Every September, the same scene plays out across campuses and cities: cars queue outside receptions, trolleys appear and disappear through doorways, and students carry their belongings into their new home away from home.
More than a decade of Global Student Living Index data shows that the moving-in experience has a lasting relationship with student satisfaction and advocacy. Students who have a negative experience are significantly more likely to become Net Promoter Score detractors. Moving-in day is, therefore, a single, high-stakes moment for accommodation providers. Get it right, and students begin the year feeling reassured and welcomed, and are likely to have a more positive overall experience. Get it wrong and that poor first impression can be difficult to undo.
In 2023, GSL News identified five essentials for a successful move-in – clean rooms, clear parking information, enough staff, short orientation tours and early opportunities for students to meet one another.
This year, we have revisited the GSL Index data, this time looking at students’ free-text responses to the question: “Tell us about your moving-in experience and if there is anything that could be done to improve it.”
The encouraging news is that many students had little to complain about. Their move was “smooth”, “easy” or simply fine. Less encouraging is that the problems flagged by students over the most recent academic year are mostly the same problems flagged previously.
The recurring problems
Student comments point to six familiar areas of friction:
- Parking: full car parks, unclear instructions, difficult-to-find spaces and unexpected charges.
- Luggage and access: broken or distant lifts, several flights of stairs and too few trolleys.
- Reception coverage: nobody available when students arrived late, at weekends or outside the official check-in window.
- Room readiness: rooms that had not been cleaned properly, outstanding damage, mould or unfinished repairs.
- Wayfinding: confusion over entrances, blocks, parking areas and the check-in process itself.
- First-day isolation: students arriving early or alone with no obvious way to meet their flatmates or other residents.
None of these issues is especially surprising, nor are they unusual problems caused by one difficult intake. They are predictable operational pressures that return every year and need to be planned for to minimise their impact.
What makes a good move-in experience?
In addition to highlighting what went wrong on moving-in day, student comments also provide rich insight into what made their experience positive. The good news is that in most cases, the difference between a stressful move and a relaxed one was not some expensive initiative. It was a number of small practical considerations or a decision made at the right time.
The positive examples below show how relatively small touches can make moving in feel much easier and more welcoming. But they only work when the fundamentals are already in place. A clean, fully prepared room, with fixtures and appliances working as expected, is the essential starting point for a good arrival experience.
Show students what to expect
Clear written instructions matter, but some students found short videos even more useful. Students who had watched arrival videos already knew where to go, what documents they would need and how their key-card access would work.
When I eventually got to my accommodation, I wasn’t even stressed at all because I already got a check-in video sent to me weeks before. So, I had an idea of what I was going to do, how I was going to meet someone at reception, and how I was going to sign and get my key card access. I already knew all that before coming in.
Other students valued photographs or videos of their room before arrival. Knowing what furniture and equipment were already provided helped them decide what to bring and removed some of the uncertainty surrounding the move.
Make moving belongings easier
The humble trolley featured surprisingly often in positive comments.
Where trolleys were available and easy to find, students described the move as much calmer and more manageable. Where they were absent, students struggled with boxes and suitcases, particularly when lifts were unavailable or rooms were several floors up.
A visible trolley collection point, enough trolleys for peak periods and a backup plan for broken lifts are all relatively straightforward measures. Providers should also consider whether students with disabilities, injuries or particularly heavy luggage need additional support or an earlier arrival slot.
Give students a five-minute tour
Many students said they were handed a key or fob and then left to work everything else out for themselves.
For a student living independently for the first time, even basic things may not be obvious: how the key-card system works, which entrance to use, where to dispose of rubbish or how to find the laundry room.
As a Moroccan, this is my first time leaving my country, so I would have preferred more guidance. They gave me the key without explaining how to use it, without taking into consideration that we don’t have these kinds of keys in Morocco. Secondly, when I entered the flat, at first everything was new for me, from the oven to the shower to the heater, so I struggled for days to know how to use it. Even the window – how to open it and close it was new, so I recommend providing full guidance for newcomers.
