The Anatomy of a Great Flexible Stays Strategy

If you’re going to launch flexible stays (short to mid-term lets) the most important thing to get right is the strategy. Across multifamily, student housing, and their property management companies there is a common ‘afterthought’ approach, as discussed by Sarah Canning of The Property Marketing Strategists:

Having an effective strategy ensures maximum revenue and smooth operations across your portfolio. So here are five steps to creating your own:

Define clear goals

There are three common goals for implementing flexible stays, it might be that you share one of these or have a unique goal specific to your business:

• Offset increased unit operating costs - The operating costs of assets have been on the increase for a while and show no signs of slowing down. Your goal might be to offset these costs with an additional, high-yielding revenue stream.
• Increase net operating income - Whether it’s regardless of, or including the reasoning above, your goal might be revenue growth. It’s good to have a set percentage growth goal in mind, to align the strength of the strategy with the desired income.
• Increase asset valuation - By diversifying your assets, you can increase the asset valuation. If you need help securing underwriting for your existing and future portfolio, Staykeepers is here to help. We provide the necessary demonstration of proven success and supporting materials to work with underwriters.

Market analysis

Once the goal is determined, it’s time to review your portfolio. Outline the locations and developments to be included as part of your flexible stays strategy. 

This selection should be based on short-term lease intelligence and local market assessment. This market analysis should be completed both for new and existing schemes, as it impacts the percentage of units to be allocated to the strategy, chosen unit types, and ultimately the expected revenue.

Review not only local competitors on marketing channels such as Airbnb and Booking.com but local hotels and consider both local attractions and events. How is demand throughout the year? How will demand fluctuate? Who are the guests that will be booking flexible stays (demographics)? 

Flexible stay allocation

Once you have the market analysis, you can decide on the percentage of units to be allocated to short-term leases, and recommended unit type (e.g. studio). This will most likely differ across each development and building.

Revenue projections

Often the most exciting part of the strategy, it’s time to review the expected current and future performance of flexible stays in your portfolio. 

These should be bespoke to the developments, including the expected unit revenue, and account for multiple years of earnings. You can view our free revenue projections calculator here for an idea of the revenue you could expect.

Implementation plan

Now the overall strategy is complete, it’s time to get to the nitty-gritty. How will you manage the guest experience and operational aspects of launching flexible stays?

You can choose to manage in-house, or leverage on supporting technology and implementation support from a partner like Staykeepers. From marketing on 450+ channels to guest vetting and full guest communications management, you can craft a package to complement your existing teams.

Click here to view how it works when working with Staykeepers.

Your Next Steps

This is a framework to launch a successful flexible stays program, but there’s a lot of work in each of these steps.

Leverage on industry experts and partner with Staykeepers. You access global market intelligence, bespoke strategy, unit advertising with revenue-driven technology, as well as operational support.

Click here to get in touch with the team, or see success stories from our clients here.

Staykeepers is a flexible and resourceful asset for institutional landlords, created with a profound understanding of the unique challenges for them and their management companies.