About Riverwoods Plantation 

Rachel Miller is the property manager for  Riverwoods Plantation RV Resort Condominium Association Inc., a condominium in Estero, FL founded in 1982.  She has been a Community Association Manager for over twelve years and has been in property management for seventeen years. 

Riverwoods Plantation is an award-winning 55 and older 640 unit resident-owned community with the finest living and recreational experiences in the area. 

The community has been using Neigbrs by Vinteum for 2 years now. In this customer success story, Rachel shares her experience with our platform and how residents welcomed it. 

Previous Solution 

We were on a completely different platform called AthomeNet. That was the website provider we were using before but they were being bought out by another company, I believe it’s called Frontsteps. Or they were merging with them, I’m not sure. 

Challenge

Our biggest challenge with our previous website was that we had no way of sending out email notifications or text notifications if there was an emergency. Or even a phone call notification. So if we were to have some sort of emergency. So let’s say there was a water main break in the community, we had no way of letting our residents know in a quick fashion that there was a problem. We do have an in-house television channel. We rely on that, but not everybody has their TV turned on all the time. 

Current Solution –  Neigbrs by Vinteum

Most people have their smartphones on them, so when they get a notification from us, it’s immediate. Everything goes out to the owners via our website. Usually, through the email notices, I only use the text and phone notices if there’s a major emergency. So that’s the biggest thing that we really have grown to appreciate with Vinteum.  I don’t want to see any hurricanes! But in the event of a hurricane or a tropical storm. It’s an excellent tool for us. And with COVID it has been great to have that because we were able to get information out. Because, as you know, things are changing rapidly, especially at the beginning of the whole pandemic. It was a great tool for us. 

Results and Impact

I think it’s been pretty positive, with a little bit of a learning curve. Because my residents in this community are an active adult community, so all of them are older than 55. Some of them are savvier with technology than others.

One thing that was helpful was when Leila (Head of Customer Success at Vinteum) put together a little video for us that we were able to post. This video showed people how to use the website and that was an excellent tutorial for everyone. 

I’ll say your customer service is fantastic. Every time we had a problem or a question,  in particular when I started to design the website,  Every step of the way, she was wonderful to work with. If she didn’t know the answer, she would find out and get back to me.

“100%. Your customer service is wonderful”

I think the biggest challenge for us is getting people used to the new site, and learning how to find what they need from the new site. And, basically, that just takes some time and practice. Most of my communication goes straight out through the Neigbrs Website. Especially through Notices or I post something on Documents. Whether there’s an emergency or just a meeting or when we send out our newsletter. 

“90% of our communication goes through Neigbrs by Vinteum”

Where do you see the community association management industry going in the future?

I think the future is more technology-based, which is where Vinteum comes into play.  We will rely on them to bring us new technology and resources which will help us move toward the future. 

Preferred Features

During the interview, Rachel told us that her preferred features are community notices and events calendar. Neigbrs by Vinteum is an all-in-one software full of different tools. Here, we will go through Rachel’s favorite features, we will explain how they work and what their benefits are. 

Community Notices

What is it?

Notices is our most popular feature inside our portal. It allows you to send an email out to your whole community in a few clicks. You can send this blast out to everyone, or choose to segment it by street or building, or even by unit. Otherwise, you can choose to send it just to tenants or just members. The notice sends an email, push notifications on residents’ phones and it stays on the system’s notice board as well.

Benefits

Notices save you time, allowing you to send emails quickly and efficiently. Most importantly it improves communication with residents. They can stay in the loop with what’s going on, even if they’re away.

Calendar

What is it? 

Our easy-to-use events calendar allows board members and community association managers to create one-off and recurring events. You can include meeting agendas and event flyers, and choose who can see the event. This can be convenient when you would like only one street or building to see a specific event, such as repaving or elevator maintenance. 

Benefits

An  Events calendar is a must-have for all organized community associations. It increases transparency as all residents can see what’s happening in their condo. All information around meetings, events, and maintenance dates is centralized. 

Would you like to learn how Vinteum can help your community simplify daily tasks and improve communication? Click on the image below to request a free demo.