The Automated Apartment Hunt: Proptech Reshapes the Renter Experience

BOSTON, MA – April 02, 2026

The search for a new apartment—once a rigid process dictated by 9-to-5 office hours and leasing agent availability—is undergoing a radical transformation. In one of the most significant endorsements of this shift, national property management giant Highmark Residential has announced a massive expansion of its partnership with Tour24, a self-guided touring platform. The move scales the technology across a substantial portion of its portfolio, implementing self-guided touring in over 45,300 apartments nationwide, signaling a pivotal moment for the multifamily industry.

Highmark, which operates nearly 95,000 units across 350 communities, completed a phased rollout of the technology following a successful pilot program. The expansion isn't just about adding a new feature; it's a strategic response to a fundamental change in consumer behavior, where the on-demand economy has reshaped expectations for everything, including finding a home.

"Tour24 has proven to be an important partner in meeting our leasing goals,” said Jon King, Executive Vice President at Highmark Residential, highlighting the operational success that prompted the large-scale adoption.

Meeting the On-Demand Renter

The modern apartment hunter is no longer willing to wait. Driven by the convenience and immediacy of other digital services, today’s renters, particularly tech-savvy Millennials and Gen Z, expect flexibility and self-service options. Research shows that a significant majority of prospects prefer flexible touring, a trend validated by Highmark's own experience.

In 2025 alone, the Tour24 platform generated more than 28,000 unique prospects for Highmark communities. Critically, approximately 50% of those tours occurred on weekends and after traditional business hours. This data confirms a clear market demand: renters want to explore potential homes when interest is highest, not when the leasing office happens to be open. Self-guided tours remove this friction, allowing a prospect who discovers a listing at 8 p.m. on a Tuesday to visit it moments later.

This shift caters to a demographic that is increasingly comfortable with—and reliant on—intelligent technology. With Gen Z projected to become the largest segment of the U.S. rental market by 2030, their preference for digital-first, low-pressure interactions is setting a new industry standard. Self-guided tours empower these renters to explore at their own pace, revisit specific features, and form an opinion without the perceived pressure of a sales agent. As Lauren Gummelt, VP of Marketing at Highmark Residential, noted, “it’s about giving people choice and removing friction from the touring experience.”

A New Blueprint for Leasing Operations

While the benefits for renters are clear, the strategic driver behind this large-scale adoption is the profound impact on operational efficiency and profitability. For property managers, the return on investment extends far beyond simple convenience. Industry data reveals that properties implementing self-guided tours can see a 40% increase in lead-to-lease conversion rates and a 60% reduction in the time leasing staff spend conducting physical tours.

By automating the top of the leasing funnel, property management companies like Highmark can transform the role of their on-site teams. Instead of acting as gatekeepers and tour guides, leasing professionals are freed up to focus on higher-value activities: building relationships, engaging with high-intent prospects, negotiating complex terms, and focusing on resident retention. This is a critical evolution in an industry with a staff turnover rate that can exceed 40%.

“Self-guided tours add ease for prospects while taking pressure off our teams, allowing them to focus on connection, service, and delivering a better overall experience,” Gummelt explained.

This operational leverage is a key part of what both companies describe as a “positive evolution for multifamily.” By capturing leads 24/7 and automating the initial tour, the technology acts as a force multiplier for leasing teams, allowing them to handle higher tour volume without increasing headcount. The result is a more efficient, scalable, and ultimately more profitable leasing model.

The Engine of Integration

The success of the Highmark and Tour24 partnership hinges on a factor that often proves to be the Achilles' heel of proptech adoption: deep, seamless integration. The industry is littered with promising but siloed tech solutions that fail to communicate with core management systems, creating more work for on-site teams rather than less. Highmark cited Tour24’s ability to weave itself into the existing tech stack as a key reason for its selection.

The platform integrates directly with a complex ecosystem of software and hardware, including access control systems, smart home technology, customer relationship management (CRM) platforms like RealPage, and major listing services such as Zillow and Apartments.com. When a prospect books a tour, the system automatically coordinates access, provides directions, captures lead data, and feeds it directly into the property’s CRM for follow-up. This creates a frictionless experience for both the prospect and the leasing team.

“Our partnership with Highmark demonstrates what’s possible when tech and operations work side-by-side with a shared vision,” said Georgianna W. Oliver, CEO of Tour24. “Together, we created an experience that is faster for prospects, more supportive for leasing teams, and scalable for modern portfolios.”

This collaborative approach, from pilot to enterprise-wide rollout, provides a blueprint for overcoming the common hurdles of technology adoption in large organizations. It transforms enterprise complexity into a repeatable operational model, ensuring that the technology enhances, rather than disrupts, daily workflows.

The Next Frontier: AI and the Future of Leasing

The adoption of self-guided tours is just one part of a broader “rental revolution” powered by automation and artificial intelligence. The future of leasing is not just about unassisted access but about intelligent, on-demand assistance. Tour24’s platform includes an AI component, “ToriAI,” which points toward the next frontier: conversational AI that can act as a virtual leasing agent.

These AI-powered chatbots and assistants can handle routine inquiries, answer detailed questions about amenities or policies, and pre-qualify leads around the clock. By engaging prospects instantly across multiple channels—from text messages to website chats—AI ensures that no lead goes cold. This technology is already generating higher-quality leads, with some data showing AI-assisted searches yield a 46% tour conversion rate compared to just 19% for non-AI users.

As this technology becomes more sophisticated, it will continue to redefine property management. AI will enable predictive maintenance, automate lease administration, and provide operators with data-driven insights into market trends and pricing. The role of the human leasing agent will continue to evolve, with an even greater emphasis on the empathy, negotiation, and complex problem-solving that machines cannot replicate. As technology and renter expectations continue to evolve in tandem, the line between a digital inquiry and a signed lease becomes ever more seamless, reshaping the very definition of home.