More Than A Number: Senior Living Operators Must Go Deeper To Improve Resident Satisfaction

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Senior living companies look at many metrics to benchmark their operational health, especially the satisfaction of their own residents. But resident satisfaction is more than a number on a spreadsheet.

It’s been said time and time again: as they age into senior housing, the baby boomers are bringing new and potentially higher expectations regarding hospitality, wellness and personalization. Senior living marketers in 2026 believe that operators need to combat a “sea of sameness” by getting residents to see themselves living in a community.

Resident satisfaction is an important metric that operators use to measure how their residents feel about where they live, but it’s not always easy to measure. Today, US News & World Report, J.D. Power and the Fortune Best Workplaces in Aging Services list annually qualify senior living communities with an aim to provide more info to prospects.

High scores obviously can indicate the value operators provide for many current residents, and recent reports from industry groups like ASHA and Argentum link higher satisfaction scores to better financial and operational outcomes. I also sometimes hear senior living operators talk about their positive net promoter scores as an indication that their residents are happy.

That said, I also don’t think today’s prospects care as much about resident satisfaction scores or big national accolades as they do about the actual services that underpin them or the sense of belonging that communities can create.

During the recent Senior Housing News Sales and Marketing Conference, we heard from dozens of leaders from operators across the U.S. To me, the takeaway from many of our panels was clear: senior living communities must show operational excellence, not just talk about it.

Resident satisfaction scores are a reflection of a community’s service quality, but they don’t tell a complete story. In a nutshell, I think that resident satisfaction scores are valuable at a 30,000 foot level, but that operators cannot lean on third-party accolades or high numbers on an objective scale alone to win over their prospects or decide what’s working.

In an age where multiple stakeholders inside and outside the industry are competing to tell the senior living “story,” operators must tell their own story of keeping residents healthy and happy to not get lost in that noise. And I think they would be well to not just tell residents how satisfied their customers are, but actually show them.

In this week’s exclusive, subscribers-only SHN+ Update, I analyze recent resident satisfaction data and offer the following takeaways:

• What operators see as the keys to better resident satisfaction and quality

• How dining and unit size influence resident satisfaction

What affects resident satisfaction

In the 2026 Value of Assisted Living Report by Argentum, the industry association states that “success relies on resident satisfaction.” Resident satisfaction is more than a number, and not always an easy benchmark to measure.

Today, senior living customers expect immediate quality, convenience and support, or they can easily move out, choose another option or avoid the industry altogether by staying at home. A resident may well be satisfied with one part of a community but not another, which may or may not be reflected in how they rate it in a survey at the end of the day.

But choosing a senior living community isn’t like buying a home and putting down roots. Instead, it’s more akin to “a subscription-based model,” where residents can choose to leave at any time, according to Sonida Senior Living (NYSE: SNDA) CEO Brandon Ribar.

“Every month they get the bill, they have to decide, am I going to happily pay this invoice? Or am I going to look for an alternative?” he told me.

That fact is important for senior living operators to keep in mind as they ponder resident satisfaction.

Sonida has taken a technology- and data-based approach to improving resident satisfaction, focusing on clinical response times in assisted living. Sonida implemented new ambient monitoring technologies to notify care staff of changes in resident health and the company said that has improved staff response times by 65%. I think that kind of improvement shows how resident satisfaction depends on operational responsiveness, not just the hospitality or amenities that might go into a brochure.

Another way providers are improving new resident satisfaction is by personalizing the onboarding of new residents, emphasizing wellness, community and purpose from the beginning of a resident’s stay. Luxury life plan community operator Mather created a personalized onboarding process for new residents, taking into account the less measurable aspects of the senior living experience: social connection, purpose and belonging.

Mather uses resident committees and feedback from residents to refine how new residents are welcomed, how onboarding information is shared and how to reduce anxiety during the transition. This frames the community as a proactive choice that plays into other healthy behaviors, rather than feeling like a last-resort move into a higher level of care. This has helped improve residents’ sense of agency and overall satisfaction, according to Mather Assistant Vice President Caroline Edasis.

“People are becoming much more aware that there are healthy behaviors they can embrace that will help them live this chapter and it’s being in the community, having these resources and amenities,” Edasis told me. “This is not just a sales tool, but it changes the perspective on what we do much earlier in the process.”

This approach reflects a broader shift in the industry toward positioning senior living as a lifestyle and wellness decision. Building social connections and showcasing senior living’s ability to create new social connections are central to attracting new residents into communities, even if this element of the senior living experience is difficult to quantify.

Building connections with residents is the “most important piece” of the new resident move-in process, Aspenwood Company Vice President of Resident Experience Amber McDaniel told me. At Aspenwood communities, resident ambassadors, known as vanguards, connect with new residents and invite newcomers to events, meals and programming.

“Getting to know your neighbors is the key piece of that because that’s what makes it feel like home,” McDaniel told me.

Social connection is one of senior living’s strongest differentiators, yet it is still often harder to market than clinical support or physical amenities.

How dining, unit size influence resident satisfaction

The satisfaction level of a community’s resident base is often tied to the dining room, and providers have taken steps to overhaul culinary operations to offer restaurant-quality experiences and hospitality in senior living dining.

The Kendal Corporation recently overhauled its culinary program through renovations to modernize kitchen and dining spaces, while also creating restaurant-quality dining experiences for residents, according to Kendal COO Doug Helman. That’s because residents want a “cook-to-order and composed plate experience,” Helman said, as new residents bring with them more diverse culinary tastes.

That expectation reflects how incoming residents are raising the bar for what senior living dining should look and feel like.

“We noticed collectively that it was important to bring ourselves up with the times,” Helman told me.

In the last two years, Agemark Senior Living also overhauled its culinary program, renovating kitchens and dining rooms to attract new residents and bring better quality to current residents. In that time, annual resident satisfaction scores tied to dining improved, according to Vice President of Culinary Services Daniel Spicer.

“It’s the first time that dining has really moved the needle in a positive way on resident satisfaction,” Spicer told me.

LCS uses resident programming and dining surveys to reshape life enrichment calendars and food offerings, using survey data from residents as a valuable data source. To me, this shows that better dining can support both sales efforts and resident retention at the same time.

Another way operators can invest in their communities to improve resident satisfaction is by renovating aging properties, expanding units and offering more space for residents. That’s because operators are seeing baby boomers demand more space in private residences.

Occupancy data shows that some senior living residents now prefer larger units, and this is a trend operators are adapting to by repositioning communities to offer larger private spaces, from two-bedroom layouts to simply larger one-bedroom floor plans.

“It’s very rare to see any studio AL units in our portfolio, and the layouts that seem to resonate with potential residents lead to larger sizes overall,” Dan Novelli, director of LCS Development, told SHN Reporter Andrew Christman in December of last year. “AL residents and families don’t necessarily want to feel like they are sacrificing square footage.”

In 2025, assisted living units with three or more bedrooms averaged 88% occupancy, suggesting that preferences from independent living may be carrying over into assisted living as residents move along the continuum of care, according to a recent National Investment Center for Senior Housing and Care (NIC) analysis.

If the industry wants to convert strong satisfaction scores into a better value proposition in the months and years ahead, it must show prospective residents that senior living can deliver not only care, but also connection, autonomy and daily quality of life.

That will require more intentional investment in the experiences residents notice most, from move-in support to dining to the design of the physical environment itself. The communities that succeed will be the ones that recognize resident satisfaction as both a promise and a business strategy, especially as a more selective generation begins to reshape the market.

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