€600 a month for a bunk bed and €750 Amazon vouchers - accommodation complexes attempt to attract students

Purpose-built luxury towers have not escaped the impact of the pandemic on the market and with students spending little time on campus this year, companies are using additional incentives to attract customers.

LIV in Smithfield is offering 'Bronze Couchette' rooms, with a bunk bed in a single room on offer for €600 a month.

They are available to be booked only "by friends or a couple together" who are "looking to share and keep costs down".

"It's a new room type that we opened up," Simon Pollard, the general manager at LIV, told the Irish Independent.

"We have rooms that are capable of having two students but we use them as a one-­student room.

"It has a built-in bed that can be taken down off the wall, like a bunk-bed style, so we're going to use that for two ­students sharing.

"I think our price point is pretty good for students and I think that will attract more Irish students if they do want to travel to Dublin and stay on a full-time basis," he said.

Aparto, which has five separate properties across the capital, offered a €750 Amazon voucher for students who book a Silver Ensuite room at Binary Hub, Dorset Point or Beckett House, priced respectively from €255 per week, €248 per week or €240 per week for 51 weeks.

Aparto also offered a €500 Amazon voucher for a 41-week contract for those who booked before the end of August.

Hatch student accommodation in Carlow and Cork, which sees prices start at €8,151 for the academic year and go up to €9,126 for a 'Premium' room, offered a discount of up to €585 for bookings made before September 30.

Point Campus at The Point, opposite Dublin's 3Arena, has a competition for students to win one of three rooms rent-free. It also has a deal where if a student refers one of their friends to the accommodation and they make a booking, the student who made the referral gets €500 cashback or a rent discount.

Its prices for a room start from €230 up to €279 per week, with studios costing €340 or €350 per week. Prices are higher if a student books for the academic year as opposed to 51 weeks.

"The student market across the whole of Dublin is facing an unprecedented level of uncertainty and the let up for semester one will be particularly challenging for all landlords," said a spokesperson for Point Campus.

They said "several incentives" are run across the year, including the Refer a Friend and Win a Room promotions.

Sale

Heyday accommodation in Carman's Hall in Dublin held a flash sale with the cost of Lagan and Lee rooms reduced by 9pc.

Uninest, which has nine locations in Dublin and Cork, said it is "fully booked" across several of its accommodations. It has "limited offers" encouraging students to "book now" to save €1,000 or €1,500 across different accommodation.

It said it has introduced a "degree of flexibility" around its cancellation policy.