Senior Living providers have found plenty of success in their respective price and product niches. But some operators are finding that even while they excel in targeting one particular price point, they can capture another price point by developing new products that are branded and marketed independently from their existing model.
Most recently, Senior Lifestyle Corp. launched a higher-end senior housing brand, The Sheridan, with a 19- to 26-property pipeline that could top $650 million in development. Senior Lifestyle already successfully manages 165 properties across the country at competitive assisted living prices that match the markets where it operates.
Though The Sheridan communities will cost $1,000 more per month than the operator’s middle-market product, they will provide residents with higher levels of staffing, more dining options and additional care services.
While rolling out an entirely new product is one way of marketing to a different price point, another operator has focused on taking its existing high-end product to another level by adding concierge-type services.
During arguably one of the most challenging times in real estate history, Brandywine Senior Living launched a product that targeted residents who desire the highest level of services and amenities — and found success in doing so.
The product is called “Serenade by Brandywine,” and can cost residents up to $11,000 a month or more, compared to the provider’s typical units, which cost an average of nearly $10,000 a month.
Serenade offers residents luxury suites, which are larger than the average Brandywine unit and include a host of concierge-type services in addition to a dedicated butler and a private dining room.
And while the provider already offers high-end units, the added level of services included in the Serenade suites serves as a model to meet the demands of current and future residents.
“As we continued to talk to our customers and their adult children, what we found was there was a growing desire for more concierge-type services,” says Brenda Bacon, president and CEO of Brandywine. “We have to adapt to the needs and desires of our customers and their families, rather than saying this is how you fit into our box of the services we offer. Very customized services are going to become more the norm than the exception.”
Since 2008, Brandywine has built Serenade suites — which occupy a separate area of each community, typically a wing — into every community it has developed, resulting in a total of about eight communities that offer the program.
The number of Serenade suites in each community vary from eight to 25, but they’re all occupied, which Bacon says serves as a testament to the model’s success.
“People really do want more services; they want their life to be as customized and as comfortable as it can be,” she says. “And they obviously believe they’re getting the service that matches the price.”
Despite its success, Bacon says Brandywine has no intention of spinning off the Serenade suites into their own brand.
“At this point, we like the way this model works in our communities,” she says.
Photo credit: Brandywine Senior Living
Written by Emily Study
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