Shared space management in rental housing – A-Kruunu Oy
“Dog hair was found in the washing machine, and one serial booker had taken all the club room slots. The paper booking log was no longer enough.”
At A-Kruunu, digitalization is not an add-on service – it is the foundation of smooth living and efficient property management. Service Manager Reetta Kokkonen and Property Coordinator Roosa Nurmi explain that everyday solutions are built around this principle. In the properties managed by Reetta, One4all’s booking services are in use: a booking system integrated into the resident app, along with access control and a payment service. In some properties, the sauna heater is automatically activated based on bookings via relay control.
Resident safety is further enhanced with One4all Access, which allows residents to create temporary door codes themselves for the main entrance. This eliminates the need for a shared door code that could spread beyond the building. Communication is handled primarily through the resident app, and in some properties, digital notice boards also support daily communication.
The challenge: Manual booking and uncontrolled access to shared spaces
Reetta and Roosa explain that shared spaces frequently caused conflicts related to usage. In particular, laundry rooms faced issues due to paper booking logs and unrestricted access.
“The risk was that others would use reserved slots or even steal clothes. Sometimes, we’ve found a huge amount of dog hair in the washing machine, which indicates that prohibited animal textiles have been washed. There have also been challenges in other shared spaces: for example, the previous user may have left the space uncleaned, animals have been washed in saunas, or a dog has chewed furniture in the clubhouse.”
When these issues persisted despite communication efforts—and A-Kruunu had no visibility into who was using the spaces and when—it became clear that a new solution was needed.
Another key driver was the heavy administrative burden of managing bookings. It consumed excessive resources, tied up staff time, and increased the risk of human error. Maintenance staff booked sauna slots, rent control handled payments, and every change or small refund required input from multiple people.
“Managing a large property is already demanding, and without a booking system and access control solution, maintaining shared spaces is practically impossible. For example, I manage a property with 120 apartments, multiple clubrooms, and laundry facilities. There are also properties where shared spaces are used by two different owners, or our two separate buildings sharing facilities. In such cases, managing everything with a booking log simply doesn’t work,” Reetta explains.
The solution: A digital booking system with access control
A digital booking system was introduced in the properties, integrated with access control and payment services. The goal was to ensure that shared spaces remain pleasant and safe for everyone.
“When you have your own reserved slot, no one else can access the space. If issues arise, we can check who used the space last and contact them directly. There’s no need to play detective,” Reetta says.
“If necessary, we can restrict a person’s access rights, but we haven’t had to do that. Usually, it’s enough to inform someone who has violated the rules that their access can be temporarily suspended if the behavior continues.”
In practice, simply knowing that booking rights can be revoked has been enough to guide behavior in the right direction.
The booking system also improves fairness, as every resident now has equal access to shared spaces.
“To ensure everyone has a chance to get a good sauna slot, we don’t allow recurring reservations. Now residents can flexibly book individual sauna slots that fit their own schedules,” Reetta summarizes.
She also highlights the role of resident committees in developing and managing booking calendars:
“It’s great that the service is so flexible. I can adjust calendar settings based on the wishes compiled by the resident committee – they know best how daily life works in their building. We no longer need to impose general rules for everyone, such as fixed three-hour laundry slots. Instead, each property can have tailored settings that truly fit its needs.
Every property is different, and that’s why this works so well for both us and our residents. We can build a functional system for each property instead of treating thousands of apartments as one mass.”
A solution was also found to improve residential safety. In buildings without intercom systems, shared door codes had started to spread uncontrollably. However, removing door codes entirely was not desirable, as they were seen as convenient for residents. The solution was temporary, user-generated access codes.
“It’s convenient that residents can create their own access codes in the app, and after a set time, the code automatically expires. Since introducing temporary door codes, there have been no security issues,” Reetta notes.
The result: “Digitalization serves residents at least as much as It serves us”
Roosa has observed that the effectiveness of these services is reflected in time savings:
“The services reduce manual work and the time spent managing bookings, as residents handle reservations and payments independently. At the same time, the risk of human error decreases, since maintenance staff no longer act as intermediaries.”
Reetta shares the same experience:
“Without these services, I would spend a significant amount of time resolving issues related to shared space usage. It also helps that I can manage almost everything remotely.”
According to Roosa, the solution is particularly beneficial for rental housing companies. Reetta adds that demand has also increased in housing companies, as short-term rentals and investor-owned apartments become more common. With more external users entering buildings, it is increasingly important to manage and, when necessary, restrict access to shared spaces.
Both have also noticed that digital services are now an expectation among residents. Digital interaction is seen as a basic service, not an added benefit.
“We’ve received positive feedback on the flexibility of the service: residents can book a sauna at any time and even reserve back-to-back slots if needed. They can also cancel bookings easily. Residents no longer need to structure their lives around fixed sauna schedules.
In my opinion, the service significantly improves living comfort and enhances residential safety. Residents can plan bookings around their own lives—not the other way around. Digitalization serves residents at least as much as it serves us,” Reetta concludes.
A-Kruunu is a state-owned company founded in 2015 that builds and owns affordable rental housing. The company currently manages around 3,500 rental apartments, which it also leases and administers. Its operations are guided by the Ministry of the Environment. A-Kruunu’s core principles include promoting wooden construction, circular economy, low-carbon solutions, and innovation in housing.
This article is an ai-generated translation of the original article in Finnish.