This May, rental housing professionals gathered in Niagara Falls, ON, to attend WEBCON 2016, an annual conference exploring innovative marketing and operational strategies impacting the rental housing industry in Canada.
The two day conference featured sessions on a wide range of topics, including social media marketing, choosing the right tenant, and providing housing to university students. It also included three keynote speakers: Bruce Coxon, Co-Host of The Disruptors, co-founder of LavaLife, and former Dragon on CBC’s Dragons’ Den TV Series; Hunington Residential Partner and Senior VP Kate Good; and Scott Stratten, President of UnMarketing.
During WEBCON, Gryd unveiled our new apartment listing platform and begin collecting listings from property managers across the country. In contrast to Canada’s old-school rental housing industry, Gryd has embraced innovation and adopted cutting-edge technology to improve the experience of tenants searching for a new home. Tailored to a new generation of renters who expect simple, intuitive digital experiences, the Gryd platform allows users to browse listings, favourite homes, save their searches, and explore units with our innovative 3D Tours.
“This is an industry that has been lagging behind for a long time now,” said Gryd President Jordan Billinkoff. “We are thrilled to be leading the industry with an innovative apartment search experience.”
To produce 3D models of rental apartments, Gryd lays 360-degree panoramic photography over wireframes created with advanced 3D modelling technology. Users can explore detailed apartment interiors from ground level, see suites from a bird’s eye view, or study more traditional 2D floorplans. At WEBCON, we produced a 3D tour of the trade-show floor to demonstrate the technology’s capabilities.
During the conference, Gryd was named Biggest Disruptor (Industry Supplier) at the Rental Marketing Awards (RMAs), which celebrate noteworthy marketing accomplishments in the rental housing industry. Awards were presented to 16 companies, including Yardi, PadMapper, Minto Group, Greenwin, and Park Property Management. The Biggest Disruptor award is handed out to “a highly ambitious company who takes risks, disrupts the industry in some definable manner and ultimately affects change.” The category was judged by special guest Bruce Coxon.
“This is a very special award for us… and such great timing,” Billinkoff said. “Winning the Biggest Disruptor award as we unveiled our new platform, gave us great momentum to get the new platform off the ground. It is a very exciting time for us, and we are honoured to have won this award.”
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