Apartment List and Grotto AI Bring Renter Insights Into Every Leasing Conversation

Today, Apartment List is announcing a partnership with Grotto AI, an AI sales coaching platform for multifamily leasing teams, that helps leasing agents meet renters where they are in their search. Leasing teams can now see what renters told us on Apartment List, like budget, move-in date, pets and must-have amenities, so they come to every call and tour with a better understanding of what actually matters to that renter. In a randomized A/B test Apartment List ran with Weidner Apartment Homes across 311 communities, lead-to-tour conversion went up 35%.

Why Renters Keep Repeating Themselves

I've toured a lot of apartments over the years and the first few minutes of almost every visit sounded the same. When are you looking to move? What's your budget? Do you have a pet? Fair questions. I never minded answering them but by the time I walked through the door I'd already answered every one of them somewhere else.

Renters go through this everywhere, no matter where they search. They spend weeks working out what they can spend, when they need to move, whether a building takes pets and which amenities they can't live without, all to decide which apartments are worth touring. Then they show up and have to repeat themselves. The leasing agent is doing their job well, trying to get to know a stranger between back-to-back tours, but to the renter it's exhausting to have the same conversation over and over.

Finding a place you love is time consuming and, honestly, frustrating. At Apartment List, we're always looking for ways to make renting more personal for renters and easier for leasing teams, and there's no reason all the work renters put into deciding where to tour should have to be repeated on site. This partnership makes the search less frustrating for renters and more rewarding for leasing agents.

How the Apartment List and Grotto AI Integration Works

Leasing agents get three things:

• Renter preferences from the Apartment List search: budget, move-in date, pets and must-have amenities
• A match between those preferences and the property's available units
• Real-time coaching during the call or tour, based on what that renter cares about

When a renter reaches out, Grotto shows the leasing agent what that renter told us and matches it to the property's details and what's actually available. So if someone wants a two-bedroom with in-unit laundry, room for their dog, and natural light, the agent can open with the units that fit and skip the twenty questions.

Grotto also coaches the agent while the conversation is happening. If the renter gets nervous about move-in costs, the agent gets a nudge to talk about deposit flexibility, mention the amenities that renter cares about and get a tour on the books.

What Grotto AI Does and Why We Chose It

A big part of my job is finding partners who make what we've built more useful, and Grotto was an easy yes. They build AI sales coaching for multifamily leasing teams, and what I like most about their tech is that it works in the moment. The coaching shows up during the call right when the agent needs it, follow-ups are automated and personalized to the conversation on the tour, and operators get a clear view of how their teams are doing and what renters are asking for.

Grotto's co-founder and CEO, Nick Deveau, put it well when he said, "Today, every step of the rental journey is a cold start." This partnership is warming up those introductions and allowing for better conversations between a renter and an agent. We know a lot about what renters want, and Grotto knows how to get that into real conversations.

What a 311-Community Test With Weidner Apartment Homes Showed

Apartment List and Grotto AI ran a randomized A/B test with Weidner Apartment Homes, one of the largest apartment operators in the U.S., across 311 of their communities. Leasing agents who had Apartment List renter insights and Grotto AI's real-time coaching saw lead-to-tour conversion go up 35% compared with the control group.

Honestly, that number surprised me. Then again, the best leasing agents are great with people, and when you hand them the context up front they get to spend the call getting to know someone and helping them picture living there. For the renter, it means a conversation that picks up where their search left off.

The Apartment List Data Behind the Integration

Apartment List has spent six years building AI that understands renters, and as of November 2026 that work is grounded in 12 million leases with known outcomes and 65 million conversations between renters and properties. We want that intelligence to show up wherever renters and properties meet, including the tools leasing teams use every day. Our goal is to be the intelligence the rental industry builds on, and partnerships like this one are how we get there.

How Property Operators Can Get Access

Access is open now for eligible partner portfolios, and you can learn more and request access here. If you're going to NMHC OPTECH in Las Vegas, November 16-18, come say hi. We'd love to show you how it works.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Apartment List and Grotto AI Partnership?

The Apartment List and Grotto AI partnership is an integration that shares renter preferences from Apartment List with leasing agents through Grotto AI, plus real-time coaching on how to use them during calls and tours.

What Renter Information Do Leasing Agents See?

Leasing agents see what renters shared during their Apartment List search: budget, move-in date, pets and must-have amenities.

What Results Has the Integration Shown?

In a randomized A/B test Apartment List ran with Weidner Apartment Homes across 311 communities, leasing agents with Apartment List renter insights and Grotto AI coaching saw lead-to-tour conversion go up 35%.

What Is Grotto AI?

Grotto AI makes AI sales coaching and on-site visibility tools for multifamily leasing teams. It helps agents prep for calls and tours, answer renter questions, send personalized follow-ups and keep getting better.

What Is AI Leasing Coaching?

AI leasing coaching is software that prompts a leasing agent during a live call or tour, for example nudging them to mention deposit flexibility when a renter worries about move-in costs. Grotto AI provides this coaching for multifamily leasing teams, and the Apartment List integration adds the renter's stated preferences to it.

How Do Property Operators Get Access?

The Apartment List and Grotto AI integration is open to eligible Apartment List partner portfolios. Request access at lister.apartmentlist.com/grotto-ai-partner.