What Residents are Seeking Most in Multifamily Buildings Post-Pandemic

Across many industries, the way we do things is looking different since the onset of COVID-19. While many in-person services have picked back up and started to resume, we have not excluded adaptations and alternative ways we integrated into our lives the last 18 months while working and spending more time at home. In the multifamily amenities industry, the pandemic has demonstrated a greater value than ever before for quality experiences and convenience services that enhance our way of life, and allow us the flexibility we’ve always craved but had yet to engineer into our daily routines. Here are some of the leading takeaways we’ve seen in the multifamily amenity space.

The ability to do in-person fitness virtually

Since more time than ever was spent at home in 2020, a positive effect of this was more people getting into fitness. Just how many more people started working out? As many as 33% of people reported incorporating fitness into their routine, according to a Mindbody Virtual Fitness survey conducted in 2020. Out of the 700 app users surveyed regarding their workout and wellness trends, 

This is up from only 9% in 2019, pre-pandemic. To add, while 43% of those residents who included virtual or live stream classes plan to go back to their in-person methods of fitness, they also plan on including the virtual components they’ve added as a supplement their routine.

Connecting with other residents virtually

Beyond fitness, the opportunities to engage communities with various classes, including mixology demonstrations, entertainment, trivia, and more. Through our experience coordinating and providing a variety of monthly virtual social events across our communities, we’ve been able to create an experience that allows residents to connect organically and takes the effort away from community managers with limited time. This also gives residents an opportunity to connect with others across the country and experience things they may not have otherwise tried. 

While there is still a need for in-person resident experiences and many of our on-site experiences have resumed with health safety measures in place, the overall desire for virtual amenity solutions as a hybrid offer is vital for multifamily communities. Being able to have the choice to access fitness and events not only where they live, but from the comfort of their living room, provides residents with flexibility that they can’t enjoy from their gym or off-premise fitness studios. Not only can having the virtual experience be a key to driving engagement, but having a digital platform to book services on provides convenience to both residents and property managers as well. If residents are able to eliminate having someone else coordinate services for them or get in their car and drive somewhere to access the same service they can instead enjoy from home, they are not only more likely to engage with those services, but likely to appreciate the simple privilege of knowing it is accessible and included as a perk where they live where it wouldn’t be elsewhere. 

Amenity services as a whole, are an essential community addition for Community Managers

Stats from the Pew Research Center showed that 71% of residents were able to work from home and out of that percentage, 54% of people preferred to stay that way. By making sure internet is working at optimal speed, installing better booster signals for cell phones, and having good ethernet connections, property managers can promote a work from home environment that is better suited than the traditional office space. Other touches such as providing welcoming common areas with items like complimentary self-serve coffee and tea carafes, or having coffee lounge-style music softly in the background can create a welcoming and ambient alternative area outside of the apartment, making your entire building business-friendly.

A productive at-home office space

Just how important are amenity services when considering your resident retention plan and building engagement for your community? It turns out pretty important. According to a 2020 Kingsley Apartment Resident Preferences Report that surveyed 373,000 residents across 5300 communities and over 270 markets, having the right amenities matters in staying competitive, relative, and creating long-term value to apartment residents. 

After examining several of the best ways to meet your community’s needs post-pandemic, hopefully you are left with some inspiration of new ways to add value to your residents and tenants. If you’re ready to get started with an easily deployable solution that lets us do the work for you while easily taking the effort off your plate, visit our contact page to get started.