Increase revenue with a seniors living app
Whether you are running a for profit or not for profit retirement community, it’s important that operations of your village is sustainable. Finding ways to generate additional revenues in your communities, without taking away from the resident experience can be challenging. It is their home and their community and your residents are mostly on fixed incomes and conscious of the charges you are already making.
This article scopes out four ways you can generate additional revenues through your retirement village app by making the most of our payments system and the events and service and facilities bookings feature.
Why and how to charge fees
Before you consider the different ways to generate more revenues, consider the values that might underpin the strategies you choose to use. Being mindful of why and how you are charging, will generate better returns and ensure your residents feel good about the additional charges.
Resident benefits
Where possible, consider how the additional revenues or a portion of the additional might go back into the resident community. For example, if you are introducing 3rd party services that residents might use, and those service providers are paying a sponsorship fee or contributing a transaction fee, then consider a proportion of the fee would go to the residents committee. This has two benefits. The first is residents are more motivated to to use those services if they know a portion of the fees is going to their Christmas party or cheaper drinks at happy hour. The second is that you will collect more revenues or be able to charge a higher sponsorship fee because of the higher usage by residents. Use language about 3rd parties as like sponsors of the local sports club. Those sponsors help keep the club running and discount other fees. It increases the level of good will and is a concept your residents will value.
Prioritise resident needs
If you are making certain rooms available for room hire then ensure your residents are not disadvantaged and have signed off on the room hire policy. Make sure that residents get priority over bookings. Again it is helpful if a percentage of the fee goes back to the residents committee or delivers an obvious benefit to residents. Consider breaking out the costs and make your money on the cleaning fee or setup fee and give a decent portion of the room hire fee back to the community. Consider only charging residents for the cleaning fee and setup fee and only charging the room hire fee for external bookings.
Differentiate service types
Is the service you are providing clearly outside of the scope of regular charges and a reasonable person would not be confused about the difference? Residents are already paying a monthly service fee and have a level of understanding about what services they are receiving for that fee. Any services you provide must be clearly distinct from these services. If residents are not clear then you will decrease trust amongst your resident community and the complaints will start rolling in. A list of the types of fees residents have to pay is typically governed by the state government and a Retirement Village Act. SA, QLD, NSW, VIC, WA, ACT, NT, TAS.
Engage your residents
Involve the residents committee in your thinking and decision making. Build consensus amongst your residents about ways to generate more revenues for the community and to offset the need to increase service fees. There are lots of benefits to involving residents in decision making.
Replacement, servicing and administration fees
If you are hiring out equipment then be clear that the fees help cover the replacement, maintenance and administration costs of the equipment. Transparency builds trust.
Four app revenue strategies
Now that you are clear on why and how you consider additional fees and charges and the communications strategies with your residents, we can turn our attention to the revenue generation strategies using your village community app.
Third party service bookings
Talk to some local services that are of interest to your community members and make those services available for bookings. It could be practical things like electricians and plumbers, or spa services like beauty therapy and massage. You can set up the connected accounts to take a negotiated cut of the transaction fees. If you need some assistance in building out your local service listings and negotiating fees then get in touch with one of our partners Zinnia Living . Jen and Stacey, from Zinnia Living, do all of the work for you in putting the list of services together and managing those services for you.
Room hire
Consider making some of your rooms or spaces available for external bookings for seniors in the community and community groups. You can charge them for room hire but you can also limit the availability of the room booking so that your residents can still be prioritised.
Collect cleaning and setup fees. Whilst you may not be able to charge your residents for booking facilities in their village, it’s completely reasonable to charge for setup and cleaning fees. These fees can often be hard to collect or introduce. Including them when you introduce facility bookings, can be a simple way to bridge the gap. If you are unsure how to structure you fees for the facilities under you management then try this handy guide published by the Moreton Bay Regional Council for a comprehensive breakdown of room hire fees.
Room hire made easy
Don’t miss out on cleaning and setup fees.
Event payments
Don’t be afraid to introduce event payments through the app. This will save you a lot of time, simplify the process for residents and give you the incentive to add more paid events because payments are so much easier to manage. A residents committee in one of our communities, was sick and tired of collecting and handling cash payments. It took them way too much time to collect the cash and do the reconciliation. The residents committee decided on a bold plan of action. They added payments for their next event and communicated to all residents that if they wanted to attend the event then the only way to pay for the event was to book and pay via the app. They then got onsite staff to provide group based and adhoc training for any residents who wanted assistance in how to use event payments.
Simple Event Payments
Event bookings and payments can be made safely and easily inside your app.
Assisted living services
As your residents age, they will need additional support to stay at home. You may already be delivering those services and some residents may be accessing government funded service providers through My Aged Care. Why not charge good quality providers a fee to be listed inside your app. Residents may also want services beyond what their government funding provides. Your retirement village app is the perfect place to promote access to those services. Ensure you are collecting transaction fees with the payments tool for enabling third parties to promote their services.
Increasing revenues in your retirement village community doesn't have to be a contentious issue. Transparency and communication are key. Use the strategies outlined in this article to ensure additional charges provide value to the residents, and that they understand and agree with the reasons behind the charges. By taking this approach, you can generate more revenue while fostering a sense of community and improving resident satisfaction.
Here are some other websites with further ideas on how to increase revenues:
