EC11: AirBnbs Goes AI, The Crucial Role Of Onboarding, And New PMS Arrivals.

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🔁📝In our last post, we dove into innovative crowdfunding models and community-driven towns, concepts that connect to today’s focus on policy changes. Missed out on the last one? No problem! Click below to catch up:

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How Coliving Spaces Can Learn From AirBnb’s New Vision

Brian Chesky, CEO of AirBnb, laid down his vision for the company. And its future has to do with AI.

The goal here is not to develop a Generative AI model. This will be left to Google and OpenAI to sort out.

Where AirBnb can excel is creating an AI layer in the interface. According to Chesky’s internal emailto AirBnb employees:

Why is this interesting?

Because coliving companies can evolve accordingly:

1. There is a big change coming when it comes todigital experience and user interfaces . Websites might become obsolete - or rather, they will be individualized. Digital experiences will be tailored. Which leads to the second point of…
2. Coliving companies can position themselves as more cross-vertical. Instead of just focussing on one experience - the rental one - it could offer a more personal concierge type of experience, integrating local events, happenings, discount, but also connecting to services in the space. Which leads to the last point of…
3. The role of interconnected spaces (and IoT in general) will now make more sense as it can benefit the user. Parcel lock stations can be integrated to your AI assistant, telling you which parcels are waiting for pick-up. An AI could tell you where things are happening in the building if connected to people counting sensors.

In short, the combination of “digital experience + multiple verticals + IoT” could be one key differentiation point of a coliving business and experience.

And probably, in a few years, we’ll witness new service providers specialized in offering these technologies to operators.

👉 Are you currently innovating in AI x coliving? Let us know!

It Takes Time To Integrate Within Community

In a recent post on Life on Fifth, another newsletter on coliving, Morgan Oléron (former K9 Colivingresident) explains how it takes at least a month for coliving residents to feel comfortable .

What does that mean? Simply that it takes a few weeks before new residents

• Know where things are and how things are done
• Do not feel like “the new kid” anymore
• Have established routines (on their own and together with others)
• Have contributed to something for the space and/or the group and received from it too

In this article, you will see how certain coliving spaces opt for one, two or four weeks of minimum stay - to ensure that new residents have time to integrate.

Concretely speaking, you can be proactive and help during that time of the so-called Onboarding Phase.

I remember Brad Hargreaves, former CEO of Common, once sharing during a conference:

As an operator, your role is to craft a resident journey that helps new residents to feel at home . Depending on your space, this can include:

1. Personal welcoming at the space and introduction to other residents
2. The assignment of a mentor or older resident as guide
3. Welcome events on a weekly basis for new arrivers
4. Personal check-ins with new residents a week after arrival to help them integrate more and offer them to be proactive in event creation
5. Weekly coffee sessions with older members to get to know key people over time

The list is long. If you want to know what else you can implement in your user and community experience journey, join our Coliving University webinarnext Tuesday on that subject!

👉 Sign up here for the Coliving University webinar!

A New PMS is Coming To The Market

Crib, a property management app founded by Sunny Garg, Shaifali Jain, and Archit Chauhan in 2021, has unveiled its latest product, Crib Plus, a pro version of their current tool.

Crib made an investment exceeding $1 millionto develop Crib Plus. The new version will cater specifically to the needs of large-scale student housing and co-living brands.

Crib’s mobile app is currently used by over 1000 landlords managing 2500+ properties managing over 150,000 beds.

And yet - coliving operators still struggle to find the “right” property management software.

While we have some frontrunners on the market - such as Res:harmonics, Lavanda, Mews, ColivHQand The House Monk, innovation in the market is still needed.

The future is for those PMS who will listen to specific coliving operator needs, including:

• Managing short and long term offerings (as more operators become hybrid)
• Adapting the application journey to the operator needs
• Offering seamless payments methods including bank debit
• Automated contracting, invoicing, billing, and task creations
• Creating customized customer journeys
• And integrating with leading tech providers (such as smart locks)

👉 Are you currently choosing your technology providers? Feel free to let us know and we’ll be happy to advise! Just respond to this email.

Everything Else Coliving

• Loved reading the summary of Alpiness Coliving’s first season: from community dinners to how the resident life looks like, this blog gives you a clear picture of how a coliving experience looks from the inside!
• Coliving is bringing 7.36% rental yield to this coliving entrepreneurin India. And, according to the NoBroker annual survey, a whopping 86 per cent of landlordsare considering purchasing a second property to capitalize on this lucrative market.
• If you’re in San Francisco, check out The Neighborhood: a non-profit association dedicated to reproduce the vibes of a university campus in one square mile in the heart of SF - but for all generations, with cohousing and coliving amenities.
• Coliving and apartment provider Help Housing is expandingin Spain, looking now to increase to 1500 beds by 2025.
• Singaporean coliving startup Cove raises $3.36mvia convertible notes.
• Singaporean coliving player The Assembly Place (TAP) has dealt with massive growth and now plans to expand overseas. The startup surpassed 1,800 rooms in 102 assets by end-2023, and manages S$500 million in assets. In 2021, it was managing 550 rooms in 16 assets worth S$250 million. Net revenue shot up from S$282,851 in 2019 to S$15.6 million in 2023; Ebitda has been positive since 2020, with the latest figure at S$1.18 million in 2023. Read more hereand see their diversity of offerings:
• BlackRock and Outpost conquer £170m Castle: coliving development deal marks third acquisition for £1bn living joint venture
• Coliving operator Outpost Club, most probably second-largest in New York after Common, announces a 30% growthin 2023 compared to the year prior as demand for shared housing increases.
• Plans have progressed for a series of blocks up to 17 storeys-tall in Greenwich, including nearly 500 co-living rooms and a hotel.

We hope you enjoyed this edition and wish you a good weekend,

Gui Perdrix & Mayank Pokarhna
The Artof.Co team

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🆕 Up Next:

🔗 EC12: Listening to Neighbors, A New London Coliving Policy, And Coliving Growth in Asia.

🔗 EC13: Coliving Architecture Reimagined, Shared Living Trends 2024, and This Week's Coliving Events.