With the benefit of the greater response rate, we can still see that those using shared communal spaces and getting involved in events are displaying a better living experience than those who are not. Organised events are the top contributor of student happiness. Providing these activities and encouraging engagement are key tools in promoting wellbeing and enhancing living experience residents.

There are major differentials in scores between those with access to shared outdoor space and community lounge. SLM also stresses on the importance of having an events programme to activate the space.

Lowest differential is between those with room cleaning services, indicating that these services are quite literally hygiene factors. Whether students are charged for laundry or not, it has no impact on mental well-being and is a service that is essentially taken for granted/absolute must haves. Similarly, the ‘must-have’ services do not contribute to NPS or Wellbeing_NPS scores. In other words, they have little impact on whether a student recommends their place to residence to a peer, and if their accommodation has an impact on their wellbeing.

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There is an increase in mental wellbeing of those with catering included is seen. This may be attributed to a larger response base from Southern Europe where catering services are typically expected to be offered.

Accessibility and availability of facilities play a significant role in overall student satisfaction.

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It is crucial to note that many essential services and facilities, particularly those with the most positive impact—such as mental health services and career support—remain inaccessible to a significant number of students. There is a substantial opportunity for the sector to incorporate these high-impact aspects to optimize the living experience for their residents.

Services

Services which feature  in the ability to recommend accommodation to others include career and job support, student lead community groups, mental health services, offering a community networking app and organising events.

All these elements serve to highlight that it is the human interventions and the ‘extra mile’ services, which are making a difference to the likelihood of students to recommend their accommodation.  Lower down in the list, we can see services which are essentially taken for granted.

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Facilities

As with last year, offering a swimming pool to residents (most often available in Spain and Portugal) are elements that make accommodation easy to recommend. In other countries, where swimming pools are not prevalent, the stand-out facilities enabling students to recommend their accommodation are the restaurant, the cinema and the cafe. Bookable shared spaces are also highlighted as a facility contributing to the likelihood for accommodation to be recommended.

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SOCIAL IS BEST

Students who often take part in community events and activities have better mental health scores (62.0) by 6 points compared to those who choose not to take part (55.8).

Students taking part in community events and activities score the impact of their accommodation on their wellbeing (7.5 out of 10) 1.2 points higher in NPS than those who do not (6.3).

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