Page 7 - Innovative Practice Awards Program - INNOVATION SYMPOSIUM 2017 - C. T. Bauer College of Business

lack of on-site deliveries will be compensated by the additional productivity saved by management teams—a
cost that adds up to $3.3 million a year, according to company executives (Wong, 2015).

With UPS reporting a daily delivery volume of 18 million packages (Wong, 2015) and the popularity of apartment
living on the rise, Houston landlords must react carefully in a competitive market. One apartment operator has
deployed electronic lockers that can be keyed to a code sent to the appropriate tenant. Other operators have
opted to hire 24-hour concierge staff to address the package issue (Kusisto, 2015). Regardless of how landlords
address the problem, it is important that they identify a solution and that they project costs that will not hinder
their bottom line.

CONCIERGE SERVICES
Even as technology evolves to make people’s everyday lives more convenient, having dedicated personnel that
are ready and able to accommodate tenants’ needs is still important. While valet, concierge, and pet services
have found their way into class A properties, very few lower-tiered venues have created value by exploring
these options.

Free software applications can often imitate the
concierge personnel hired at luxury properties. For
example, class B properties can find ways to facil-
itate Uber services for their tenants without hav-
ing to incur a significant amount of cost. Another
notable innovation in digital concierge services is
Apartment Butler, Inc., founded by Houston’s own
Ben Johnson. Apartment Butler is a self-proclaimed
“concierge app that has raised [$750,000] as it
gears up for an expansion into the Dallas market
early next year” (Martin, 2016). Johnson’s company
has already partnered with many properties, in an
effort to accommodate tenant needs and provide
them with 24-hour-turnaround concierge services 3 Vantage Med Center, Courtesy The Dinerstein Companies
ranging anything from pet sitting to doing laundry.
Other concierge apps that are already prevalent in the market include Door Dash, which delivers foods from
local restaurants and Instacart, which delivers groceries from local stores. Such convenience apps can pamper a
tenant with amenities that the landlord will not have to provide. Apartment complexes simply need to capital-
ize on this opportunity by providing an infrastructure that is conducive to these services.

CAPTURE THE FOODIES
Houston has consistently been placed among the top cities in the nation for good food—often placed in the top
five— (Hunt, 2015), whether that list was published by Travel & Leisure, The Washington Post, or Zagat. With a
bounty of excellent restaurant choices, apartment developers cannot afford to neglect the importance of their
tenants’ access to good food. According to a study published by the American Economics Journal, a one-star
increase on Yelp can translate to a 5-9% increase in revenue. This could have significant impact especially for
multi-use multifamily properties with first floor retail. Developers must either incorporate highly rated restau-
rants into their complexes or build those complexes within close proximity to highly rated restaurants.

Stanford Alexander Center for Excellence in Real Estate
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