Tell us about your coordinator role and where you serve. 

I serve as a coordinator with our concierge program. My community is located on Lake Wiley, on the outskirts of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Can you share with us how the concierge program works?

The concierge program is a little different because the program is tailored to the specific community. So even within the programs we already have going, my program may look completely different. Each program still does two monthly events, as most of the conventional programs do, and we also do welcome visits and renewal visits, but those are typically customized a little bit more toward our residents and what they're looking for.

Part of my job is getting lists of things to do for date night, gems to go to, or really cool experiences that you can only experience in Charlotte.

So, an example of that at my community is that, since we are on the lake, our welcome kits include some lake day goodies, like sunglasses or chapstick or sunscreen, that kind of stuff. And then we also do a quarterly VIP event in addition to the normal resident events.

VIP events sound intriguing. Can you tell us about those?

So far, we have done two. For the first one, we partnered with a company called Destination Water Sports and took our residents out for a nighttime cruise. We had individualized charcuterie boards, drinks, and boat day kits to give them that lake life feel since we are on Lake Wiley. That's what our ownership wants Apartment Life to accomplish with this concierge program, to bring lake life into our residents' everyday lives.

The concierge program is about providing that elevated experience that you don't get at just any apartment. 

And it's also all about getting residents connected to the area, especially in a city like Charlotte. We have a lot of transplants who are very new.

So, for our second VIP event, it was a little colder and harder to get out on the lake, so we got tickets for our residents to go to a special event at Discovery Place. It's a kids' museum in Charlotte, and once a month, they do an adult-only version of the museum at night. In October, they did a big masquerade-themed event, and we took our residents, which was a ton of fun.

What is your favorite thing about serving in this role with Apartment Life?

My favorite thing is actually knowing my neighbors. My roommate and I were the second residents to move onsite when things opened, so we've really gotten to be a part of everyone coming in and helping build the culture of our community.

When you're walking your dog, or you're checking your mail, or even when you're going to the gym, it's not just like a smile and nod. I actually know people's names. That's been really neat.

I know their kids and their dogs, and we've had people dog-sit for us and vice versa. It's very cool to actually know your neighbors and kind of have that old-school American feel. Especially post-pandemic, a lot of times, you just don't always necessarily go outside of your four walls, and I didn't realize that was something I was missing until I had it in this community.

Want to learn more about our Concierge Program? Visit our website for more details on our service offerings. 

This interview was pulled from Episode 203 of the Apartment Life Leadership Podcast and lightly edited for clarity. For more coordinator stories and interviews, you can follow along at apartmentlife.org/podcast. Follow @aptlife for updates on new episodes and upcoming content! If you enjoy listening, leave us a review on Apple or Spotify. We can't wait to hear from you and hope this podcast serves as a helpful resource.