Gifts vs. Rewards

There is a time and a place for everything. As you navigate life coming out of the pandemic, you have no doubt had moments to think about everything. And we mean everything. When it comes down to your property, you may have a renewed sense that community is more important than ever. You are grateful for your residents and their decision to call your community home. And you are filled with the need to show appreciation for them.

In the broadest sense, “giving” may include many activities performed by your property management team.  Here, we’re going to focus on “gifting” (a component of “giving”) as gifts are our favorite way to show appreciation for your residents.

Merriam-Webster defines the word “gift” as “something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation”. Giving a gift to your residents stands out as an unexpected gesture that causes palpable feelings of excitement. It comes freely, without expectation, and garners no need for reciprocation from the resident. When you give a gift from Can You Imagine, you increase resident happiness and improve your overall resident retention. We design gifts specifically for the apartment industry and we are really good at it.

As we mentioned earlier, there is a time and place for everything.
Reward programs are also well-and-good. But, these aren’t true gifts. Rewards provide a reciprocal service based on your residents’ actions instead of showing appreciation. In the instance of reward programs, you may also be causing another to-do for your resident. Not only do they have to keep track of their rewards to cash in their prize, but they must go and select a prize from a list of things that may, or may not, be exciting to them. Moreover, how many of these rewards go unspent?

All in all, showing resident appreciation through gift-giving is one of the strongest things you can do as a Property Manager to increase resident happiness and improve overall resident retention.  Gifts, promotional items, and reward systems all have their place.  We’d argue that gifts provide the biggest impact on your residents.

Have a look at our gifts…try some on for size. Then receive (and enjoy) the lovely response you get from your residents as they receive their gifts.