Your Leasing Office Is Closed. Is Your Marketing Still Working?

Your leasing office might close for the holidays, but that doesn’t mean prospective renters stop searching for apartments. So what happens when someone finds your community, has questions, or wants to schedule a tour while nobody’s in the office?

In this episode of The Multifamily Marketers Podcast, hosts Josh Grillo and Caroline Mills explore how multifamily communities can keep their marketing working 24/7—even when their leasing teams are off the clock.

From keeping website information accurate and managing automated responses to AI leasing assistants, holiday hours, advertising, and follow-up strategies, Josh and Caroline break down the essential steps properties should take before an office closure. Plus, they share a simple 15-minute marketing audit that every leasing team can complete to make sure prospects aren’t getting lost in the process.

You’ll learn:

• The five things renters should be able to find online after hours, including floor plans, pricing, availability, fees, and next steps
• Why generic automated responses aren’t enough—and how to make them more helpful and informative
• How AI leasing assistants and chatbots can support prospects when the leasing office is closed
• Why updating holiday hours across your website, Google Business Profile, voicemail, and tour scheduling tools is essential
• How to incorporate seasonal messaging and holiday promotions into your website and automated communications
• Whether properties should pause digital advertising during holiday closures or keep campaigns running
• How to manage incoming leads after reopening and conduct a 15-minute audit of your entire prospect experience

To suggest a topic, get in touch!

For more multifamily marketing help, connect with us at Resident360.

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TRANSCRIPT

Your Leasing Office Is Closed. Is Your Marketing Still Working?

Podcast Co-Hosts: Josh Grillo and Caroline Mills, Resident360

Josh: Welcome back to the Multifamily Marketers Podcast. I’m your host, Josh Grillo, co-founder here at Resident360, and I’m joined by my co-host, Miss Caroline Mills. Caroline, we’ve got Thanksgiving coming up.

Caroline: We do. We’ve got a lot of stuff happening. We just went through fall back, the time change, so now it’s dark early. For me, I start celebrating Christmas in my household this week. And then we have Thanksgiving coming up.

Josh: Oh, you are an early starter, that’s for sure.

Caroline: I am. I do love my Christmas trees.

Josh: And how many Christmas trees do we have?

Caroline: I have three, and then a little baby mini one. So three and a half.

Josh: All fully decorated?

Caroline: Yes, they are decorated.

Josh: Lights, the whole thing?

Caroline: The little mini one only has lights on it. That’s in our office area over there. But the other three are fully decorated: lights, ornaments, ribbons, all the things.

Josh: Oh, man. Do you wish you were in a really cold location where it was snowy?

Caroline: Only for Christmas Day. I’ll take the Florida weather for everything else.

Josh: All right, all right. Well, speaking of Thanksgiving, the topic we’re going to jump into today is: when your leasing office is closed, is your marketing still working? We have a lot of holidays coming up, and with holidays come office closures and everything that comes with them. So we’re going to dive into that and make sure you’re set up for your marketing to work 24/7. How’s that sound, Caroline?

Caroline: Yeah, absolutely. I talk about this with teams all the time. People think, “Oh, this is the slower season. It’s the slower time of the year.” But if you talk to anyone in the industry, they’ll tell you it’s not the slower time of the year. It’s just busy in a different way. So we’re going to dive into a lot of different things you can do to help with that.

Josh: All right. Do you want to kick it off?

Caroline: Yes, absolutely. So we’re talking about what information people should be able to find after hours, when your office is closed or you’re not able to tour. I would say start with five things. First, your floor plans. Can I tell online which layout might work for me? Am I able to see photos, dimensions, or whatever information helps me understand the space?

Second, current pricing and availability. This seems obvious, but make sure it’s up to date. If you’re going to be closed or out of the office, this is what people are relying on. So if the information changes, make sure your website reflects that. And if something needs to be confirmed, explain that where it’s needed.

Third, the cost beyond the advertised rent. We talk about this a lot with pricing transparency, but don’t make someone submit a form just to discover the additional required charges, whether that’s pet rent, fees, or anything else like that.

Fourth, practical questions. Whether you have an FAQ page or answer these somewhere else on your site, cover things like parking, pet policies, lease options, and move-in timing. Those things can decide whether someone keeps looking into your community when they’re trying to find information online.

And fifth, and lastly, what is the next step? Can they schedule a tour? Are they requesting a time? Can they join a waitlist? Those are different actions, and the website should clearly explain which one you want them to take.

Josh: The distinction between scheduling and requesting is a big one. If I pick Tuesday at 2:00, I might assume I’m booked.

Caroline: Yes, exactly. We see this often in lease-ups, or with skeleton shifts around the holidays. If they’re requesting a time, the team has to approve it, so explain that it isn’t confirmed yet. If it’s an actual booking, make sure you’re giving them the confirmation and the details. You don’t want someone rearranging their whole afternoon, showing up for a tour, and then nobody knew it was happening.

Josh: Okay. So let’s talk a little bit about automatic responses. Let’s say I submit an inquiry and immediately get an email saying something like, “Thanks for your interest. Someone will contact you shortly.” Is that doing the job?

