The Challenge

A Liverpool student accommodation development was facing a significant commercial challenge. With the academic year approaching, a block of 75 apartments had failed to secure sufficient student placements, creating the prospect of a substantial number of completed units remaining vacant for the year.

The development had originally been structured to deliver investors an 11% return. With apartments unoccupied, those projected returns were at risk.

The challenge was straightforward: how could meaningful revenue be generated from 75 apartments that might otherwise remain empty?

The Strategy

Rather than accepting the vacancy, Andreas advised on repositioning the available apartments into the short-term accommodation market.

This required much more than simply listing apartments online. It meant building the operational framework needed to turn a student accommodation block into a functioning short-term rental operation, advising on:

• Commercial strategy and short-term rental positioning
• Operational set-up across 75 apartments
• Staffing structures and management requirements
• Housekeeping and apartment turnaround procedures
• Supplier sourcing and procurement
• Linen, cleaning and consumables
• Guest journey and day-to-day operating procedures
• Cost controls and operational efficiencies
• Transition planning to protect the development’s longer-term student accommodation strategy

The model was designed to generate revenue from otherwise vacant inventory without compromising the property’s ability to return to its primary student accommodation use.

The Result

The strategy turned a potentially significant vacancy issue into a profitable alternative revenue stream. Instead of carrying vacant apartments through the academic year, the development generated additional income from its available inventory and improved its effective return.

• 75 apartments repositioned for short-term rental
• 11% original projected investor return
• Approximately 15% effective return achieved through the alternative rental strategy

Turning Vacancy Into Opportunity

The project demonstrates the value of looking beyond an accommodation asset’s traditional operating model. When demand changes, an empty room is not necessarily an unavoidable loss. With the right commercial strategy, operating structure, staffing, systems and suppliers, underperforming accommodation can be repositioned quickly to access alternative markets.

For this Liverpool development, the result was the conversion of 75 potentially vacant apartments into revenue-producing accommodation — protecting the asset from a significant period of lost income and improving its commercial performance.

75 Apartments. 11% → Approximately 15%. Vacancy risk converted into revenue.

Genuine client result, presented on an anonymised basis to protect client confidentiality. Figures reflect the development’s own investor return calculations.