As the largest global owner/operator of off-campus student housing communities, The Scion Group has shown itself to be adaptable, innovative, and forward-thinking in its pursuit of delivering excellent resident experiences for students across the country. With a portfolio that has grown to encompass 140 active communities across 82 college and university markets, Scion offers a combination of regional and national experience that has roots in the firm’s 25-year history as advisor for universities, foundations, and private-sector providers across North America. But like all student housing operators, Scion has unique operational considerations and challenges due to the seasonal nature of its business, the resident profile, and the fast-paced nature of the sector.
The Challenges
Despite a strong market presence and well-managed properties, Scion knew it had an opportunity to both optimize its lead conversion rates and enhance the overall student resident experience with better technology. With a meaningful portion of Scion’s students renting their housing without an in-person visit, any delay in communication to guide prospects through the leasing process negatively impacted the prospect journey. Components of earlier solutions were not fully centralized, leading to inefficiencies and missed opportunities in driving leads through the sales funnel.
The Path to EliseAI
Scion first sought to address these operational issues with the help of a private consultant, spending seven months experimenting with a variety of strategies and technical solutions. While these strategy changes brought about a variety of positive impacts, including automated trigger emails and high conversion rate of leads converting to applications without human interaction, Scion recognized the need for a more sophisticated solution to truly transform the process of interacting with prospects and residents. With that in mind, Scion turned to the leading conversational AI platform for student housing—EliseAI.
Enter EliseAI
Scion reached out to EliseAI in the pursuit of a comprehensive and centralized approach to implementing AI into its portfolio. Rather than continue to rely on expensive, fragmented point solutions, Scion wanted a single AI solution to consolidate its technology stack and reduce costs, while improving the leasing process. Scion signed on with EliseAI and initiated a pilot program across ten properties, focusing primarily on EliseAI’s leasing products, with the primary goal of enhancing lead conversion rates and improving the leasing experience through advanced conversational AI. Scion quickly found a recipe for success through both best practice changes and partnership with EliseAI.
EliseAI’s leasing solution handles messages and calls from prospects across email, webchat, text and phone, rapidly responding to inquiries with community and portfolio specific information pulled from leading PMS and CRM software, as well as proprietary company information stored in the AI’s Knowledge Hub. LeasingAI seamlessly schedules tours, answers prospect questions, and provides useful information like directions, unit recommendations, and amenity details to make the leasing process as quick and seamless as possible. Unlike a human leasing agent, LeasingAI doesn’t need to take breaks or sleep, fielding prospect messages 24/7/365 and ensuring no lead leaks out of the funnel.
Early Results and Success
The implementation of EliseAI’s solutions yielded immediate and significant results for the Scion team. The AI outperformed human agents in converting leads, particularly appealing to students accustomed to digital interactions and comfortable with renting without in-person tours. The AI’s responsiveness and ability to handle inquiries around the clock led to a notable increase in contracts signed without an in-person visit, directly impacting Scion’s occupancy rates and revenue. For a student housing operator with an international clientele, having AI to handle after hours communications also significantly enhanced the ability to serve the needs of students in different time zones.
Scaling Up AI Adoption
Encouraged by the success on the leasing side, the Scion team asked: why not expand the use of AI to enhance their resident experiences? Initial feedback from Scion’s tech-savvy student population was highly positive and Scion quickly realized that AI could make a significant impact on the way communities were managed. And so The Scion Group set out to implement EliseAI’s resident products, hoping to expedite renewal velocity, streamline existing maintenance workflows, and reduce bad debt.
One of the key drivers of the push to implement AI for resident services came from the fact that Scion was paying a variety of different vendors for single-solution software. The team at Scion felt that they were getting value out of the solutions, but not as much as they should have been considering the cost of the services added together. In addition, team members were tired of fragmented resident and prospect information and key details living across a variety of different locations. Before partnering with EliseAI, Scion relied on multiple vendors for various services, including:
• Vendor A for surveys and Net Promoter Scores (NPS)
• Vendor B for phone services
• Vendor C for text-messaging
This fragmentation complicated Scion’s day-to-day operations and impeded efficiency. Adopting EliseAI’s platform and providing training to help the team understand how to use AI effectively enabled Scion to consolidate these services, in turn simplifying its operational processes, reducing costs, and delivering better experiences to residents and prospects alike.
