[Case Study] Livensa welcomes surging demand for its student housing with Flywire

Sleek kitchens, swimming pools and even cinemas may not come top of mind when considering college housing. But it’s exactly what a student in a Livensa Living building can expect and enjoy. Meeting a surging student population in Spain and Portugal and a shortfall in places to live, the region’s second largest provider of purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) has grown eight-fold since opening its first two buildings in 2019. Thousands of students now live at 19 different Livensa properties across the two countries, with five more currently under construction. By 2023, Livensa, backed by real estate investment and development firm Temprano Capital, plans to have 10,000 beds for students, in addition to those now standard but well-beyond basic amenities.

Flywire case study livensa living featured

Livensa Living Quick Facts

Date founded: 2019
Headquarters: Madrid
Employees: 160 from 10 nationalities
Assets: 19 (five in Portugal and 14 in Spain)

Client-centricity, flexible payments support pushes Flywire over Worldpay

Livensa narrowed its short list of possible payment providers to Worldpay and Flywire, which both came recommended by their property management system vendor PEX. It picked Flywire over Worldpay because Flywire combined market-leading functionality for multi-currency payments and flexible payment methods with competitive pricing and a client-centric approach that was apparent from the start. “We always felt very comfortable talking to Flywire, that is something that hits you from the very beginning. It’s very easy to explain things and find a solution to a problem,” Ferrero said. “We like the service, we like the product and we liked the price.”

Flywire increases control over finances, gives visibility into receivables

Livensa went live with Flywire in March 2021, and is already realizing time and cost savings, and benefiting from increased visibility and control. International and domestic students and their families can pick their payment method and currency of choice and make all payments online. They can also see in seconds that their payment has gone through, boosting confidence in the process and in Livensa. For Livensa, automated reconciliation saves the time and cost of two Full Time Equivalents (FTEs), and high processing fees for both the payer and Livensa. Because Flywire is integrated with PEX, Livensa has real-time visibility into payment status and greater control over clients accounts, greatly easing the collection of 3,000 payments a month. “It’s about the quality of the information you have on the financial end, and the certainty you have that things are getting done correctly,” Ferrero said. “(With Flywire), a big piece of your business feels secure.”

Flywire increases control over finances, gives visibility into receivables

Livensa went live with Flywire in March 2021, and is already realizing time and cost savings, and benefiting from increased visibility and control. International and domestic students and their families can pick their payment method and currency of choice and make all payments online. They can also see in seconds that their payment has gone through, boosting confidence in the process and in Livensa. For Livensa, automated reconciliation saves the time and cost of two Full Time Equivalents (FTEs), and high processing fees for both the payer and Livensa. Because Flywire is integrated with PEX, Livensa has real-time visibility into payment status and greater control over clients accounts, greatly easing the collection of 3,000 payments a month. “It’s about the quality of the information you have on the financial end, and the certainty you have that things are getting done correctly,” Ferrero said. “(With Flywire), a big piece of your business feels secure.”

Flywire case study livensa living facts

Results

Country-specific, digitized payment options through online payment portal
Automated currency conversion means payers can use currency of choice, Livensa receives payment in Euros
Easier collection of 3,000 monthly payments
Platform to scale to more than 10,000 monthly payments
Real-time visibility into transactions
Automated reconciliation to open invoices, easier to track payments
Flywire case study livensa living savings

Savings

Increased automation reduces workload and cost by 2 FTEs
Lower processing costs and fees
Fewer short payments

What’s next?

Livensa aims to be the biggest owner and operator of PBSA in the Iberian peninsula, goals that see it needing to process and reconcile some 10,000 monthly payments. Flywire will scale to support both payment volume and the needs of diverse payers wherever the company decides to go next. Livensa can focus less on monitoring those transactions, and zero in tasks that improve the overall performance of the company. “Flywire takes all administrative tasks that add no value off your shoulders, allowing you to focus on your business operations and performing more value added activities,” Ferrero said. “We don’t consider our business nowadays without Flywire.”

Ready to reduce costs and improve your payments experience?