To turn a respite or trial stay into a permanent move-in, decide before the stay what you want to learn, keep notes the move-in team can use, have the next-step conversation before the guest leaves, reuse the documents and preferences you already collected, keep the apartment, tablemates and caregivers that worked, fix anything raised during the stay before move-in day, and run the usual day 5, 30 and 90 check-ins.
A respite or trial stay gives your team something no tour can: days of real information about how a resident lives, eats and gets on with neighbors. Too often it is lost at the deposit. The family fills in the same forms again, the move-in team starts from a blank plan, and the resident meets new faces as if the stay never happened.
The steps below are about the handoff from stay to move-in. For running the stay itself, see how to run a staycation like one team.
The 7 steps
Decide what you will learn during the stay
When: Before the stay starts
Agree with the family what the stay should show: routines, dining, how the resident gets on with neighbors, and what support they need. Write it down so every department watches for the same things.
Keep notes the move-in team can use
When: During the stay
Record preferences, who they sat with, which activities they joined and anything that did not go well, against the resident and not in one person's inbox. These notes become the first draft of the move-in plan.
Have the conversation before they leave
When: The last day or two of the stay
Ask the resident and family how the stay felt, what they liked, and what would need to be true for this to become home. Agree on one next step and a date, rather than waiting for them to call.
Carry everything forward
When: Deposit day
Do not start the paperwork, assessment or preference forms from zero. Reuse what you already collected, confirm what has changed, and only ask for what is genuinely new.
Keep what worked
When: Planning the move-in
Where you can, keep the same apartment or a similar one, the same tablemates, the same activities and the caregivers they already know. The resident should feel they are coming back, not starting over.
Fix what did not work before move-in day
When: Before move-in day
Anything the resident or family raised during the stay gets an owner and a date on the move-in plan, and is done before they arrive. Tell the family it has been handled.
Run the check-ins from the move-in date
When: Day 5, 30 and 90
A respite stay is not a substitute for the first 90 days. Run the same check-ins as for any new resident, and compare the answers with what you learned during the stay.
A family who has already told you everything during a stay should never be handed the same blank form at the deposit.
What to carry forward
- Preferences: wake and sleep times, dining likes and dislikes, seating, activities they enjoyed.
- People: tablemates, neighbors and caregivers they got on with.
- Documents: anything already signed or collected, with only changes or expired items requested again.
- Concerns: what did not go well, and what was promised to fix it.
- The family contact: keep the same named person from the stay through the first month.
Where it usually breaks
- Notes from the stay live with whoever hosted it, and the move-in owner never sees them.
- The family is asked for the same information twice and wonders whether anyone was listening.
- Something raised during the stay is still unfixed on move-in day.
- The check-ins are skipped because "they already stayed with us".
ResiOnboarding keeps every move-in task, owner and due date on one shared plan, so what the team learned during a stay is already there when the deposit comes in, and it schedules check-ins at day 5, 30 and 90. See the product overview.
Continue reading
How to Run a Staycation
Running the stay itself, as one team.
The Sales-to-Operations Handoff
8 details that get lost between deposit and move-in.
The 30-Day Move-In Countdown
25 tasks every department owns before move-in day.
Resident Check-Ins at Day 5, 30 and 90
The conversations that follow every move-in.
Every new resident gets one first impression. Make it the one your team intended.
ResiOnboarding puts every task, owner and due date for a move-in on one shared plan, from deposit through day 90. Start with a pilot at one community: your team runs your next move-ins on it, and you decide based on what you see.