Implementing conversational AI into Scion’s operations was also a key enabler of its transition to a more streamlined and centralized model. This procedural shift was a key driver in enhanced inter-departmental integration and operational efficiency.
.png)
EliseAI vs. Competitors
Scion considered options from a variety of other conversational AI vendors and chose EliseAI for a few key reasons:
Scale and Expertise: EliseAI products are deployed in millions of units, and our growing team of 200+ employees based in New York offers us a deep understanding of the U.S. market and regional trends. No other AI platform has reached that unit count, and several of the other leading AI companies are not US based which inhibits their understanding of local markets.
Product Offering: EliseAI provides a comprehensive suite of solutions all in one simple platform, including leasing, delinquency management, maintenance, renewals, and CRM. Other companies' offerings were limited, lacking the breadth and integration capabilities that an advanced operator like Scion required.
Communication Channels: EliseAI supports text, email, phone, and web chat, ensuring accessibility for users. Others lack web chat support, voice capabilities, and integrated conversational experiences.
Market-Specific Workflows: EliseAI is built to accommodate the needs of diverse asset classes, including student housing-specific functionality like per bed pricing, semester-long leases, student-specific income requirements, and guarantor policies. Other vendors opt for a one-size fits all approach that lacks the specific features required for student housing.
Centralization Support: EliseAI’s platform is built to support centralized teams, with robust integrations and operational roles, tightly aligning with Scion’s centralization goals.
Scion and EliseAI Bring Out the Best In Each Other
One other unique aspect of the Scion-EliseAI partnership is the synergy with which the companies have collaborated to prioritize building key features and functionality for student housing operators. As a best-in-class student housing owner/operator, Scion has constantly been on the leading edge of both procedural and technological innovation and has brought that mentality to its partnership with EliseAI. Through a deep understanding of Scion’s unique operational considerations and product needs, EliseAI has collaborated closely with the Scion team to develop:
Voice AI and IVR Solutions: Implemented to handle complex inquiries, distinguishing between leasing and resident concerns. Features included local area code numbers, secure phone routing, multiple voice support, and call triaging.
Application Process Enhancements: Developed conversation flows and touchpoints to guide applicants, including handling specials not visible in Scion’s existing system.
Messaging to Residents and Prospects: Built an EliseCRM-native messaging feature, allowing Scion to replace third-party texting services.
Maintenance and Emergency Handling: Introduced AI-managed maintenance requests with emergency protocols for prompt response.
Reporting and Data Management: Set up daily reports and scripts to ensure accurate data handling, enhancing transparency and decision-making.
Guarantor Follow-ups: Managed guarantor communications within EliseCRM, streamlining a critical aspect of the student housing contract process.
Operational and Financial Impact of AI
The operational impact of implementing a leading conversational AI platform has been significant. Scion has been able to reduce the time its team spendings handling repeatable tasks, tasking AI to handle after-hours queries and proactively manage maintenance issues, in turn reducing response times and delivering better experiences. With multiple unique AI personalities, trained with Scion-specific language, the Scion team has been able to deliver services to residents at scale without losing the human touch that differentiates Scion from its competitors.
The partnership between The Scion Group and EliseAI has also had a measurable impact on Scion’s leasing performance, operational costs, and resident engagement.
Looking Forward to the Future
Scion’s journey with EliseAI began with a shared vision of centralization and efficiency. Today, Scion is reaping the benefits of that strategic investment in a new way of working and adoption of emerging technology. By leveraging advanced conversational AI, Scion addressed the initial challenges, achieving remarkable improvements in efficiency, resident satisfaction, and profitability. The consolidation of vendors and the centralization of operations have streamlined processes, further positioning Scion as a forward-thinking leader in the student housing market.
As Scion works closely with EliseAI to further expand AI capabilities across more communities, the firms will continue to inform the development of innovative features that help maintain a competitive edge. Through active communication channels, including surveys and dedicated support, Scion and EliseAI will ensure the AI system adapts and improves to continue meeting the needs of student residents. The success of this partnership underscores the power of technology and strategic alignment in driving business excellence and operational efficiency, and highlights a bright future for the integration of AI into the day to day workflows of leading student housing operators across the US.
