Tenant Experience

Key Takeaways:

Tenant-landlord relationships have evolved beyond a transactional focus to a strong emphasis on the tenant experience.

Positive tenant experiences lead to greater tenant satisfaction, lower turnover rates, and increased cash flow.

A centralized tenant operations platform breaks down digital silos and boosts productivity.

The Tenant Experience - Why Does It Matter?

The tenant experience in the competitive commercial real estate (CRE) market and within ever-evolving work models demands much more than just a physical space to set up shop. 

As a result, tenant-landlord relationships have morphed beyond transactional relationships of rent collections. Successful landlords recognize the importance of centralizing tenant operations in order to nurture positive tenant experiences and are utilizing AI tools to accomplish this.

What is a Tenant Experience?

To understand the tenant experience, we must first define what a tenant is; a tenant is someone who rents or occupies space that is owned or managed by someone else. 

In the world of commercial real estate, this can mean owners, operators, property management companies, etc. Put simply, the tenant experience is how people feel about where they work or live.  

The CRE tenant experience includes factors such as:

• Technology - our society relies on tech and looks for apps that offer availability and ease of use. 
• Commute to the workplace
• Physical space comfort - lighting, fresh air, temperature control
• Community - spaces where people can connect
• Amenities - high-speed internet, cafes, fitness center
• Data collection - a means by which tenants can provide feedback on specific and overall experiences

As you can see, the tenant experience is something that is provided by the owners, operators, and managers of a building or space. They actively work on providing and curating a positive experience by adding amenities, handling requests, providing top-tier technology, proactively protecting the space, and the like. To optimize the tenant experience, owners, operators, and managers should consider the following:

• Service quality and responsiveness
• Communication and transparency 
• Safety and security
• Sustainability and wellness initiatives 

In today’s day and age, technology and tools are available to assist in optimizing the tenant experience, making it easy to streamline communication and transform data into insights for decision-making. 

Why Do Positive Commercial Tenant Experiences Matter?

Take a moment and reflect on some of the positive experiences you have had with the people or businesses you’ve encountered in everyday life. It is almost certain that because of these positive encounters, you’ve become a repeat customer, right? Your favorite coffee shops get repeat business because they see and remember customers orders. You get the oil in your car changed in the same shop because they’re fast and provide a comfortable space for you to wait. Your favorite restaurant is special because the food and service are consistently good. The common thread for these businesses is that they have retained you as a customer. 

Landlords who provide a commercial tenant with a positive tenant experience will see the same kind of retention, avoid expensive turnover costs, and avoid lost revenue due to vacancies. Other benefits include:

• Increased property values - an occupied property is an attractive one.
• Positive revenue - rents are paid on time, and tenants are likely to give strong recommendations to prospective tenants.
• Operations - happy tenants feel like they have a stake in the space they occupy and will report problems quickly. They are also more likely to help keep spaces clean and in good repair.
• Reputation - word-of-mouth is often the best advertising, and satisfied tenants will offer strong referrals.

What Is Driving Tenant Experiences Further?

It’s no longer about square footage and location alone. Building and operational upgrades are becoming paramount in supporting tenants in how they feel when they are working and living within the walls of a space. 

Commercial owners and operators are focusing on:

Smart Building Technology 

Smart building technology connects building systems into a unified, data-driven ecosystem. Management, sustainability, and upkeep become easier. For example, AI-powered HVAC systems make sustainability a common practice by optimizing energy use and cutting costs. Mobile integrated services provide two-way communication and access for tenants.  

Facility Services

Facilitiy services may seem like a second thought, but they can end up making the greatest impact on the tenant experience. From janitorial consideration to details like lighting, everything that goes into keeping a building running will affect how people feel within the building itself. When owners and operators take the time to be intentional about these considerations, they can not only minimize costs, but they can also maximize emotional appeal. 

Preventive Maintenance 

Last but not least, facility maintenance, especially preventive maintenance, will make all the difference in asset performance and longevity. The less downtime, the better the tenant experience will be. Actively managing systems ahead of time today can prevent unforeseen and undesirable issues tomorrow. 

How Tenant Experience Software Can Help 

These days, there isn’t much that can’t be solved with the assistance of technology. The tenant experience is no exception. 

Tenant experience software comes in various forms to assist with the everyday components of optimizing the experience, including:

• Resource Booking: Smart buildings know when rooms are occupied. This can help for resource booking, such as for conference rooms and event spaces. 
• Service Booking: If your building offers amenities, such as fitness classes, rooms for working, movie theatres, etc., technology can be used for tenants to book them easily. 
• Access Controls: Perhaps you want to offer a way for owners to get into their spaces with the tap of a button, rather than a key. Phones can be used to enable this advantage. 
• Service Requests: One of the primary indicators of promoting a good tenant experience is building maintenance. Digital service requests can be used for cleaning services and work orders. 
• Emergency Communications: Keep tenants informed and in the loop, especially when emergency communications are necessary with immediate alerts. 

Why Tenant Experience Apps Matter

Good relationships are built on a solid foundation of communication. Without it, relationships crumble and in CRE, that translates quickly to lost revenue. The mission of tenant experience management is ensuring that landlord tenant communications are seamless and meaningful. 

Here are some of the common features that you can leverage when using a tenant app: 

Centralizing Tenant Solutions with Visitt

Technology drives almost every aspect of our lives, and Visitt’s AI has harnessed tech to offer exciting new tenant experience software. The Tenant app redefines the CRE landlord-tenant relationship by providing a centralized tenant experience platform that connects the two in real time. The seamless, branded experience keeps tenants informed, engaged, and delighted. 

Tenant experience is enhanced through the Tenant app and portal. A single space allows landlords and tenants to effortlessly engage with one another. Interactions are fast and personalized, building stronger relationships and contributing to overall tenant satisfaction. 

Single Space: 

One centralized space keeps it simple. Communication shouldn’t be convoluted or difficult. The app and portal makes instant communication and alerts seamless. Videos, pics, and voice messages can be added to chats, and communications can be personalized so that information gets to the right people. Tenants receive what they need, when they need it.

Stellar Service:

The Tenant app is an efficient tool that can deliver faster, smarter, and more responsive service. Tenant-submitted service requests are easy to submit and tenants receive real-time notifications about work progress and the time the job can be expected to finish. Service request purgatory is a thing of the past. 

Amenity Management that is Seamless:

The Tenant app makes managing shared spaces much easier and helps to avoid messy scheduling conflicts. Amenities can be created, schedules can be set, and rules can be outlined with ease. There are also possibilities for increasing revenues through amenities fees.

Tenants can browse amenity schedules, like conference rooms, and book spaces with one simple click. Group chats around these requests and approvals are all handled in this single space. 

Bottom Line

AI isn’t just the way of the future - it’s the way of the here and now. Apps improve productivity and tenant satisfaction, and the centralized Tenant app aids in disassembling digital silos - where information becomes isolated between departments, systems, or applications, thus making it inaccessible. 

Visit’s Tenant app optimizes the tenant experience by:

• Improving the function of spaces
• Increasing revenue with amenities and events
• Providing a platform where communication is simplified and seamless
• Offering customization for each building or portfolio’s unique branding to create a seamless, branded experience 

Are you excited by the unlimited possibilities that the Tenant app can bring to your CRE table? We’d be delighted to answer your questions. Schedule a quick chat with Visitt today!