Email blasts during various holidays or celebrations around the city are great ways to remind them of the different amenities and that they can use them. Posting information about the guest suite, party room, and movie theatre in the elevator also keeps it in their mind in case those emails are going to junk mail. One critical thing that property managers can do is to utilize a resident portal like Tenix. Tenix has notification features so that property managers can easily communicate information to residents through the program that rooms are available and advertise them before holidays and celebrations.

Making the booking and deposit process easy can also be handled by Tenix. Our attention spans are shrinking. Technology has improved our lives in countless ways, but it makes us crave technological solutions to our problems. Residents do not want to have to go down to a front desk during limited hours to book a room, and some people no longer carry cheques to make deposits.

This is where Tenix saves the day. Tenix is there for residents to connect with their property management team. With a couple of clicks into their Tenix app, residents can book and pay for amenities on their commute, while out and about, or while lounging in their unit. All they need is a smartphone or computer with an internet connection. When it is as easy as a couple of clicks to book amenities, it is incredible how much more often amenities are booked.

Where Tenix stands apart from other resident portals, and why it will help boost the number of bookings made for your amenities over other resident portals, is its ease of use. Most resident portals currently available are out of date. Many more do not have smartphone apps and can only be accessed from a computer, with no mobile website available. Tenix is user-friendly and has been designed with users and operators in mind – both residents and property managers will love its easy-to-use and highly attractive interface.

The property management company out in Western Canada charge $75 a night for their guest suite. Running at 20% capacity, this means that they earn $5,475 every year. By properly advertising their suite to their residents and implementing Tenix resident portal to make it easy for residents to book this suite, they can easily bump their capacity to 80%, netting them a profit of $21,900. This is a boost in income of over $16,000! All from a bit of advertising and the implementation of the Tenix resident portal. Boost your condo’s reserve fund or give back to your rental building’s bottom line. Contact us at Tenix today.