Caroline: Definitely not, and this is something we see a lot. It tells me the form worked, which is useful, but it doesn’t give me any information. It’s not helping me. A stronger response gives me something I can use while I’m waiting. Maybe that’s a link to current availability or a link to schedule a tour, or maybe it answers a few common questions.

It should also set an honest expectation. If the office is closed until Monday for the holiday, don’t tell me someone’s going to reach out shortly. That’s a big one. You have to go in and edit these messages when it makes sense. Tell me when the team returns and when I can expect a response. And if somebody asks a specific question, the follow-up should acknowledge that question. Otherwise, it can feel like my message just went into a bucket with everybody else’s, and I’m not learning anything.

Josh: I can see that. So what would a useful after-hours response sound like?

Caroline: I would say something like, “Thanks for reaching out to Oak Street Apartments. Our leasing office is closed for the evening and reopens tomorrow at 9:00. Our team will follow up tomorrow morning. In the meantime, you can explore our current availability and tour options using the links below.”

Of course, only promise tomorrow morning, or Monday, or whatever it may be, if your team can actually deliver on it. And if someone requested a tour, make sure the response says whether that tour is confirmed or still awaiting confirmation.

Josh: Right. So basically, don’t make a promise in the automatic email that the team doesn’t even know it’s supposed to keep, which happens all the time, right?

Caroline: It does happen all the time. I’ve been in that seat myself when I was touring down here in Florida. We showed up to one place at our tour time, and they said, “Oh, I didn’t even see you had a tour. The system usually tells me.” And I’m like, “Well, we’re here. We planned this for weeks.” We showed up, and nobody knew we were supposed to be there.

Josh: Oh, man. Okay, let’s jump into the second part of that, which is chatbots and AI leasing assistants and where they fit. We’ve talked about AI leasing assistants on this show before. Is after-hours coverage one of the places where these tools can be useful?

Caroline: It can be, especially for common questions and for helping someone find the next step. But you need to test what your particular tool can actually do. Does it have current information? Does it know your holiday hours? Can it accurately explain your tour options? Does it know when to hand a question to the team?

That last one can be very frustrating. I’ve worked with chatbots where, if the chatbot can’t answer a question, it just goes in circles, and that’s even more frustrating for somebody. The important thing is that it shouldn’t be guessing. If it can’t verify a price, a policy, or an available tour time, it should make that very clear, and the conversation needs to get to the leasing team. If I spend 10 minutes explaining what I’m looking for, I don’t want to start from scratch when somebody calls me tomorrow.

Josh: Oh, that’s so frustrating. It’s like when I call Kaiser to make an appointment and they transfer me to somebody else. I’ve already given my member number, everything, and they’re like, “Okay, how can we help you? What do you need help with?” And I’m like, “I just gave you all of that.”

Caroline: Yes. Why are you even asking me if it doesn’t go anywhere?

Josh: It’s so frustrating. I think everybody’s kind of over that by now, right?

Caroline: Absolutely. The technology should help the team pick up the conversation with some context. And I would say a property without an AI assistant can still improve this experience. Clear information, a useful confirmation message, and a reliable follow-up process are all good places to start.

Josh: Okay. I’m just going to throw this one to you. With all these automated responses, AI assistants, and chatbots, think about how cool it would be to theme them. Going into Thanksgiving, if you could do some fun little messaging tied to the holiday and your closures, instead of something stale like, “We’re not available now. We’ll be available on this day and time.” I think that would be a cool little thing that’s also part of marketing and makes your property feel a little bit different.

Caroline: I like that idea. You could have a little Thanksgiving message, something like, “We’re thankful you reached out to us,” something fun that way. And as it’s pulling availability, you could also tie in any specials you’ve got. People do a lot of fun variations with their specials: “Fall in love with your new apartment,” “We’re so thankful you’re looking at us,” things like that. That can make the message really fun.

Josh: Yeah. I can’t remember which chatbot it was. It might have been BetterBot back in the day, or maybe some other one. But we would customize it, and I think it showed a little turkey around that time. So guys, little things like that. Think about theming your website for the holidays, too. I don’t want to get too far off track, but meet people where they’re at, right? They’re in the holiday mindset, so why not meet them there with what you’re showing on the website as well: your imagery, your photos, your copy, all that good stuff.

Caroline: I love that.

Josh: So let’s talk a little bit about what gets overlooked during holiday closures, because this is probably a big one, right? Teams are rushing to get out of the office, take a break, or do whatever they’re going to do, and I’m sure all kinds of stuff gets overlooked. So let’s make this specific to Thanksgiving, Caroline. What should teams check before they leave for the holiday?

Caroline: Ooh, this is a good one. Start with your hours, and don’t just think about the website. Check your Google Business Profile, your website, your voicemail, and any of your scheduling tools. Make sure they all reflect when the office is actually open. Nothing would be more frustrating than a prospect driving all the way out for a tour because everything said you were open when you’re not.

