Multifamily Companies Needs A Rewards Program

Written By: Ronald Harrington  | Take a moment and look at your phone. Examine all your apps. I would venture to say that a lot of the apps are rewards based. People love a loyalty program. 

This past weekend, I was talking with my husband about Starbucks. I had a star dash to buy any latte and I got 25 stars. The problem was that I gave up caffeine for Lent this year. So I told him that he had to get a latte. This is why I completed the star dash. I also looked on my Fetch app to scan the receipt and I was awarded with 1350 points. 

I choose where I eat, who I fly, where I stay, and other activities based on the opportunity to earn status with them. This is part of the Starbucks appeal. I can choose locations all over the country and get the rewards. I am not confined to one location. I can then turn these rewards into items. Such as a free drink or merchandise. 

Early in my travel career, I would pick flights on different airlines. This lead me to hop around to different airlines based on departure times, etc. However, I wasn’t getting anything out of this method. I decided I wanted to choose one airline and stick to them. I was lucky in the fact that I could use my own credit card so I got points there. I settled on Delta as my primary work airline. I used my Southwest credit card to pay for this.  Southwest credit card won out in the end because I was able to achieve the companion pass so when I traveled for fun my husband could fly for free. It was a win- win for me. 

This leads me to the question — why haven’t multifamily companies adopted the same philosophy? I am aware of 3rd party companies that offer something similar. And I think larger companies can benefit greatly from this type of program.

A rewards program builds loyalty. People have a hard time walking away from status. There are travel bloggers who are dedicated to help you achieve the status and get the most benefits out of your status. 

So you are probably asking yourself how this would work in a multifamily. I have some ideas. Consider offering different tiers because people are always chasing status. Residents could earn reward points for different activities. These rewards points could be transferred into different prizes or achievements. 

By offering this type of program, you create incentive-based initiatives that benefit the consumer and fit your business model. The longer you stay, the more points you get, and the higher the status earned. Want to push resident events? Assign points for participation. When people come and check in, they earn points. Want to score higher participation on surveys? Assign rewards points for completion. You can assign points to everything. You could even use this to surprise and delight residents. Are they celebrating a birthday or a special occasion? They get a surprise point boost. 

The possibilities are endless in this system. I think that we need to figure this out sooner rather than later. In the next couple of years, this type of program is going to be expected. All the big companies are doing it in other industries, why haven’t we caught up?