Resident Appreciation Week Ideas

Please help! I am tired of the same boring ideas and hope someone can offer any new unique ideas!

(Editor note: This question became such a hot topic, that it helped inspire us to create a website dedicated to apartment party ideas, with a category specifically for resident appreciation week ideas . Just click on the link for great tips!)

Hi Samantha!
There are two veins of thought on this topic. First, there should be no "Resident Appreciation Week" specifically, because it should be that everyweek. However, there are reasons to amp up the efforts. What's prompting this week specifically? Renewals? Lack of new prospects? Complaints? Change up in manager? Knowing what's behind the push would better help me answer your questions.
Have a great balance of the weekend!

My property has a vacancy problem because of the area, so we have held several Customer Appreciation Days and/or weeks...

We've done a simple "drive thru" breakfast where we had single serving OJ, milk, choc milk, coffee, etc and had donuts, muffins, bagels and the fixing...They could drive up to the office, one of the staff ran out with a menu, got their order and then we brown bagged it for them...inside each bag we had a "Thank You for being a wonderful resident" card...

We've had a cookout with door prizes given away each half hour

We've had pizza parties...with lots of games (for the kids)

We've had balloons blown up where each balloon had a note that gave them a small gift...gift certs to grocery stores/gas cards, etc. and a few of the balloons had notes for larger gifts..one resident got their rent free for one month, etc.

We've sent out notes that just said "thank you for being a wonderful resident"

My residents just love a reason to get together, so they don't really care what we do...

Hope that helps...

Great ideas!! Thanks for sharing!

I forgot to mention...don't forget to invite the people on your waitlist to your activities. This allows them to see how much you appreciate your residents...so they might be more apt to move in...

Another idea I heard for this question was giving residents the "Commission" for new resident referrals.
Have an Open House COmmunity Day. CHallenge your residents to refer as many friends to your property as possible and bring them to the Open House. Have prizes from local businesses to give out to the residents who bring the most friends and then up the ante on resident referral payouts but instead call them commissions. We've called it the "Won't you be my neighbor" campaign. WOrked well and the residents loved the "Commission" aspect of the game.

I have always had great luck with resident events. Even on a small budget you can make all your residents feel like they live at the best apartment community in the country. It is all about the enthusiasm that you have for your property!! I have found businesses that I advertise for in my move in packets are eager to contribute to property functions! The main objective as we all know is making your residents feel special. Even the smallest things such as.... Taking their garbage to the dumpsters for them or complementary car washes on a Saturday. I have in the past bought flowers and potted them for my residents with a my business card attached and a note for each resident. If you contact the newspapers you advertise with they will sometimes give you free papers to pass out to your residents. I have bought bushels of apples and delivered them to residents in small brown bags that say My residents are the apple of my eye. Small magnetic picture frames are a great idea too saying Our residents are Picture Perfect. As always a great source for suggestion is your residents ask them want they would like to see happen on the property.

How about a good, old-fashioned CAR WASH? A few buckets, some liquid soap, a couple of hoses and lots of old towels and employee volunteers! This would be a great way for the staff to give back to the people who rent from them... Have a couple extra $$? Hot dogs, buns, condiments, water, sodas and chips will be less than $200!

Whatever you do PROMOTE the event and make sure every tenant who comes to the office gets asked, "Are you coming to the Car Wash next Sunday?"

Finally, after the event, post some pictures from the event and thank everyone who got their car washed! That's right, part of being a great host is thanking people who attended an event that you worked your tush off for...

How about a good, old-fashioned CAR WASH? A few buckets, some liquid soap, a couple of hoses and lots of old towels and employee volunteers! This would be a great way for the staff to give back to the people who rent from them... Have a couple extra $$? Hot dogs, buns, condiments, water, sodas and chips will be less than $200!

Whatever you do PROMOTE the event and make sure every tenant who comes to the office gets asked, "Are you coming to the Car Wash next Sunday?"

Finally, after the event, post some pictures from the event and thank everyone who got their car washed! That's right, part of being a great host is thanking people who attended an event that you worked your tush off for...

For something different, contact a local pet groomer and ask them if they could set up at your property and offer free basic grooming for your pet 'resident's.

Buy lottery tickets and make a card saying 'We're so glad you gambled on living here~~we love having you as a resident. Put in envelopes and hang of your residents doors!

And if you are looking for other fantastic ideas just go to the top of the page, click on 'MORE' and go to "Apartment Party Ideas'. There's almost 100 great ideas there that can be used through out the year!! :cheer:

We had a car wash once. It cost me less than $20. Residents really love the idea of their landlord washing their car, but it was hard hard work for me. I'm used to sitting at a desk doing paperwork. After several hours of washing cars, I still had to catch up on my regular duties too. :ohmy:

LOL :laugh: But didn't it feel doing something nice for your residents? A little hard work probably went a long way with them.

My last managing job I organized a weekly neighborhood clean up and we walked, bent over picking up cigarette butts and trash for two hours. I was sore, but many of us met 30-minutes later at the hot tub and we soon forgot about the pain. Everyone appreciated that I helped instead of handing out the trash bags and letting them do all the work. Gave me credibility and showed that I was not all talk...