Among many other findings, our recent Accommodation For Students survey
shows that students have mixed feelings over the use of AI.
Despite this, most students (63.6%) have used AI for support online,
including during their hunt for an appropriate place to live whilst at
university.
AI-powered sites
This doesn’t necessarily mean that students are hopping straight onto Chat
GPT to find accommodation types, but as sites begin to incorporate
AI-powered tools into their they are becoming faster and smarter – as a
result portals like
Rightmove and Zoopla
are becoming more attractive as their efficiency improves – and now student
landlords are looking to do the same.
Certain accommodation sites have already tapped into the ‘smart system’ by
making searches more refined and easier for users. Additional features like
location, house type, price and amenities can be selected in the side bar.
Our survey showed these features to be attractive and many students
recommended using these filters to save time.
The rise of AI
As AI and the likes of Chat GPT continue to increase in popularity, with
61.3% of our survey respondents being familiar with the concept of AI, the
landlord and housing sector can expect to see referrals and requests being
made as a result of its assistance.
On average, students ranked their comfortability of using AI to be 6.4/10.
However, the survey showed that trust needs to be built when it comes to
providing information through AI as an average of 5.3/10 trusted AI to
provide accurate and helpful information when they needed support online.
Advantages of using AI-based tools
35.2% admitted that they liked using AI because of the fast responses, with
the same number of participants admitting the 24/ availability to be
incredibly useful.
With computerised tools becoming vastly more intelligent, recommendations
can now be personalised via the use of AI too (13.1% said they liked this
feature.)
On top of that there is also the plus side of easier navigation (11.6%
enjoy this advantage) and reduced human error (2.7% mentioned this to be a
positive.)
Concerns about using AI when needing help online
It goes without saying that there are a few risks when it comes to the
reliability of using AI, here’s what our participants thought were the most
concerning:
1. Misunderstanding of questions or requests (68.9%)
2. Lack of human touch (43.1%)
3. Limited capabilities of AI (41.9%)
4. Privacy concerns (35.9%)
5. Other issues including environmental concerns, errors and
inaccuracies, and ethical objections (5.7%)
As the student housing sector emerges as
Europe’s top prime real estate investment
, landlords and providers need to work out how they can improve the
efficiency of their services to maximise their income yield. This might
include incorporating AI into their marketing.
