The return on investment of tenant engagement

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for corporate real estate (CRE) to rethink some long-held assumptions on how to avert higher vacancy rates and create value by investing in more attractive spaces. The key to good CRE performance is the ability to attract high-quality tenants, charge premium lease rent fees and avoid lease revisions or cancellations. Since the pandemic, the rules of lease retention have faced significant challenges. In an unexpected turnabout, the lessee is much more powerful in the transaction than in the past. The era where building owners, leasing agents and property managers could view leasing of spaces to corporate tenants as a commodity is over. The occupant’s experience is more central to the attractiveness of CRE in this era. Upgrading the mindset and tools for how to optimise the occupant experience requires different approaches for corporate tenants than historically. What tenants expect of the property manager, leasing agent and building owner have all increased significantly. This paper explores the foundations of these raised expectations, why they are unlikely to revert to pre-2020 levels, and provides models and tools to use in rapid improvement of results.