Over the past several years, the self-storage industry has found itself operating in a unique and, at times, contradictory environment. On one hand, operating fundamentals, particularly occupancy and rental rate growth, have softened meaningfully from their pandemic-era highs. On the other hand, investor demand for self-storage remains robust, capital is plentiful, and asset values continue to hold firm with cap rates being lower than historical averages considering the cost of debt today. This divergence between operating performance and investment demand has created one of the most nuanced ownership environments we…

Most self-storage operators know their occupancy rate by heart. What far fewer operators can quantify is how much poor customer service is costing them. That’s not because it doesn’t matter, but because the impact tends to fly under the radar, until one day it doesn’t. Customer service has quietly become a critical revenue driver in self-storage. When competition is intensifying, consumer sentiment is king, and Google reviews carry more weight than ever, operators who treat service as a secondary priority aren’t just leaving money on the table — they’re actively…

Most self-storage operators know they need to spend money on marketing. Fewer know how much, and even fewer have a clear framework for determining whether that spend is generating a return worth the investment. In a previous post, I covered the strategic case for thinking about marketing through the lens of lifetime value and customer acquisition cost (LTV:CAC). Here, I want to get more practical: what does a reasonable marketing budget actually look like, and how do you calculate the metrics that tell you whether it’s working? 1. Setting a…