Yael (00:05)

Hello everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in to Vertical Futures. My name is Yael Shemer. I'm the co-founder of Tulu. Today we have a very special guest — Guillaume Deri, visiting us from France. We've been partners with Greystar for many years, but we've just recently opened our first property in France, very much thanks to Guillaume and his team's amazing leadership. Today we're going to talk about everything real estate, hear a lot of stories, and I'm very excited for this conversation. Guillaume, thank you so much for being here.

Guillaume (00:41)

Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

Yael (00:44)

To dive in — you've spent over a decade in hospitality and real estate. What was it about those early years that made you want to build a career in real estate?

Guillaume (00:57)

It's quite logical because I started in hospitality — always trying to be in places where people feel good. In a hotel, you always see people for one night, maybe two. But in the PBSA industry, you have people with you for one year, two years, and even more in multifamily. That drew me toward operations management. The culture at Greystar, and I think in the industry in general, is to mix real estate and hospitality. Hospitality with purpose, if I may say.

Yael (01:39)

Absolutely. The name Greystar is very much synonymous with hospitality and innovation. How were you able to translate that into the French market and bring it to a city like Paris?

Guillaume (01:54)

It's quite a challenge, honestly. The market in France is really new compared to the UK, for instance. What we think is that we need to make people discover. I've probably done around 100 visits of the building over the past year and a half at Canvas La Défense. The reaction is always the same from investors or direct customers — "wow, it doesn't feel the same as in the photography on your website." It's big, and you can feel the hotel vibe. First, it's probably the design that makes it work — when you come to the lobby or the front desk, you think: is this student housing or is this a hotel? Then on the hospitality side, it really translates through the on-site team — they are probably 90% of the job. Most of them come from hospitality and turned to real estate. They're always keen to welcome people and know them by name. Just for the record, we have 644 units at La Défense. That's quite a lot — but that's how we try to embed people to trust us and try us. And what we can see today: it's working.

Yael (03:16)

I know — I've read a few articles describing La Défense as the most beautiful building in France, which is a huge compliment. How do you think this project has changed the landscape, and what lessons did you learn bringing it to market?

Guillaume (03:34)

I think people were a bit scared about the project. Even myself, honestly, when I first saw the size of it. But we hosted an event a few months ago — a student living conference — and it was really nice to see all the actors from the PBSA industry look around and say: what you've done is amazing. You've combined the sense of hospitality with accommodations that are genuinely premium, and all the facilities you could imagine to have a small village in one place — an international community where people communicate constantly. I think we convinced the market. And the occupancy rate, which is now almost 100%, confirms we were right a year and a half ago.

Yael (04:31)

That's amazing. In the US and particularly in the Northeast, there are so many new developments opening with sometimes challenging occupancy rates because you're taking big bets in new areas. You're at 99% occupancy. What's the secret to keeping residents retained and satisfied in such a competitive market?

Guillaume (05:06)

First — as the market is not mature yet in France, there is demand. That's the starting point. Then how we maintain it: first is again the on-site staff and the service they provide to retain people and build trust. Then to get new applicants, we go through different channels. Our target is definitely Gen Z, so as you can imagine, a lot of social media — Instagram, TikTok — and it drives us a lot of leads. And something special we have is our networking with universities and business schools. They are probably our first ambassadors, talking about our product to their students, both French and international. More than 75% of our residents at La Défense are international. We also anticipate the different periods of the year — the fall semester from September to December, the spring from January to May, and the summer from June to August, each with different client profiles. As long as we anticipate this demographic moving every four or five months, we can manage it. We're already signing contracts for January, so that's positive.

Yael (06:53)

I want to take a quick turn to technology — because how can we not? The buildings you're managing are almost like small cities. I was just at a panel about autonomous buildings and the idea that a building could have an internal system that predicts its own needs. Costs are rising, resident expectations are higher. How has technology been changing the student housing market over the last decade, and specifically in recent years?

Guillaume (08:14)

That's a very tough subject and I could talk about it for hours. First, on distribution — social media and influencer marketing is now key to our market. We need real video on TikTok and Instagram showing a true experience of what people are actually living. "A day in my life" content — that's exactly what we try to do regularly, to show what really happens in the residence. Not influencing in a bad way, just showing the reality in the way that young people actually talk. When I started eight years ago in luxury offices, there was no app to book a meeting room. It feels like prehistory now. Today we have a building property management application where residents can find all building information, contact the team, open a maintenance ticket. It's a great way to communicate about upcoming events. But what I'd expect in the future is a smarter, more sustainable app — a truly smart building that can manage temperature, lighting, and consumption data across different seasons. Right now it's still quite manual. But I have the feeling that future construction will be driven by this data. We're in a data-driven world, and on utilities especially, having all that data well-manageable by the team is so important.

Yael (10:40)

You've mentioned sustainability. How do you see it as a pillar in your developments right now, and are you partnering with other stakeholders to make an impact on the greater environment around the building?