Check your tour calendar. If nobody is available Friday afternoon, that time shouldn’t appear as a confirmed appointment option. Check your automatic responses, too. A message that makes sense on a normal Tuesday might not make sense over a long holiday weekend. And like we were just talking about, look at your specials. If an offer expires while the office is closed, who’s going to update it? You don’t want an ad promoting one thing and the website showing something different.

And finally, decide who owns the inquiries when you return. I know that sounds very basic, but it’s easy for everyone to assume someone else is checking these things while you’re closed.

Josh: Tell me about the Google Business Profile. Are people really actively updating their hours there? That’s one thing I’ve paid a lot more attention to myself over the last six months. I default to the profile, and sometimes I click through to the website, but typically I’m looking at hours if it’s a brick-and-mortar business I want to visit. So are communities really keeping up with their hours on their Google Business Profiles?

Caroline: I see it both ways. You definitely should, but I see a lot of communities miss it. Google will now sometimes show a disclaimer automatically, something like “holidays may affect these hours,” but I wouldn’t rely on that. You absolutely want to update your Google Business Profile, and do it far enough in advance. It can take Google a couple of hours, or even up to 24 hours, to accept a change. So don’t do it on Thanksgiving Day. Do it earlier in the week.

Marketers, if you have a tool or system that can do this for all your properties at once, again, just make sure you’re getting it in far enough in advance.

Josh: All right, now let’s jump into the ad side. Should properties turn their ads off when the office is closed?

Caroline: I wouldn’t make it an automatic rule that you have to turn them off when you’re closed. People can still research apartments while you’re closed. I look at what the ad is asking someone to do. If it’s encouraging them to call immediately, think about what happens when that call comes in. If it sends them to the website, can they get useful information and find the next step? Your ad schedule and messaging should still fit the experience you can actually provide. Then you can use the results to decide whether adjustments make sense. So I would really take it on a case-by-case basis.

Josh: All right, so now let’s jump into what should happen when the office reopens. The holiday is over, the team comes back, opens the inbox, and there’s a bunch of inquiries waiting. What should that first follow-up look like?

Caroline: First, somebody needs to own that queue. You want a clear process so inquiries aren’t missed, or contacted by multiple people at the same time who don’t know what the other person said. Then read the actual inquiry and any conversation history before responding. If someone asked about a two-bedroom for January, start there. You could say, “You mentioned you’re looking for a two-bedroom in January. Here are the options we can discuss, and I’d be happy to help you arrange a tour.” If they requested a specific tour time, address that. If they asked about parking, answer the parking question.

I know it’s very easy, when you come back to a lot of inquiries, to just knock them out and clear your queue. But you still want to make sure you’re giving each person individual value. And check whether they’ve already scheduled something through another channel. You don’t want to ask them to book a tour when they already have one.

Josh: So we shouldn’t come back and just blast everyone with, “Are you still looking for an apartment?”

Caroline: Oh, absolutely not. Give them useful information to respond to, pick up where they left off, and help them move forward. And if you missed the response time you promised, just acknowledge it. Don’t act like the delay never happened.

Josh: All right, let’s give everybody something they can do today. If a team has 15 minutes to test this before the holiday, just 15 minutes, walk us through it, Caroline.

Caroline: Absolutely. Grab your phone and go through the experience as if you’ve never seen the property before. Put that prospect hat on. Start with Google. Find your community and check the hours, the phone number, and the website link. Then open the website and try to find a floor plan, pricing and availability, and information about any additional costs. See how much effort it really takes.

Next, try your tour process. Does the calendar show the right options? Is it clear whether you’re booking a tour or requesting one? Submit a clearly labeled test inquiry, just a practice one, using a contact method you control. Ask a real question, like, “I’m looking for a two-bedroom in January. What’s the next step?” Then look at what comes back. Did you get a response? Was it useful? Did the links work? Did it explain when someone would follow up?

Finally, have someone on the team check where that inquiry landed and who would be responsible for it. And if you created a test appointment, clean it up so it doesn’t take a real tour slot.

Josh: I like that last part. Getting a nice confirmation email doesn’t tell you whether the inquiry actually made it to the right person.

Caroline: Exactly. You want to check the whole experience, from finding the property to the team receiving the message. You may find something simple you can fix immediately. Maybe your holiday hours are wrong. Maybe the confirmation email sent an old link. Maybe the tour calendar is offering appointments nobody can cover. Those are useful things to catch before a renter runs into them.

Josh: All right, Caroline, as we wrap up this episode, give us one takeaway. What’s the one thing you want listeners to remember?

Caroline: Out of all of this, I would say your office can be closed, but your property can still be helpful. Make it easy for someone to get information, understand the next step, and know when they’ll hear from you. Then make sure the team follows through.

Josh: Absolutely. Love it. So before your next office closure, take 15 minutes and go through the experience on your phone. Find your property, ask a question, try to schedule a tour, and see what actually happens. All right, thanks as always, Caroline. And guys, thanks for listening. We’ll be back next week with another episode of the Multifamily Marketers Podcast. Take care, and have a great week.

Caroline: Thanks, guys. Bye!