Mid-term rentals: How Flex Living revolutionises rentals with remote check-ins and operations automation
Flex Living 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 Living 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.
Flex Living’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 Flex Living, to find out more about his experience with remote check-ins and operations automation.
Flex Living’s Clapham House
Flex Living’s beginnings - building a brand with operational excellence in mind
Flex Living started in 2019 and that’s also when they started using KeyNest services for key exchanges.
“Our first properties were located in central London - and from the beginning, I knew we needed an automated, remote solution to give a seamless, flexible arrival experience to our guests. I wanted to expand the number of properties at scale, and it wouldn’t be possible without a matching international operations partner.
KeyNest was already present and very visible in London at that time - and in most areas, there was already a KeyNest Point available within walking distance from our apartments. So it was an easy decision - we offered remote check-ins to all our guests, from the very beginning.
Nowadays, we use KeyNest for 10 or more key exchanges a day, also with cleaners and maintenance staff. It’s a simple process: we send an instruction and the guest picks up a key from a local store. It doesn’t cause trouble even to people who have never used this type of key collection system before.” - says Michael.
The seamless automation of KeyNest’s platform encouraged team Flex Living 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.
Flex Living’s Balham Collection
Striving for excellence in guest experience
Having a diverse guest base from all over the world created the need for Flex Living 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.
“I have to say, KeyNest’s Customer Service is super responsive. They take seconds to get back to us - and we usually can close the case’s ticket in minutes”. - adds Michael.
“I think (KeyNest) it's probably one of the best and most reliable pieces of technology that we've been able to lean on in the business. It's made access to the property secure and easy. It helped us save a lot of money, of course, because if we had to send a minimum of 2-3 full-time employees to a property to do check-ins and claims - that would have cost a significant amount of money.”