Rently Summit 2026 Recap

Rently Summit 2026: The Crystal Anniversary

Rently Summit is an annual event that brings together industry leaders to discuss the latest trends and innovations in the rental housing industry. Every year, our goal is for attendees to leave the event feeling more connected to Rently, more educated on our new and existing products, and excited about the future we’re building together.

For Rently Summit 2026, we gathered at Hotel Casa del Mar in Santa Monica, CA, from September 14th-16th to celebrate Rently’s 15th or Crystal Anniversary. Traditionally, the crystal anniversary symbolizes strength, transparency, clarity, and resilience. To tie in those pillars, our theme this year was “Strong Foundations, Clear Vision.”

Welcome to Santa Monica

Attendees arrived Monday afternoon and made their way to the Conservatory for the Welcome Reception. Here they reconnected with familiar faces, and made new connections. The view of Santa Monica beach through the ceiling-to-floor windows made for a beautiful backdrop as the sun set.

Tuesday, September 15: A Year of Progress, 15 Years in the Making

The day kicked off after breakfast with a Bingo icebreaker to get the room warmed up and mingling before the first session. Our three winners walked away with $50 gift cards as their prize. 

Rently CEO Merrick Lackner opened the substantive part of the day with a walk through Rently’s history in his portion of the keynote address:

• – 2011: It started with a simple, sharp problem: the leasing process was broken, and it should be easier for renters to find a home. Rently began with Self-Tours.
• – 2015: From the front door to the whole home: Rently launched Smart Home, connecting the full resident lifecycle rather than just the tour.
• – 2024: The final barrier, the front gate: The release of Access Panel with Intercom and Access Panel Pro.

Rently COO Andre Sanchez followed up by emphasizing the importance of Customer Centricity as one of Rently’s core values. He shared how Rently has embodied this value across its history and how it continues to guide us in what we build and how we interact with our clients.

The session closed with a candid “Oceanside Chat” with Rently VP of Marketing Becca Nevarez interviewing Merrick, Clark, and Andre about the 15 year journey of building a global company, the lessons learned along the way, and everything still ahead. 

New Tools, Real Impact: A Year of Product Innovation

VP of Product Jared East, Product Manager Sean Watterson, and Director of Product Marketing Jackie Murphy walked through a year’s worth of shipped features aimed at fueling the leasing funnel by removing friction from the prospective renter experience:

• – Rently Intelligence (Ria), the 24/7 AI Leasing Agent, is driving a 60% increase in completed tours, 2x faster lead-to-tour velocity, and resolving 90% of lead inquiries via AI — saving roughly 50 hours per agent per month.
• – Fee-Free Tours & ILS Direct Scheduling are producing an average 33% increase in new prospect conversion and up to a 40% decrease in days-on-market year-over-year.
• – TourPass, Rently’s tap-to-unlock web experience, eliminates serial-number entry and keypad codes — an industry-first for touring technology.
• – New Complete Fee Transparency functionality ensures compliant, upfront pricing across all syndicated listings.
• – A new Lead Funnel Performance Dashboard gives operators centralized visibility into 12 critical KPIs from inquiry to lease.

On the smart home side, the team previewed what’s next for Rently’s Long Range ecosystem, purpose-built to remove the biggest deployment barriers in multifamily:

• – Rently Hub 4 Long Range (coming soon): One hub can power up to 25 units on a single floor, cutting CapEx by roughly 30% versus the traditional one-hub-per-unit model.
• – Rently Long Range Smart Thermostat (coming soon): Average savings of $140–$250/year through optimized scheduling, plus remote vacancy management and HVAC diagnostics.
• – Rently Smart Bolt Armor MDL (coming soon): A UL fire-rated, ADA-compliant smart lock built for multifamily retrofits, with a 2-year battery life.

The Beta program for all three long-range devices opens in January 2027. Those interested in participating can sign up here.