Where staff provided a quick tour, students often mentioned it as one of the best parts of their arrival. It did not need to be lengthy. Five minutes spent showing someone to their block and explaining the basics could prevent hours of confusion and leave the student feeling that staff were genuinely pleased to see them.
The receptionist knew I was tired, but we still did a little tour, and it was so easy. His showing me the facilities in my accommodation really made me happy. After that, he walked me to my room, and he even helped me carry my boxes.
This is one of the simplest and highest-value improvements providers can make.
Prepare for arrivals outside normal hours
Late arrivals are not unusual, particularly for international students dealing with flights, connections and unfamiliar transport systems.
Yet students arriving in the evening, overnight or at weekends were among those most likely to report a seriously poor experience. Some found an empty reception desk, waited for security to arrive or discovered that their key was not available, with no one able to resolve the problem.
A clear after-hours process is essential. Students should know who to contact, where to wait and what will happen next. Staff and security teams also need access to the information and keys required to deal with predictable problems.
The objective is not necessarily to staff reception around the clock. It is to ensure that a delayed student is never left wondering whether anybody knows they are there.
Reduce first-night stress
Students also noticed small touches that made their first evening easier: a welcome pack, basic kitchen equipment, bedding, refreshments or a goody bag at reception.
These gestures were especially appreciated by students arriving without family support or after a long international journey.
I arrived quite late at night, but moving in was easy. The bed already had bed sheets for me. And you know, finding out the pots and pans and things like that – the essentials were here, which made the first day of moving in easy and less stressful.
My moving-in experience was very simple. It would have been helpful if the accommodation provided bedding, as it was a lot coming off of 2 days of travel to have to scramble to get my bedding, so I did not have to sleep on an empty bed.
Not every provider will be able to supply bedding or kitchen equipment, but the wider lesson is useful – it is important to think about what a student, especially one arriving late at night, may need during their first few hours, before they have located a supermarket, unpacked or learned their way around the building. Ensuring that students know what to expect and how they can prepare to minimise stress in their first few hours is likely to improve first impressions.
Empower staff to use their judgement
Some of the strongest positive comments were about staff who went slightly beyond the formal check-in process.
Students remembered the receptionist who noticed they were exhausted, the volunteer who helped carry a suitcase upstairs, or the staff member who calmly resolved an unexpected problem rather than sending them away.
Flexibility also mattered. One student with a disability was allowed to move in early, while others were helped despite arriving late or without having completed every expected step.
These experiences depend partly on individual kindness, but they also reflect management decisions. Staff need enough training, information and authority to make sensible decisions when the standard process does not fit the person standing in front of them.
Welcome Events
Many students said they wished there had been a welcome event to help them meet other residents on moving-in day, with some saying they had not met their flatmates days after moving in. Others stressed the importance of having welcome events throughout the first week to enable those who arrived later the opportunity to make connections.
It would be great if there could be an event or something like that when the students are arriving. This could be a cherry on the cake experience for students, but there was nothing like that.
The basics still matter
Almost three years after our previous review, students are still describing problems with parking, reception coverage, cleanliness, signage and communication. This reinforces that moving-in day is not a problem that can be solved once and forgotten. Every intake requires providers to revisit their plans, learn from the previous year and make sure the basics will work in practice. Tracking moving-in satisfaction through the GSL Index – and treating it as an important operational measure – can also help providers identify recurring weaknesses, assess whether improvements have made a difference and maintain accountability from one intake to the next.
Improvements in the moving-in experience are most likely to be gained by treating the basics as non-negotiable, while recognising that the small, thoughtful touches are often what students remember most.
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This analysis is based on a qualitative review of free-text responses to the Global Student Living Index question, “Tell us about your moving in experience and if there is anything that could be done to improve it?” The themes represent recurring patterns in student comments rather than a formally coded statistical breakdown. To benchmark your own moving-in experience against the Index, visit gslglobal.com/index
