Provider of high-quality purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) – AXO Student Living (AXO) – appoints technology platform Lavanda as its exclusive partner to power its flexible living strategy. With sites across London, Coventry, Suffolk and Sunderland, AXO seeks to optimise the performance of its vacant or under-utilised units by tapping into strong short and medium-term rental demand – particularly outside the academic year over the summer period. The net result is that AXO is able to offer accommodation to students on more flexible 42-week leases – opposed to the traditional 52-week lease.
Lavanda’s appointment follows a successful trial across part of AXO’s UK-portfolio during summer 2021. The trial generated over 2,000 booked nights and occupancy levels of +75% for rooms that would have been empty. The formal partnership now sees Lavanda deployed across 876 units this summer.
“Historically, purpose-built student accommodation has been considered a premium accommodation option for domestic students. We’re proud that our partnership with AXO Student Living has helped create more flexible and affordable student accommodation options, without compromising on the quality and amenities that students are looking for. We’re excited to solidify our position in the UK purpose-built student accommodation market and to be rolling out across AXO’s units this summer.”
Fred Lerche-Lerchenborg, CEO, Lavanda
AXO’s flexible living strategy delivers an important secondary benefit to the local communities inhabited by its buildings. By boosting occupancy and utilisation of student accommodation outside of term time, AXO will drive high-spending footfall to local retail and hospitality businesses at a time of year when many struggle due to the exodus of students from the city.
By using Lavanda’s technology, AXO can create more balanced year-round communities, which will continue to thrive with the addition of more units across the tech platform this summer. The current cost of living crisis and impending recession make these benefits more significant.
“As a business and as an industry, the pandemic has taught us that demand is moving away from the rigid full-year contracts that used to make up the majority of our portfolios and flexibility is now one of the more sought-after offerings expected from PBSA providers. Due to the gaps in occupancy that adhering to such demand can entail, we decided to partner with Lavanda. Using their software, we are able to offer our accommodation to a wider demographic and essentially offer a different product during the summer period, which we weren’t able to previously.”
Thomas Bush, Sales and Marketing Director, AXO Student Living
Founded in 2015, Lavanda is an award-winning flexible rental platform which helps real estate businesses better connect with their customers and stay one step ahead. Lavanda’s technology enables its users to open up their residential real estate portfolio to the full spectrum of rental demand and deliver incredible customer experiences at scale. Lavanda also powers similar flexible living strategies for student accommodation operators including iQ Student, Collegiate and CA Ventures amongst many others.
