Mid-term rentals: How The Flex revolutionises rentals with remote check-ins and operations automation
The Flex’s Clapham House
KEY SUMMARY
- The Partner: The Flex, a medium-term rental provider offering fully-furnished apartments to corporate clients across London, Paris, Barcelona, and beyond.
- The Challenge: Scaling toward 1,000+ properties needed a remote, automated check-in solution, without sending staff to every single handover.
- How did The Flex use KeyNest?: Guests, cleaners, and maintenance staff collect keys from local KeyNest Points, handling 10 or more exchanges a day across multiple cities.
- Key Results:
- Staff-Free Check-Ins at Scale - Avoided the cost of sending 2-3 full-time employees to manage check-ins in person.
- A Familiar Process for Any Guest - Works smoothly even for first-time users, regardless of where in the world they're arriving.
- Fast, Human Support - Responsive customer service resolves issues in minutes, handled by real people rather than bots.
The Flex specialises in the medium-term rental market, catering mainly to corporate clients and individuals who are moving to new cities. The company offers fully-furnished apartments to corporate clients globally. Each space comes with high-speed WiFi, Smart TV and a suitable workspace.
They offer a range of rental solutions for staffing, relocations and alternative accommodations for insurers. The Flex team works hard to make the new realm happen - one where landlords no longer pay excessive management fees, and where renters can work flexibly and comfortably anywhere in the world.
The Flex’s goal is to manage 1000 properties by 2024, and they are on track to achieve it very soon. The company has successfully launched from London into multiple cities like Birmingham, Paris, Barcelona, and Algiers.
We sat down with Michael Buggy, the co-founder of The Flex, to find out more about his experience with remote check-ins and operations automation.
The Flex’s beginnings - building a brand with operational excellence in mind
The Flex started in 2019 and that’s also when they started using KeyNest services for key exchanges.
The Flex's first properties were located in central London, and from the beginning, co-founder Michael Buggy knew an automated, remote solution was essential to give guests a seamless, flexible arrival experience. Scaling the number of properties simply wouldn't have been possible without an international operations partner capable of matching that ambition.
KeyNest was already well established and visible across London at the time, with a Point typically available within walking distance of The Flex's apartments in most areas. That made the decision an easy one, remote check-ins were offered to every guest from the very beginning.
The seamless automation of KeyNest’s platform encouraged team The Flex to build their custom online system that will utilise KeyNest’s features like Magic Link - the platform is still under development as of 2023, but will be completed very soon. KeyNest offers an open API to make projects like this available for all partners.
The Flex’s Balham Collection
Striving for excellence in guest experience
Having a diverse guest base from all over the world created the need for The Flex to offer flexible check-in arrangements and comprehensive customer service. With KeyNest, it doesn't matter if the guest arrives in London, Singapore or Barcelona - they will be able to receive phone and chat assistance with their key collection - not from bots, but from actual, well-trained and friendly humans. Michael has been very satisfied with the customer service provided so far.
