How to choose a safe place to stay amidst the pandemic

An accommodation by Stanza Living

Ever since the outbreak of the coronavirus, many young professionals and students who had moved out from their hometowns for better opportunities, found themselves stranded in different cities, with limited preparation for a pandemic. After nearly eight months, as economic activity resumes and offices and colleges plan phased reopening, cities like Delhi and Pune are gearing up for record footfalls from new migrants and returnees, coming back from their home. As conversations around safety and hygiene take centre-stage, living spaces have become that one protected haven to access lifestyle needs and carry out professional and academic commitments. In such a scenario, debates around the ability of current rental accommodation options (which are largely in the form of a PG in Pune or PG in Delhi), being able to weather the pandemic while providing continued services, have become common.

One way of tackling the argument, is to look at the natural evolution the sector has been undergoing over the past few years, with the entry of professional managed accommodation operators like Stanza Living. For one, even though rental accommodation largely continues to be an unorganized industry, such operators have established benchmarks for product and service quality, creating a professionally-run offering. Next, they have been the fastest in adapting to consumer requirements as well as external situations - from instituting COVID-Combat ready protection measures to maintaining high quality and uninterrupted supply of services so residents are not inconvenienced during this time. Now, as migrants ponder returning to the big cities, managed accommodation operators are increasingly becoming preferred choices.

But with demand far outstripping supply, identifying spaces that maintain benchmark standards is critical. So, here are a few things everyone should have on their checklist in order to choose a safe place to stay:

No compromise with cleanliness and safety

This obviously should be the topmost priority for you. No matter what your accommodation provider offers you at what price, if it lacks in proper safety and hygiene measures then there is no point to even consider staying in such a place in the middle of a pandemic. Unfortunately, most of the traditional PGs cannot be trusted in this aspect because of multiple reasons. For one, they are largely dependent on a third-party vendor ecosystem that can't always be monitored to check their hygiene standards. Next, while some PGs have indeed adopted strong practices to maintain sanitation and hygiene, their operating margins have come under pressure due to these additional checks. As such, sustaining these in the long term is a real business challenge. On the other hand, managed accommodation players operating at scale are able to bring these protocols into their ecosystem, invest in training staff and driving operational efficiencies while strictly adhering to health and hygiene standards. They've adopted daily health monitoring practices, frequent sanitization protocols, and are using innovative contactless technologies to mitigate human exposure. Social distancing is also practised in the premises of the property to avoid any unwanted interaction and to ensure a safe and secure stay.

Hygienically cooked healthy food

We know this would be the next big concern in your head as food is that one daily service that needs to be hygienic and uninterrupted, even if you can compromise with other services. You might be wondering if the food being served to you is hygienically cooked and served to you. Well this would be difficult to answer well for some traditional PGs as they do not cook the food themselves and source it from local vendors (who may not prioritize hygiene over profits). Managed accommodation providers like Stanza Living in contrast have taken many important steps to ensure that not only the tastiest but also the healthiest food reaches you safely! The food is cooked in kitchens following FSSAI guidelines, focusing on minimum touch preparation. The concept of contactless dining and food delivery is practised in all the properties where pre-packed meals are served to designated residents, which can be pre-ordered by the them on the Stanza Resident App to reduce human contact through the chain.

Affordable

It is understandable that you would want to save every single penny to relieve your already stressed pocket when you have moved to a new city. Managed accommodations in such cases are nothing less than a blessing wherein you get more than basic facilities like food, furniture, high-speed internet, laundry, entertainment areas etc. all under one roof. Additional security is provided by using CCTV cameras, deploying 24x7 guards and card-based entry to ensure no random person enters the property. And all this is under very competitive market rates. Additionally, with properties spread out across the prime locations, residents can further save on time and commute costs.

At the end of the day, we understand that many new-age, branded accommodation options are now on the rise to challenge the typical PG concept and provide a healthy and hassle-free alternative. These spaces are prioritizing consumer interests - spacious, well-designed rooms (over cramped, poorly maintained infrastructure); all-inclusive services (over managing complete daily chores by yourself), adopting stringent healthcare advisories and practices (over being lax about hygiene processes). They are also continuously evolving to become better versions - strengthening their remote work/study offerings, building their service expertise, carrying out audits and process improvement, creating emergency escalation frameworks for any potential contingencies. With many other advantages over traditional PGs and hostels, managed accommodation are enabling you to focus on your lifestyle and growth needs proving to the world that even a pandemic cannot stop you from achieving your goals!

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