HqO, the end-to-end workplace experience platform for commercial real estate properties, has published key findings from a commissioned survey of 50 international landlords, exploring how owners are evolving to keep pace with modern tenant expectations.
The landlords surveyed, all of which have at least 1 million square feet of commercial real estate property, are based across the UK, EMEA, and North America. Results indicate that commercial real estate owners are optimistic about the leasing landscape, but acknowledge that tenant experience will be key to appealing to occupiers.
Key Findings:
20% of landlords surveyed think that demand for workspace will decline over the long-term. But, 92% recognised that employees want more from their buildings.
Only 48% of landlords surveyed say at least 75% of their office space is currently leased. Moreover, only 24% of landlords say they experience greater than 75% daily utilisation of their leased spaces.
Those surveyed are taking proactive steps to align with — and attract — tenants and address any shortfalls. Nearly 90% of landlords are planning to provide dedicated tenant experience staff, or already do.
40% of landlords see these tenant experience leaders as primary decision-makers, with a further 40% regarding them as influencers. These tenant experience leaders are helping to deliver on stated areas of interest from tenants, such as reservation tools for desks and parking, food and beverage ordering services, visitor management and access control, maintenance tools, and energy monitoring technologies.
Alongside tenant experience leaders, technology is also proving key. Overall, investments in tenant experience technologies are set to increase or remain the same this year, with an isolated few suggesting a reduction.
A full 80% of landlords believe that tenants are keenly interested in comprehensive building mobile applications.
Commenting on the findings, Samuel Warren, Regional VP of HqO Europe, said:
“What’s clear from the results of our latest survey is that to succeed, owners of real estate know they must form deeper and less transactional relationships with their occupiers. Owners need to focus on driving collaboration across their portfolios with strategies and business initiatives, whilst also improving processes, and offering better workplace experiences.
“Ultimately, this is why more than 90% of landlords that we surveyed, plan to provide dedicated tenant experience staff, or already do. Alongside specialists taking responsibility for this vital aspect of the landlord-tenant relationship, technology is also critical to driving tenant satisfaction. Over 80% of those surveyed, recognised the central role that a digital experience platform now plays in streamlining processes and delighting tenants. As landlords understand that employees want more from their buildings, it’s the combined human and digital workplace experience service that will ultimately help them to deliver.”
