Jessica Fiur
It’s almost Valentine’s Day! Whether you’re married, dating, single and ready to mingle, or single and hating everything and anything referring to romance, you gotta appreciate a holiday that centers around chocolate.
It’s also a great time to “show your residents some love” (and, I suppose, lean in to using puns) by planning holiday-related activities. After all, resident events can increase the probability that your renters will renew their lease, write up good reviews for the community and recommend living there to friends.
However, sometimes some Valentine’s Day activities can come off as cringy, especially if they’re coming from a property manager instead of a loved one. You don’t want to turn your renters off! (More puns!) Here are some suggestions for celebrating Valentine’s Day with your residents.
Do: Put out candy for residents.
Don’t: Put out candy hearts out for residents to eat. They taste like chalk.
Do: Host a “Guess How Many Candy Hearts are in the Jar” contest. The person who’s closest can win a prize. This is good because even residents who don’t want to or don’t have the time to participate in a big event can try it. And since no one actually wants to eat candy hearts, you might as well put them to another use.
Do: Give residents cards to show your appreciation of them.
Don’t: Make the cards too personal or gushy, which could make people uncomfortable. (You can write that you love having them as residents, but not that you love them. )
Do: Think of the children. You can set up an arts and crafts table where kids can color and create their own cards.
Do: Give treats to pets. Renters love their pets.
Don’t: Confuse the treats for residents and the treats for pets. Dogs shouldn’t have chocolate. People can probably have dog food, but it’s not advisable.
Do: Make use of the amenities you have. For example, if you have a chef’s kitchen, you can hire someone to do a cooking demo or class for residents. Or if you have a screening room you can have a rom-com movie marathon.
Do: Be diligent about notifying residents about their packages that day. You don’t want flowers wilting or chocolate melting. (Tragedy!)
Do: Post and share. Make sure to take videos and photos of any event you have so you can share on your social channels and in your marketing.
Don’t: Tag residents in anything embarrassing. For example, if you’re throwing a singles parties to get residents to mingle, they might not want that plastered all over the internet. (Or maybe they do? I’m not here to judge.)
Don’t: Get overly familiar with your residents. You might be friendly with some of them, but that doesn’t mean they’re friends. Some people might want to talk about their Valentine’s Day plans and attend events, and some might not. And that’s OK.
What are some other suggestions for celebrating Valentine’s Day at your community in a non-cringy manner? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Send a tweet to @MHNOnline or @jfiur, send a Threads message to @jfiur, or send me a message on LinkedIn.
