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Last year saw innovative living operators struggle with both increased costs and increased competition - for example, in the UK alone there was an 87% increase in planning submissions for coliving units in 2024 vs 2023 - to combat these challenges serviced apartment, coliving and build to rent businesses need to solve the occupancy gap.
With average UK occupancy levels across some innovative living operators sitting between 70% - 80% businesses need to adopt new models to reduce occupancy gaps, while increasing their average revenue per available room.
Offering flexibility in their models can help coliving, serviced apartment and build to rent operators solve both of these problems, with a flexible stay model both reducing occupancy gaps and adapting rates based on seasonal demand.
Read on to find out how the best serviced apartment, coliving, and build to rent software can help build this flexibility.
How different operators can build flexibility into their model
Each innovative living sector faces its own occupancy challenges. Serviced apartment operators experience seasonal dips, coliving spaces can suffer occupancy gaps due to the transient nature of their nomad style guests, and build to rent landlords often have short-term gaps between long-term tenants.
How different operators should solve these challenges, while increasing their average revenue per available room, changes depending on their base model.
Serviced apartments: adapting to longer stays in low seasons
During peak tourist months serviced apartments thrive on short stays and high turnover. Outside of these busy periods, occupancy can dip and units can be left empty for weeks.
Instead of relying solely on short-term guests, serviced apartment operators can pivot towards coliving-style medium-term rentals, attracting remote workers, project teams, or relocators when tourist bookings slow down.
Adjusting from a serviced apartment model may seem daunting, but with the right serviced apartment software, operators can easily manage a mix of short and long stays, adjusting rates dynamically to keep occupancy high.
res:harmonics PMS offers all the key serviced apartment software features - from dynamic pricing to adjustable stay lengths and automated billing - to allow short stay operators to switch their model and target remote workers, local residents and relocators during the quieter tourist months.
Coliving operators: maximising revenue with short stays
Coliving spaces are built around a longer term community-focused living, but when demand spikes - such as during peak travel seasons - operators can optimise revenue by incorporating short-stay options.
In a reverse to serviced apartment operators offering longer stays during quiet seasons, coliving operators can increase revenue and maximise their profit by offering shorter, serviced apartment style, bookings when nightly rates increase in busy tourist periods.
Monetising all coliving spaces and adopting hybrid topologies can help retain a sense of community for their remaining longer stay guests, while the increased rates from shorter stay bookings when demand spikes can dramatically increase revenue for operators.
The key to delivering this flexible model, while retaining that crucial sense of community, is using coliving software that supports flexible booking management, automated pricing, and seamless check-ins for both short and long stay guests.
Build to Rent: filling gaps between long stay residents
For build to rent landlords focusing more on long stay residents, the key challenge for occupancy gaps is short vacancy windows between long-term leases. During the period between long stay guests units remain empty and represent lost revenue opportunities for operators.
Instead of leaving these units empty, a flexible approach enables build to rent operators to offer short stays for tourists, professionals, temporary workers, or those in between moves, increasing occupancy at a higher nightly rate than their typical long stay business.
This might sound like a large undertaking for build to rent operators whose entire business is set up for long stay bookings but the best build to rent software streamlines this process, automating guest management and pricing, as well as offering easy publishing of space to short stay OTAs.
Making flexibility work: tools & features for seamless transitions
Adopting a flexible model isn’t just about changing stay lengths; it requires the right systems to manage pricing, bookings, and guest experience seamlessly. Whether shifting from short to medium stays, offering a mix of rental types, or filling occupancy gaps between long-term tenancies, operators need coliving software, serviced apartment software, and build to rent software that can handle these transitions efficiently.
The key features operators should look for from an all-in-one PMS to help them adopt a flexible model that reduces occupancy gaps and increases revenue are:
1. Dynamic pricing to maximise revenue
Flexibility means adjusting rates based on demand, seasonality, and occupancy levels. A dynamic pricing engine, as part of a property management system, ensures operators aren’t underpricing long stays during off-peak months or missing revenue opportunities from short stays when demand spikes.
2. Multi-stay management for hybrid models
Switching between stay lengths is only profitable if operations run smoothly. A PMS with multi-stay management allows serviced apartments to extend bookings for medium-term guests, coliving operators to handle both short and long-stay residents, and build to rent landlords to fill empty units with short term bookings.
3. Automated billing and guest management
Managing different stay types shouldn’t increase admin time, or affect the experience of guests. Features like automated invoicing, a dedicated guest portal and seamless communication tools ensure operators can scale their flexible model, without adding complexity or impacting guest experience.
4. Channel manager & direct booking software
A hybrid model works best when operators can market their spaces to the right audience, at the right time. With an integrated channel manager operators can push their dynamic rates, and varying availability, directly to OTAs.
At the same time, having a personalised booking engine, which can sit on their own website, enables operators to accept longer term bookings directly, reducing commission costs.
Using this mix of OTAs and a direct booking engine enables operators to target tourists for short bookings, business travelers for medium stays, and long-term residents all from one platform.
5. Centralised operations for a consistent guest experience
Tying all of these features together, an all-in-one, centralised PMS is crucial for ensuring a smooth transition between stay lengths while keeping guest experience consistent.
res:harmonics PMS has been purpose built for innovative living operators and is unique in its ability to adapt models based on demand, rates and more. Book a demo to discover how a flexible PMS can help reduce occupancy gaps and increase revenue.
