New home memberships model announced

We are very excited to have launched our new home membership model for Ailo users.

Our driving mission is to improve the experience for all involved in property management. We truly believe the experience of owning, renting and managing a property can be transformed through a platform that is designed to create real value for users and that leaves legacy ideas around a one dimensional interaction in its wake.

Our goal is that everyone should get value from the Ailo platform.

For renters, that value is built in the way the platform gives them visibility and control over their tenancy and its functioning. This manifests in:

The Ailo platform is designed to serve users, not the other way around. Importantly, the Ailo platform at its core is designed to provide renters with choice and it supports a wide range of options for how a renter can manage their home obligations, interact with the property manager, manage arrangements with co-tenants, make payments, including direct debit, bank initiated payments and CentrePay, amongst others. No other platform has done more in this effort.

We have for a long time supported renters in their choice of paying rent by credit and debit cards. Consistent with industry practice, we charged a service fee for providing payment services.

From 1 October, industry wide changes require removal of surcharges for card payments. This new requirement challenges all service providers across Australia, and in particular those that process rent, to do one of two things: no longer offer the flexibility of card payments, or create new value for renters that go far beyond just processing a payment.

Most companies have responded by removing the choice to use cards as an option for renters all together. Before deciding how we would respond, we surveyed and interviewed renters who pay by card and have been trialling new models of providing services within the Ailo Platform. Our offering remains considerate of the legislative protections for renters around payment methods and the Ailo platform having been, and continuing to be, provided to renters, investors and service providers at no cost.

Renters were clear that they wanted to keep flexibility in methods of payment. Cards help them manage cash flow; it is how they pay for and track many other expenses and may earn them points on their largest regular expense. We decided to rise to the challenge by adjusting the service we provide to both create new sources of value for our users and preserve the flexibility for renters to use cards, should they choose.

Card options are part of a broader set of features bundled under an optional home membership for a cost. This preserves a user’s ability to choose to make card payments while getting additional value as part of the offering.

Our vision for home memberships is to help everyone manage their home more effectively and economically. The optional memberships provide tools to centrally manage and pay any home and personal bills, track them over time and benchmark them against others. We have developed checklists to help users manage the different stages of a tenancy and also created more flexibility and simplicity over how bills can be managed and paid on time.

Membership options are entirely opt-in for the user. They do not have any impact on the core renting experience and will not change the relationship members have with their property manager or managing agency. To be clear, a member will not get any preferential treatment from the property manager and non-members will always have access to all the renter features and free payment options set out above. The value in memberships is all about the home, not the tenancy.

We are excited to bring more services to market and to increasingly support and enhance the experience of managing a home.

Got questions or need help? Contact Ailo Support at support@ailo.io