Guillaume (11:42)

We're closely working with DeepKey now to have all our utility data in one central platform and manage our consumption as well as possible. But to be honest, sustainability in a building isn't easy every day. Even if everyone is in favor of it, we're still at the stage of helping people put their trash in the correct bins. We try to educate residents — telling them that even on non-inclusive rents, turning off the lights is still something they need to do. We do events about clothing exchanges, swaps, things like that, which work pretty well. The vintage vibe lands well with our residents. It's a challenge to get people to commit to sustainable habits daily, but we have a big role to play — and we're trying. Maybe tomorrow we can imagine a small display in each apartment showing how much energy they're consuming, to keep them aware of their impact on the building and the environment. And Tulu is a big helper here — people are always happy coming to a new place in a foreign country not having to think about whether they need to buy a vacuum or any appliance. You just rent it, use it, bring it back. It's very easy and very simple. We were surprised by how quickly it was adopted even at 30% occupancy. People always react to the Tulu box with genuine delight. It's quite powerful for the living experience.

Yael (14:16)

That's awesome. We're noticing that for behavior change in general, partnering early — in the low-occupancy phase when people just moved in and are still open to new ideas — is really powerful. I want to talk about your team. Real estate and managing buildings is also a leadership role with so many moving pieces. What's your philosophy on building culture and keeping your team motivated across such complex operations?

Guillaume (14:59)

My team is definitely the engine. Nothing happens without them. But trying to build culture by just pointing to company pillars and saying "that's it" — it doesn't work. Culture is about trust. It's about giving people a vision of where we're going, what our objectives are, what they can expect in one, two, three, even five years. That's the best way to keep the team motivated. Every semester they need to rent 100 to 150 units — new people moving in, move-outs, complaints, sometimes difficult behaviors. It's a lot of pressure. And as these roles are quite new in France — if you go back 10 years, there were only a couple of PBSA actors in the country — we're genuinely still writing the job description. There's no special diploma to become a residence manager in this industry yet. That's fun, but also challenging. I'm happy with my team. They are really committed and very motivated by the new openings ahead. We just opened Canvas Cité Fons a year and a half ago, we'll open Canvas Cité in January, and then in 2027 we'll open two more properties in Toulouse and in Courbevoie. The growth ahead motivates people and gives them room to grow.

Yael (16:43)

That's really cool. Real estate doesn't exist in a vacuum — it exists in the broader context of a user like an international Gen Z student who's used to renting in Illinois, Paris, or Milan. Our industry keeps pushing us to collaborate and understand what's happening in neighboring buildings and cities. Now we're at the looking-ahead part of the interview. What do you think the next five years of student living in Europe has in store? What big shifts do you expect?

Guillaume (17:53)

First, I think the market will keep growing. More and more students are traveling the world to study, and this market is still just beginning in France. I'm sure we'll see more office-to-residential conversions. A good example is the neighborhood where Canvas La Défense sits — Paris La Défense was a purely office neighborhood for many years, but now many towers will be converted to residential, either multifamily or student housing. That conversion is better for the environment than leaving buildings empty. We know how to do it. For France specifically, I would also expect — and wish — for more flexibility in leases. In France, you sign a 12-month renewable lease but residents can give one month's notice whenever they want, which makes anticipating leasing always a challenge. Having new lease structures for our market would be a big plus. And more broadly, people won't look for an apartment that's just an apartment. They want a place to live, a place to grow, a place to meet people. In our digital world — which is wonderful in many ways — there's less human contact. But in a building like Canvas La Défense, you meet people every day in different areas: the music room, the gym, the yoga studio, the rooftop. You discuss with real people, not behind a screen. That human dimension will remain part of the future of our industry. That's something AI cannot replace.

Yael (20:03)

Absolutely. And you mentioned earlier the "wow effect" — taking old concepts like a laundry room and turning them into a moment. Can you share more about that?

Guillaume (20:37)

Since my studies in hospitality, I've always learned that the wow effect matters enormously. You have only one chance to make a good first impression. When people come into the residence, we try to touch all the senses. First, the smell — we have a fragrance in our residence. Then touch — noble materials like wood. Then sound — music that welcomes you. Taste — we always offer a good coffee. And sight — you walk in and think: am I really in a student housing property? And a fun detail: when residents go to the laundry and they see the Tulu box on the opposite side of the washing machines, they're immediately like — wow, what is this? How does it work? And the last thing: when we're running tours, our conversion rates are already very high before even visiting the apartments. Just the common areas do the work. Because when you finish the tour on the rooftop with the view of the Eiffel Tower, you're ready to sign regardless of which apartment is available. We really believe in the wow effect — it's part of our standards as a company.

Yael (22:10)

That's amazing. The question of "what would a tour look like if someone would sign a lease without even seeing the apartment?" — and then back-engineering from there — that's genuinely what you're doing. And I think many people in my generation and Gen Z are wishing their landlord thought that way. When a building wants you to meet people, how does it design the spaces? The coffee smell, the materials — these are sensory choices. You are designing homes.

Guillaume (22:52)

Exactly. We want a place where people feel comfortable. And again, our staff knows the name of every resident. Which is amazing at 644 units.

Yael (23:03)

That is unheard of. We have time for one last question in our looking-ahead section. If you could redesign the future of urban living in one sentence, what would it sound like?

Guillaume (23:18)

It's not easy, but — maybe places where people don't just live, but where they truly belong. Because of the community.

Yael (23:28)

Where they truly belong. That's beautiful. That kind of concludes our interview, which I think was super insightful. Thank you so much, Guillaume, for your time and for being our partner. It's been a true pleasure working with you. You are setting the standard so high for everyone else — something to be very proud of.

Guillaume (23:57)

Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure talking to you and a pleasure to be your partner. I'm sure we're going to have many other projects together very soon.

Yael (24:07)

Amen. Bye everyone. Thank you.

Guillaume (24:11)

Bye.