Search, Schedule, Self-Tour: The Renter Journey Reimagined 

Jackie Murphy and Becca Nevarez shared results from a Rently survey of 134 multifamily and single-family operators on what’s keeping them up at night: vacancy days that run too long, high no-show rates, leads going cold before follow-up, and security or unauthorized access at properties. For each pain point, they connected the dots to the Rently feature built to solve it — ILS Direct Scheduling and Fee-Free Tours for booking friction; wayfinding improvements like snap-to-map and 3D/2D views (already reducing how far renters stray from their intended path by over 78%); Ria for cold leads; and the Scam Prevention Quiz, Fake Listing Monitoring (flagging fake listings on 20.3% of enrolled properties), TourPass (a 68% reduction in reported access issues), and Renter SSO for security and friction at the door.

Rently Intelligence Revisited: Initial Results & What’s Next 

Product Marketer Jeff Menjivar and Senior Product Manager Aditya Mohan Kumar brought real client outcomes from those already benefitting from Rently Intelligence to the stage:

• Single Family Operator: 21% reduction in days-on-market (leasing 5.6 days faster), a 75% scheduled-to-completed tour conversion rate, a 45% lift in self-showings, and roughly 300 staff hours saved per month.
• Peak Property Management: 25% reduction in days-on-market, an 84% lift in self-showings, a 95% AI containment rate, and a 73% scheduled-to-completed tour conversion rate.

“The knowledge base is easy to update and keeps procedures clear. But the real benefit is how smoothly the entire Rently suite operates as a whole.” — Dan Plorin, Resident Services Manager, Peak Property Management

Looking ahead: Rently Intelligence will be available for Multifamily operators in October 2026, and Voice AI lands in November 2026. Check out a sneak peek of Voice AI below.

Beyond Go-Live: Enforcing Adoption & Continuous Training at Scale 

Kesha Fisher, SVP of Centralized Property Services at Asset Living, Denise Wessel, Founder & CEO of CORE Partners, and Rently’s Becca Nevarez tackled a challenge every operator knows: getting a team to actually adopt new technology and keep using it well after go-live. The message: adoption starts with people, not the product. Involve users in the decision, share the “why,” build stakeholder alignment early, and lean on ongoing resources like the Rently Care Center, dedicated Customer Success Managers, and recurring training webinars. 

With You at Every Step: Built-In Support From Onboarding Onward 

Branndon Brown, Sr. Director of Technical Support, and Jameson Braddock, VP of Client Success, made the case that support isn’t a department you call. Instead, it’s every point where Rently either shows up or doesn’t. The data behind why always-on support matters: 40% of renters want to tour after hours and self-tour demand is up 63% since 2020; leads answered within 5 minutes are 21x more likely to convert; 78% of customers buy from the first business to respond; and each 1-point improvement in service for unsure residents lifts renewal odds by roughly 8.5%. Ria’s always-on responsiveness is already live in leasing and renter support, with the same standard coming to tech support next.

“In this business, things will go wrong. What matters is what we do in the chaos.”

From Warehouse to Front Door: The Rently Fulfillment Difference 

Andre Sanchez, Managing Director of Rently China Scott Gu, Director of Logistics Andrew Campisi, and Danny Dickerson, National Account Manager at Kwikset, pulled back the curtain on everything that happens between order placement and device installation. They showcased Rently’s China-based R&D, design, and manufacturing team; the U.S. Logistics team handling receiving, RMA, lockbox refurbishment, smart home kitting, and shipping; and the Kwikset partnership behind the Rently Smart Bolt Elite with Kwikset SmartKey Security®.

Giving Back: The People Concern 

This year’s charity partner is The People Concern, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit which is a leading provider of, and advocate for, evidence-based solutions to the multi-faceted challenges inherent in homelessness and domestic violence. After a short introduction from the organization, attendees rolled up their sleeves for a hands-on kit-packing activity. The team packed 2,000 hygiene kits filled with things like socks, toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner, body wash, deodorant, combs, wipes, fruit snacks, and more. 

 

Bus Tour

The afternoon wrapped with a double-decker bus tour around Santa Monica, Century City, Beverly Hills, Westwood, and Brentwood. The tour guide shared fun facts about California, Los Angeles, and many of the sites along the route. Even the locals didn’t know some of them! 

Wednesday, September 16: Policy, Proof, and Peer Learning

The Policy Pulse: Updates & Business Implications 

Blair Weatherly, Managing Attorney at Brock & Scott PLLC, and Nicole Upano, AVP of Housing Policy & Regulatory Affairs at the National Apartment Association, opened the final day with a policy download directly relevant to how operators run their businesses. The headline: the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644), signed into law July 11, 2026, spans 47 bill sections, 12 new programs, and 124 required regulatory actions across federal agencies, with implementation running from agency guidance in early 2027 through major program launches in mid-2027 and long-tail provisions maturing over the following decade. States including Texas, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Washington are already moving to position for the new federal funding it unlocks.

