A Searchable, Scalable Student Lettings Platform for Almero
- Seamless integration to Almero’s property management platform
- A bespoke smart search tool to guide users quickly to relevant accommodation
- A robust, scalable architecture capable of handling traffic spikes during peak lettings periods
The Ambition
Almero Student Mansions offers high-quality student accommodation across the UK, combining prime locations with stylish living spaces. As the business expanded rapidly into new cities, they needed a website that could showcase their growing portfolio, appeal to both UK and international students, and make finding and securing accommodation fast, intuitive, and reliable.
The existing site was outdated, difficult to manage, and disconnected from their core property management system, StuRents. This meant staff had to manually update listings in multiple places, creating duplication, inconsistency, and the risk of outdated information appearing online. With a small internal team (often just one person responsible for updates) efficiency and ease of use were critical.
Enigma was tasked with designing and building a new website from scratch. It needed to:
- Automatically pull accurate, real-time property data from StuRents into a user-friendly interface.
- Allow Almero to customise and enrich listings with their own photography, descriptions, and promotions.
- Handle significant traffic surges during key periods such as Clearing.
- Deliver a smooth, reassuring experience for students (and their parents), regardless of location or language.
Our challenge was to combine a content-rich, visually engaging design with the technical resilience and search intelligence to scale alongside Almero’s ambitions.
What we did
At the heart of Almero’s operation is StuRents, the platform used to manage property availability, pricing, and bookings. To make the new website truly effective, Enigma built a seamless integration with StuRents, pulling through property, room, and pricing data into the CMS automatically. This avoided duplication of effort and reduced the risk of errors that come from manually updating listings in two places. Crucially, we designed the integration to be flexible, giving the Almero team the ability to override details, add extra information, and enhance listings for marketing purposes.
The result is a system that blends the reliability of StuRents with the creativity of a bespoke CMS, allowing Almero to present their properties in the best possible light while maintaining operational efficiency. It ensures that students browsing the site always see accurate, up-to-date information, while the Almero team retains full control over how each listing is presented.
Bespoke smart search
Students searching for accommodation online often don’t know the specifics of a city or postcode, particularly if they’re coming from overseas. To make the experience as intuitive as possible, the Enigma team developed a custom-built smart search function. Instead of relying on standard keyword searches, the tool is designed to recognise a range of inputs including city names, university names, or even specific property names. This means a student arriving in the UK for the first time can simply type “University of Birmingham” and be taken straight to relevant Almero listings in that area.
Behind the scenes, the search logic intelligently connects universities with their surrounding cities and properties, cutting out guesswork for the user. This functionality not only improves the experience for students but also boosts conversion rates by ensuring visitors can quickly find what they need without navigating through layers of filters or menus.
Scalable Architecture
Almero’s website needed to perform flawlessly even during peak demand periods, such as the weeks following university offer announcements. To address this, Enigma deployed an advanced search and indexing system which allows the site to deliver fast results, even when handling thousands of simultaneous queries.
The scalable architecture was carefully designed to ensure that traffic spikes, which could come at peak times like clearing, do not cause the site to slow down or crash. By future-proofing the infrastructure in this way, Almero now has a platform that grows with their business, supporting both their current property portfolio and any planned expansion. For students, this translates into a smooth, responsive experience no matter when they visit, while for Almero it provides confidence that their investment will continue to perform reliably under pressure.
Content management toolkit
Flexibility was a key requirement for Almero’s marketing team, who needed to create and update content regularly without relying on external support. Enigma addressed this by building a custom suite of branded, reusable components within WordPress. These pre-designed modules make it simple to assemble pages for new campaigns, highlight seasonal offers, or showcase individual properties while keeping everything consistent with Almero’s brand. From banners and call-to-action blocks to image galleries and property cards, the toolkit provides all the elements needed to build compelling pages quickly.
Importantly, the system was designed to prevent “design drift”, ensuring that even as new content is added, the site maintains a professional, cohesive look and feel. For Almero, this has reduced turnaround times for campaigns and given the team greater autonomy. For users, it means they are consistently presented with engaging, on-brand content that reflects the quality of Almero’s offering.
Data resilience
In any system reliant on external data feeds, reliability is critical. To mitigate the risk of downtime from StuRents affecting the Almero website, Enigma built in a layer of resilience.
Cached versions of property and room data are stored locally within the site, ensuring that listings remain visible even if the external feed is temporarily unavailable. This approach provides two key benefits: continuity for users, who can always browse properties without encountering broken links or empty pages, and peace of mind for Almero, who know their site will continue to function regardless of issues beyond their control.
The caching system is regularly refreshed to ensure accuracy, striking the right balance between reliability and up-to-date information. By planning for these “what if” scenarios, Enigma ensured that Almero’s website delivers a consistent experience that builds trust with prospective tenants.
User-centred navigation
For many students, this may be their first experience of arranging accommodation independently, so clarity and simplicity were vital. Enigma designed a navigation structure that prioritises the student journey, making it easy to move from discovery through to enquiry or booking.
Clear pathways guide users to listings, booking links, and contact information without unnecessary clicks or confusion. Accessibility best practices were applied throughout, ensuring the site is easy to use for all visitors, regardless of device or ability. By reducing friction at every step, the site supports students in making confident decisions quickly, while also driving enquiries and conversions for Almero.
Results
The new Almero website has transformed how the business presents and manages its accommodation portfolio. For the internal team, the integration with StuRents has eliminated duplication of effort, ensuring every property listing is accurate, up to date, and easy to enhance with local photography, video, or promotional content. The branded components mean seasonal campaigns, city guides, and new property launches can be created in-house quickly and consistently, reducing workload for a busy team.
View the live site
For students, the experience is intuitive and fast. The smart search tool gets users to relevant accommodation in seconds, whether they start with a city name, a university, or just a general idea of where they want to live. For international applicants who may be unfamiliar with UK locations, this feature has proved particularly valuable.
Technically, the site has already proven its resilience. During peak letting periods, traffic volumes have surged without impacting performance, a direct result of the scalable OpenSearch integration. Cached data ensures listings remain live even if StuRents is temporarily unavailable, protecting the user experience and maintaining trust.
Today, the site runs smoothly on a low-maintenance support package, freeing the Almero team to focus on marketing and growth. With a solid technical foundation in place, the platform is ready to evolve alongside the business, from adding lifestyle-focused content to integrating new communication tools, making it a cornerstone of Almero’s ongoing expansion in the UK student accommodation market.
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