It’s no secret that WiFi is a necessity for many people today. In fact, most people would not stay in a hotel if it didn’t offer WiFi.
When people travel, the number one thing asked is “Does it have WiFi” or loved ones will ask “Will you have internet service?”
As a property manager, it’s important to offer this amenity to your guests to keep them happy and coming back. But what are some other benefits of offering WiFi?
In the upgrade series, we are discussing WiFi in your building, and while you may already offer WiFi, it is worth discussing the five key reasons of its importance as an upgrade, so that you might include it in your conversations.
Buildings with WiFi
You yourself might have visited a building only to find that they did not provide WiFi, and it probably annoyed you at best though more likely, severely inconvenienced you.
We’ve come to assume that buildings will offer WiFi, but not all do obviously.
In an age where people are increasingly reliant on technology, having free and accessible WiFi is more important than ever.
WiFi as a Building Amenity
For property managers, offering this amenity can be a major selling point – here are just a few of the benefits it can bring.
We already know that roughly 80 percent of tenants are more likely to rent from a property that offered free WiFi.
Additionally, 73 percent of millennials who have been brought up with WiFi, often state that they’d be willing to pay more for a unit that had WiFi included.
This is likely because so many people now use their phones or laptops as their main sources of internet access.
Offering free WiFi can also help you attract new tenants in the middle of your leasing cycle.
Here are five reasons that WiFi access in your building matters.
1. Tenants Depend Upon WiFi
People are depending on WiFi these days the same way that they depend upon shelter, food, and oxygen.
Especially in the pandemic, WiFi is a way to keep connected to family, friends, and work that otherwise, one might have had a personal face-to-face connection with.
It is a psychological need to connect emotionally and lack of WiFi might make tenants or their visitors feel you are sabotaging that need.
2. Offering WiFi to Tenants Offers Safety
In today’s world, WiFi is a way to survive. Be it connecting with your boss and WiFi being an umbilical cord to your career, making sure your child is being educated or checking in to see your COVID-19 test results, it’s important.
3. Tenants Want WiFi
It is the first thing most tenants think about. Everyone assumes that the building will have water and electricity.
The question always is, “Does it have WiFi?”, and from there, the conversation can be positive or go south pretty quickly. Not having WiFi can seem stingy or uncaring.
4. Offering WiFi Keeps You Competitive
It is a competitive market. The more you can upgrade the better. If you upgrade, your tenants can, especially if they are corporate, relay that to their consumers.
For instance, a retail store without WiFi is a problem for the retail tenant but the visitors do not think that the property manager isn’t taking care of them, they assume it’s the store’s issue.
So helping your corporate tenants is always going to reflect positively on you.
5. Internet for Apartments and Properties Is Lucrative
It is safe and lucrative. For both property managers and tenants, offering WiFi will attract more renters and will have tenants that are more content.
The tenants know that the access is safe and there won’t be suspicious activity, as the property manager is going to have the wherewithal to manage that (which happens through the company that the access is provided).
Internet access is a basic need for most people these days. It’s not surprising that more and more property managers are installing WiFi in their properties, especially with the way it can help them keep competitive in this market.
People expect to be able to connect when they’re at home, at work, attending a meeting, shopping, or on vacation – so many don’t even think twice about requesting an internet connection before signing an apartment lease agreement.
And with how safe and lucrative it has become, there really isn’t any good reason not to offer WiFi as part of your property management service package. It is an upgrade.
If you already offer it, make sure you promote it, as it gives tenants peace of mind and shows you are keeping a step ahead.
Contact iRestify today for more info on modernizing your building’s maintenance operations to help you adapt to the changing environment in property management.
