How Lavanda transformed into an industry authority in 2 years

How Lavanda went from short-stay tech solution to a PBSA market leader in under 2 years

Brand awareness

Drove greater awareness of Lavanda’s multi-functional PMS in the PBSA space through strategic partnership announcements and over 40 high-value media placements

Positioning

Shifted market perception from a niche player in short-term rentals to an authority on short, medium, and long-term stay strategies in PBSA with a wide variety of thought leadership content.

Visibility

Expanded Lavanda’s profile as a tech leader in the PBSA sector by carrying out headline-grabbing research projects that featured prominently in national and trade media.

Company overview

Founded in 2015, Lavanda is a pioneer in the proptech space for the purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), multifamily, and serviced living sectors. Its award-winning platform reduces operational tasks and unifies multiple management functions into one seamless system, from marketing and leasing to reporting and accounting.

Lavanda’s multi-functional property management system (PMS) bridges the gap between traditional real estate and modern hospitality. Its flexible leasing solutions and expert support empower real estate owners and operators to maximize occupancy and revenue by integrating shorter stays with longer leases.

As an industry leader in optimizing property performance across multiple sectors, Lavanda has attracted top investors and expanded globally.

The challenge

Despite past success in the PBSA space, Lavanda was struggling to meet two strategic goals:

Expand its reputation beyond short-term stays. Even though its powerful PMS could manage both short and long leases, the market recognized it as the go-to emergency solution for seasonal student housing.
Become the voice of authority in its main market. Lavanda wanted to focus on the PBSA asset class and shift perceptions away from last-minute fixes to a strategic solution for operators looking to drive performance.

But finding the right PR agency to help meet these challenges proved difficult.

Laura Woollard, Lavanda’s VP of marketing, looked for an agency with “a deep understanding of both institutional real estate and the online travel agency world”. Only an agency with this kind of specialization would know how to help Lavanda amplify its voice and bridge the gap between the short stay and commercial rental sectors.

In 2023, Lavanda teamed up with Abode Worldwide.

“Abode really understood our business, our target audience, and what our target audience wants to hear. It showed a next-level understanding that’s really important in our industry and that we’ve never encountered before.”

Laura Woollard, Lavanda VP of Marketing

Our solution

We quickly got to work on crafting a PR strategy that could bridge the perception gap and help the market recognize Lavanda as an industry authority.

1. Partnership announcements

We secured national press coverage for Lavanda’s partnership with Unite Students, the UK’s largest PBSA operator. The announcement was an excellent opportunity for Lavanda to position itself as an authority in PBSA while validating the company’s credibility and impact within the industry.

We guided Lavanda on creating a targeted press release that would attract interest from top publications, including:

BE News
PBSA News
Global Student News

“Thanks to Abode’s expertise, we nailed the positioning of our partnership announcement, which helped streamline complex approval processes and secure coverage in the right publications,” said Laura.

2. Thought leadership

To consolidate Lavanda as an authority in flexible rentals and amplify reach, we focused on specific topics and media strategies we knew would resonate with both the short and long-stay markets.

Artificial Intelligence
With the launch of LavandaLabs — the company’s AI think tank designed for the proptech sector — we made sure the news reached the market with targeted press releases. Major industry outlets like BE News and PBSA News featured the launch, positioning Lavanda as an industry leader.

Flexible renting
We helped Lavanda share its expertise on flexible rental strategies to educate the PBSA market. Several thought leadership pieces and initiatives resonated with top publishers:

Green Street News accepted an op-ed by Lavanda, which called for changes to the planning system to allow universities to more easily monetize their student accommodation
Property Reporter published an article on the future of flexible renting in the UK
BTR News ran an op-ed on how landlords can best meet tenant expectations
Property Week featured both in-print and digital articles on how product diversification can solve the looming financial crisis that higher education institutions are facing
Lavanda’s Global Flex Report 2024 — a comprehensive analysis of flexible renting and its impact on the real estate sector — was featured in PBSA News, Estates Gazette, and Urban Living News
PBSA News Webinar highlighted Lavanda’s 2025 webinar, educating student accommodation providers on best practices in flexible renting to optimize revenue

We also conducted a first-of-its-kind Freedom of Information research campaign on behalf of Lavanda, analyzing responses from over 130 universities, using data-driven storytelling to reveal how summer short stays generated additional revenue, allowing for improvements to full-time student offerings. The project achieved two significant outcomes:

National and trade media coverage across outlets, including The i, Urban Living News, PBSA News, GSL, Landlord Today, University World News, and EdCentral.
Strategic positioning of Lavanda at the heart of key sector conversations about university revenue optimization and accommodation management.

Reactive commentary
We successfully secured reactive commentary opportunities for Lavanda, providing journalists with valuable and insightful expert commentary about a range of issues affecting the higher education sector. This ensured Lavanda was a focal point in conversations that mattered most to its target audience:

PhocusWire included Lavanda’s expert comment in an article on the trending convergence of hospitality and property management technology, featuring the company alongside other industry leaders
BE News featured a comment from Lavanda’s CEO among industry reactions to King Charles’ new Labour Government speech, which centered on planning reforms to accelerate housing delivery and infrastructure
Techround published Lavanda’s CEO’s expert advice for property startup founders in an article on UK housing market trends

3. Strategy

To help Lavanda gain industry recognition, we advised the platform to engage in PR and marketing opportunities that would increase exposure to target clients while establishing the brand as authoritative and knowledgeable within its sectors. Topics included:

The UK planning system: We encouraged Lavanda to provide expert commentary and insight into the UK planning system, specifically the legal framework’s damaging impact on alternative residential sectors, such as PBSA.
The universities’ funding crisis: We advised making the UK university funding crisis a central theme of Lavanda’s PR strategy, positioning the platform as a solution for institutions seeking new revenue streams through smarter use of student accommodation.

The results

Ensuring Lavanda participated in the right conversations while highlighting their technological powers through strategic placements helped the proptech transform from a niche player into an industry authority in under 24 months.

Our PR strategy resulted in:

A strategic respositioning toward student accommodation as Lavanda pivoted to prioritize PBSA over other asset classes
Securing more than 40 high-value pieces of coverage across target verticals
Between May 2023 and 2025, Lavanda’s Share of Voice rose from 12.6% to 15% while its Unique Monthly Visitors tripled
Prestigious awards and finalist positions in renowned competitions that boosted Lavanda’s profile and recognition within the market

“We’ve had a wonderfully broad spectrum of commentary, thought leadership, opinion pieces, and partnership announcements, and Abode has connected us effectively through a variety of channels with our target market. This has been so important because it’s been like working with an extra member of our team that writes spot-on pieces where we’ve made very few changes.”

Laura Woollard, Lavanda VP of Marketing

Conclusion

By showcasing the dual nature of its PMS and positioning it at the heart of important PBSA partnerships, Lavanda exceeded its visibility and authority goals.

Laura appreciated our laser focus throughout our work together. “Abode’s drum beat of consistency has enabled us to keep our story going for the last two years and drive our position in the market as an industry leader.”

Laura also saw Abode as a “safe pair of hands” that collaborated on creating key pieces of content, challenging them to think out of the box to be in the right conversations. “Abode continuously pushed us out of our comfort zone to try new things because they know what journalists want and which stories sell,” she said.

Our deep industry expertise enabled us to amplify Lavanda’s voice and showcase the breadth of its tech. We can do the same for you.

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