The other major thread was fee and rent transparency — with the FTC’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking closed as of April 13 and 27 attorneys general voicing bipartisan support for federal action, a national fee-disclosure standard looks increasingly likely, layered on top of the 20+ states that have already passed their own fee legislation.

Case Study: The Full Stack — How Dunbar Unified Touring, Smart Home, and Access with Rently 

Chris Gilman, VP of Asset & Property Management at Dunbar Residential Investments, joined Jackie Murphy to walk through how the $700M+ real estate investment firm consolidated touring, community access, and unit access into one Rently deployment across 600+ multifamily units. Before Rently, Dunbar’s physical-key setup meant narrow office hours and limited access for tours and vendors. The draw to Rently was one integrated solution, tight PMS integration, and a short learning curve for onsite teams.

The results: 37% of traffic now comes from Rently listings, an 87% tour conversion rate, 40% of tours happening after hours, and 77% of leases originating from self-guided tours. Automating access for work orders is saving 4,000 hours a year ($179K), eliminating physical keys is saving another $22K/year, and automating move-ins/move-outs is saving 720 hours a year ($32K). Chris shared how initially investors were skeptical of the need for smart home technology and self-guided tours, but once he shared the results, it was an easy sell to underwrite them into new deals.

Crowd-Sourced Solutions: A Live Problem-Solving Session 

Jared East and Sean Watterson ran this audience-driven workshop where attendees surfaced their real operational challenges, the room voted on which mattered most, and mixed teams collaborated live to develop and present solutions. 

Human First, AI-Enabled: Leading Teams in a New Era 

Nicole Konkel, President of Hazel Valley Homes, Kelly Weems, Regional Property Manager at Willow Bridge Property Company, and Rently’s Becca Nevarez explored what it means to lead with intention in an AI-driven world. They shared how they build team confidence, decide where automation belongs, and lead change without losing the human element. 

In Their Own Words: Candid Conversations with Rently Champions 

Some of Rently’s most successful clients, Kelly Weems, Regional Property Manager at Willow Bridge Property Company, Ashley Newman, Senior Manager Property Security at FirstKey Homes, and Ellie Norton, President of Rentyl Apartments, in conversation with Rently’s Jazmyne Adams, took the stage to share more about their Rently journey and share advice for other operators using Rently. This is the session where the most valuable insights in the room come from the audience itself. 

Show Me the Numbers: Smart Home ROI Workshop with PropTech IQ 

Taylor Wiederkehr, Founder & CEO of PropTech IQ, walked attendees through how they create their Impact Analysis Reports on the impact adding smart home, self-guided tour, and access control to their portfolios could have on their valuation, NOI, and ROI % annualized. Each attendee then filled out a worksheet to receive an ROI calculation tailored to their own portfolios — giving them real numbers to take back to their teams. 

Benchmark & Build: Peer-Led Performance Sessions 

In small groups led by Rently CSMs, operators with similar portfolios came together to review real performance data, compare notes on what’s working, and pressure-test ideas with peers who run the same kind of business. Single-family groups dug into topics like self-tour no-show rates, vacant-home turn times, and rent premiums on smart home units; multifamily groups compared self-guided vs. agent-led tour mixes, ROI payback periods, and portal adoption. Broader conversation threads touched on where AI has actually changed day-to-day operations, how teams are adjusting to the new fee transparency and ROAD to Housing Act requirements, and what data actually moves a skeptical owner on smart home ROI. 

Closing

Merrick, Andre, and Clark wrapped the event with a few closing words of gratitude for the Rently team and attendees for both helping Rently reach this point. They expressed optimism and excitement for the next 15 years and beyond with the strength of our partnership pushing us forward into this next phase.

We’re also grateful to our incredible sponsors—Brock & Scott, Kwikset, Beagle, Resideo, and Cort—and guest speakers who shared their valuable insights during several of the sessions. Without you, Rently Summit wouldn’t be possible.