Resident Sentiment Report: The Consumer View of Senior Living

Seniorly knows the positive impact that the right senior living community can have on the aging experience. In fact, exciting new data shows that residents who move into senior living environments become less frail within one year of their move. Senior living solves for a multitude of aging-related concerns - including social isolation, which is a big concern for a full 25% of older adults according to a recent study.

It's no secret that many older adults are reluctant to move into senior living communities. They're often influenced by alarmist news stories about low-quality care homes, while the great work done by top-notch providers rarely gets any airtime. The media's habit of focusing on the negative means the more encouraging aspects of senior living get overshadowed. Add to this the fact that many older adults are stuck with outdated mental pictures of what senior living is like. They're still imagining drab, impersonal ‘old folks' homes’ instead of the vibrant, modern and luxurious communities of today. 

As we work with tens of thousands of families each year, we often encounter resistance to a move to senior living. And we've been wondering if outdated stereotypes are creating a cloud of confusion when it comes to senior living. Are stories from the ‘old days’ skirting the reality of today's senior living and its advantages? What do older adults and their families really think about senior living, on the whole?

So we took a deep dive into resident data from over 273,000 reviews of senior living communities across the web to understand what actual residents think and feel about their experiences in senior living communities.

Senior living resident sentiments

Seniorly partnered with Skypoint, a leading data firm that uses generative AI to improve data-driven decision-making.  Together, our teams looked at over 273,000 reviews left by residents and their families about their experiences with their senior living community. While reviews came from 49 states, it's worth mentioning that our data slightly over represents sentiment from California, Florida, and Texas residents. Despite these states harboring larger populations and higher numbers of senior living communities, the number of reviews sourced from these states surpasses their proportionate share. 

To make sense of such a staggering amount of data, we harnessed Skypoint's generative AI and the power of text analytics. This helped us decode languages, phrases, and sentiments, making it easier to interpret the feedback that families left. We focused our lens on eight pivotal categories that generated over 735,000 sentiment data points:

• The array of activities offered
• The quality of care services
• The standard of cleanliness
• The adequacy of facilities
• The perception of dining services
• The level of resident satisfaction
• The competence of staff
• The overall perception of value held by residents and their families

What do senior living residents really think about senior living?

Cleanliness matters - in more ways that one

Cleanliness emerged as a primary concern in approximately 24% of the sentiments in a comprehensive analysis of 273,000 U.S. senior living community reviews. This reflects the vital importance families and potential residents always associate with cleanliness, but particularly during their community tours. The presence of odors, which are common in senior living environments, often serve as a proxy for quality and rigor. Given this association, cleanliness is not just an aesthetic issue; it's closely tied to the perception of overall quality and to the sales process itself.  

• The take away: While most families don't identify cleanliness as a priority prior to touring, it's a strong factor in creating an overall impression of the community. Sales teams need to be well-trained to explain cleaning procedures as a differentiator and to openly to acknowledge unexpected issues during family tours.

Resident feedback is about caregivers…and more 

Coming in a close second, almost a quarter of the feedback related to staff. It's no secret that qualified and dedicated caregivers help craft the resident experience, but it's always interesting to see how this translates to the digital landscape. While many of us think in terms of caregivers when we think of the resident experience, many initial impressions that are shared as firsthand feedback are actually formed by the administrative (not the caregiving) team: front desk staff, sales and marketing teams - and of course the Executive Director. Families - especially touring families - strongly react to experiences with these staff, especially those related to phone or email experiences. 

• The take-away: while most senior living companies invest heavily in sales training for sales roles, the administrative team (including the front desk, business managers and accounts payable) are key players in shaping the initial impression of interested families.  Poorly handled inbound phone calls not only dissuade potential prospects from touring, but they end up in a digital record that can negatively impact your brand and word of mouth reputation.

The family experience makes or breaks the brand

In the landscape of senior living, the opinions of loved ones have a big impact. Almost a quarter of review sentiments indicate that the feedback shared is coming family members, not just the residents themselves. From a holistic perspective, these experiences of family members - their observations, their interactions with staff, their perception of living conditions - all filter through to their senior relatives, not to mention the feedback shared online. 

• The take away: Senior living operators need to think beyond resident experience in order to drive reputation. Providers that want to grow their brand need to have a roadmap that includes technology for both synchronous and asynchronous communication with family members and loved ones. 

Other observations

• Care Services: Surprisingly, comments related to specialized care services (like rehab or memory care support) received the highest ratio of neutral and negative comments to positive comments. While these care services are obviously accompanied by a host of other complications (which might color the perception of the care itself), they are typically delivered with a high degree of personalization and carry among the lowest staff-to-resident ratios.  
• Dining: It should come as no surprise to operators that dining is perceived as an opportunity for improvement. The highest percentage of neutral and negative sentiments were witnessed in this category at 18%. This underscores that food quality, menu diversity, and dining experience matter tremendously to our aging population.
• Value: The perception of value emerged as a highlight, with just under 90% of families using value in a positive context. In an era of increasing labor and other costs that are driving up senior living rents, it's heartening to see indications that families still balance the cost against what they are receiving.