The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of self-guided tours in the multifamily industry as owners and operators sought innovative ways to meet prospective renters' needs while adhering to safety guidelines. With leasing offices closed and in-person tours with leasing staff restricted, self-guided tours emerged as a vital solution, enabling prospects to explore physical living spaces at their own pace, safely and independently. This shift not only maintained leasing momentum during uncertain times but also introduced a more flexible and convenient touring option that continues to resonate with today’s renters.
One challenge remains: existing self-guided tour solutions often fall short of renter expectations. These tours rarely showcase the best aspects of an apartment or community to potential renters, and are typically not user-friendly. Prospects on traditional self-guided tours are left without immediate answers to their questions, leaving them in the dark about what makes a community unique and why it could be their ideal home. That’s why EliseAI is reinventing the self-guided touring experience with the launch of our newest product: AI-Guided Tours (AIGT).
Enter AI-Guided Tours from EliseAI
AI-Guided Tours leverage EliseAI’s best-in-class conversational AI to digitally accompany renters through EliseAI-facilitated self-guided tours. AIGT allows prospects to tour properties on their own terms—whether during evenings, weekends, or any time that suits their schedule—while improving leasing velocity and enabling flexible staffing solutions to better control costs. With EliseAI data indicating that 60% of prospects would prefer to tour apartments on the weekends or after working hours, the demand for a better self-guided touring experience has never been more apparent.
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EliseAI’s AI-Guided Tours combine the high-touch, personalized component of agent-led tours with the convenience and flexibility of self-guided tours to give prospective residents the best of both worlds. EliseAI’s conversational AI engages with prospects in real time via MMS (Multi-Media Messaging Service like iMessage and SMS) or over the phone as they tour, acting as a helpful virtual guide who can answer questions, provide navigational assistance, and highlight key features of your units and community amenities. Now, prospects don’t have to pick between convenience and quality when looking to schedule a tour.
What Sets AIGT Apart from Conventional Self-Guided Apartment Tours
Unlike traditional self-guided apartment touring solutions that require prospects to download an app (which can be cumbersome in poor network areas), EliseAI’s AI-Guided Tours don’t require prospects to download anything. Instead, AIGT leverages native applications like MMS and the phone’s internet browser to conduct all required outreach, screening, inquiry handling, and post-tour follow up. This approach creates a far more intuitive and straightforward experience for prospects.
Existing self-guided touring solutions typically offer a one-way flow of information, presenting community and unit information without context or the ability for prospects to ask questions. While prospects could try and follow up with their questions over email or by calling a leasing agent, the reality is that most won’t, opting instead to look for communities that better suit their needs. AIGT solves this problem by acting as a virtual guide for prospects, answering questions in real time via text message or phone call by directly pulling information provided in your CRM and PMS, AIGT turns a one way flow of information into an engaging and organic conversational experience, differentiating your communities and helping maximize leasing velocity.
How EliseAI Clients Benefit from Better Self-Guided Apartment Touring with AIGT
For forward-thinking operators like ResProp, using AIGT has been a night and day experience compared to their existing self-guided touring solutions. With AIGT seamlessly integrated into their CRM & PMS, ResProp has turned self-guided touring into a streamlined and efficient journey that has allowed them to drive higher touring volume and deliver better experiences to prospects. Combining the power of EliseAI’s LeasingAI product with AIGT has enabled the ResProp team to convert leads through automatic and immediate post-tour follow-ups and cross-selling capabilities, while also enabling them to staff their leasing offices more efficiently.
For operators looking to centralize their leasing functions like ResProp, AIGT also enables them to reduce headcount costs by flexibly staffing their leasing offices. Through a combination of increased touring volume due to expanded hours and automation, AIGT can help centralized operators reduce their reliance on onsite leasing agents and allow them to more effectively scale a centralized model. Plus, AIGT helps eliminate inconsistencies on a tour by tour basis as the conversational AI is pulling all relevant community and unit information from a single source of truth.
How AI Guided Tours Work
EliseAI’s new AI-Guided Tour product guides prospects through every step of the touring process, from appointment scheduling to key pickup and return, all the way to post-tour follow-ups and applications. Here’s how it works:
- First, the prospect schedules a tour through your existing ILS or through any of EliseAI’s chat, SMS, email, or voice channels.
- EliseAI follows up with the prospect via text for ID Verification and to collect credit card information, reducing the risk of bad actors entering your communities and mitigating the potential financial impact of damage or loss of keys.
- EliseAI integrates with your existing smartlock suite to provide temporary access codes to the prospect (including but not limited to IglooHome, Yale, Brivo, Schlage, Dormakaba, Salto and Masterlock).
- EliseAI proactively guides your prospect to the apartment unit or single-family rental through text, providing clear and navigable instructions.
- EliseAI provides real time answers to prospect inquiries about the home or community via text or through calling with VoiceAI.
- EliseAI verifies the keys are returned by requesting key return verification screenshots, and charges prospects credit cards if the keys aren’t returned.
- EliseAI immediately follows up with an application link. If the prospect is not interested in that unit, Elise refers the prospect to similar communities and encourages them to schedule a tour.
From first touch to application, AIGT provides an unmatched self-guided touring experience for prospects while advancing them through the leasing pipeline.
Getting Started with a Better Self-Guided Apartment Tour
For operators looking to move beyond the limitations of traditional self-guided tours, AI-Guided Tours from EliseAI provide a game-changing solution. By combining the best parts of an in-person touring experience with the scalability, flexibility, and convenience of self-guided touring, AIGT enables modern operators to deliver better prospect experiences and drive better financial results. Get in touch with the EliseAI team today to discover how conversational AI can transform your self-guided touring experience.