Brian Thornton asked 2 years ago
I am working with a student housing business and I'm struggling to implement automation for certain mundane tasks. The student housing business is a middleman between the student and landlord. Sort of like an airbnb but multi unit buildings. One primary nuance is my inability to set up some type of trigger that would be set into action upon a response from the multiple landlords who manage the apartment buildings. Some of the buildings have an ever changing list of room availability and the landlords do not have systems in place to track the room availability (inventory) in real time. To be able to effectively provide up to date availability to students, there needs to be a way to retrieve availability from the landlords, sometimes daily. But it has to be a very simplistic method for the landlords. Perhaps availability can quickly and easily be updated by the landlord If an email could be sent with an imbedded API capable form consisting of tickable radio buttons followed by the various room types confirming room type availability.
Ultimately The form results would update the room availability on the website . The main challenge is making it simple for the landlord. It has to be something basically sent like an email. Cloud based systems (like G. Sheets) requiring a login will not be practical for the landlord.
Bobby Clapp Staff answered 2 years ago
Are you saying they can't be asked to login to anything and everything has to happen over email? I don't picture a way to do that with Formidable forms easily.
Michael Clark
replied 2 years ago Agreed. Other than a complicated N8N or Zapier flow with lots of if thens and multiple automated messages back and forth the workflow doesn't lend itself to email. Interesting potential use case for a theoretical FF workflow bot tho. 🙂
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<p><p>I would create a form. That’s where you add all the info for the building, landlord, property id etc. Add in a repeater for the units info. Inside the repeater put the type of unit and the availability radio button. Then email the landlord a link to edit that individual entry.</p></p>
Could create their accounts and onboard them. Either scheduled with live support or automate it with walkthroughs, Maybe create tiered roles: housing manager, landlord, RA (resident assistant) Maintenance, Applicant, Resident, etc. Limit who can see and do what.
To do something new, give them a management portal that handles the status, availability, dynamic pricing for them. Do a user journey of what they need, map it out, build it, and test with a few landlords, one at a time. I've built and iterated FF-based student housing solutions and the time it takes is so worth it. I've solved a *ton* of stuff - especially around units, availability, different rent payment types, and housing change requests. One person easily manages up to 256 beds from application to roommate matching. Dynamic PDF applications, contracts, etc.
Definitely worth the time and effort. I've had success with overworked, minimally-technical housing admins and students who rarely read before clicking and I've taken my lumps. So good when you can dial it in.
Tip: The Formidable Pro Elite version and its API can be one of your very best friends, LOL.