Building safe and reliable student living with Greystar Ireland
At a glance
“A great student experience is knowing that living in a Greystar property will be secure, safe and reliable.”
Anaëlle Laouenan, Senior Marketing Executive at Greystar Ireland
Company Greystar Ireland operates five student residences under its Canvas Living brand across Dublin, Galway, and Cork, with more than 2,000 beds, located near Ireland’s top universities.
Industry Purpose Built Student Accommodation
Based in Ireland
The role of Chainels The Chainels app keeps students connected and informed, with access to key property details, resident events, wellbeing support, and service bookings such as housekeeping and laundry.
The foundations of reliable student accommodation
For students leaving home for the first time, their accommodation is more than just a room. It is where they find their feet, make new friends and become more independent, often in an unfamiliar city or country. Greystar Ireland provides a home away from home, a place where students feel safe and parents know their child is well supported.
Delivering that experience goes beyond physical security. Students need easy access to building updates, amenities and services, while onsite teams depend on a reliable way to reach them. Greystar sought a platform that could support these everyday interactions and its wider ambition for a consistent resident experience across its Canvas Living portfolio.
Greystar Ireland chose Chainels as the digital app where students can book shared spaces, sign up for events and read building updates. An integration with its property management system Entrata automatically onboards students when they check in, reducing manual work and simplifying registration for residents.
“Being able to say you can just go to the app and do that yourself, without even having to talk to anyone, is definitely a value proposition.”
Here’s how Greystar Ireland uses Chainels to create a reliable student living experience.
Communication that actually reaches students
Students come to Canvas Living Buildings to live uni and love life. Reliable communication is at the core of that. “Before we implemented Chainels, we mostly used posters and screen communications in the lobby, and we passed on events and any major residence news to students verbally, It was pretty disconnected,” recalls Anaëlle Laouenan, Senior Marketing Executive at Greystar Ireland.
“Especially in residences such as Point Campus, which has over 960 beds, it was very difficult to communicate properly to all students.”
Anaëlle Laouenan, Senior Marketing Executive at Greystar Ireland
While this set-up might work for smaller properties, it becomes unreliable the larger the building and the number of beds. Using three different communication channels also creates fragmentation, which makes it harder to deliver a consistent experience across all properties.
Understanding the need for a tool that could reach every student, Greystar Ireland chose Chainels to share news, events and amenities bookings. “With Chainels, they get a notification, either a push notification or an email, so it’s easier to ensure the information gets spread across the residents,” says Anaëlle.
The statistics dashboard shows on-site teams the percentage of students who have viewed each message, which gives them a deeper understanding of how students engage with the app and how well their communication is working.
An app that covers the full tenant journey
Student life can be incredibly rewarding, but moving away from home and settling into student accommodation can also be challenging. The Greystar Ireland team recognises that students need opportunities to build friendships and enjoy their independence, alongside places where they can concentrate on their studies. Across their portfolio, a variety of amenities helps students find that balance. From cinema rooms, basketball courts and gyms to co-working spaces and laundry facilities, these shared spaces give residents opportunities to spend time together, establish everyday routines and make the most of university life.
Chainels supports this by being the platform for every digital touchpoint of the students journey.
Phase 1: Day 1
Greystar’s property management system, Entrata, is linked directly to Chainels. When a student checks in, they are onboarded onto the platform automatically, with their resident information already connected.
A poster at reception with a QR code makes it easy to download the app, and the on-site teams encourage students to do it while they check in.
“It’s really encouraged that they should download Chainels, so that they just don’t miss out on anything,” she says.
Phase 2: Daily life
Once students have settled in, the app is where they hear about events. In some residences there are no screens yet and printing a poster every time isn’t practical, so the app is how events reach students.
Bookings happen in the app too, with no paper forms and no trip to reception. “If a resident needs to book a social space or a gym, it’s just all in one place,” she explains.
Phase 3: Move-out
The Entrata integration that onboards students at check-in also takes care of move-out. When a resident’s lease is no longer in Entrata, their access to Chainels is removed.
Scaling with the right tech partner
As Greystar's portfolio grows, it needs a platform that can adapt to different properties and their operational needs. Anaëlle describes what the team was looking for as something “super adaptable, responsive, and quick to set up, which Chainels has proven to be.”
That responsiveness was put to the test when Greystar acquired Copley Court in Cork in August. The Chainels team was quick to get the app set up and ready for residents, helping the new property get started without a lengthy implementation process.
What's next
The partnership is now moving towards the next stage, with AI capabilities designed to support Greystar's onsite teams.
One of the developments in progress is an issue reporting agent that automatically routes maintenance requests from students to the right service provider.
By taking care of the routing process, AI can reduce the coordination work involved in handling resident requests and give onsite teams more time to focus on the people living in their properties.
For Greystar, this is another step towards making everyday operations easier while maintaining the reliable student experience its residents expect.