Common Questions

How do we log students in?

Our recommended approach is to allow students to sign up using their university email address. StudyStays checks if the address is valid and if it is we send an email to that address asking the student to click on a link and confirm that they would like to sign up. As part of this confirmation process we ask the student to choose a new password to use with StudyStays. You can read more about Email Verification here.

We also provide support for CAS (Central Authentication System) and LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol). We can also assist in setting up an HTTPS endpoint on your network to respond to authentication requests from StudyStays. Please contact support if you would like more information about this.

Can we host the site ourselves?

No—StudyStays is a fully-hosted solution. We can however configure your StudyStays site to use your university's domain.

What's the setup process?

You can use the site for free for 2 months during which time you can give the system a good test drive. If you like it, get in touch and we'll help you choose a pricing plan and organise a contract. We can also help you import data and set up your site correctly so that it's ready for prime time.

Where is the data hosted? Who owns the data? Is it backed up?

All the data is hosted in Australia on our own StudyStays servers. The data is backed up nightly and the data is automatically copied off-site immediately, where it is stored encrypted in a cloud backup service (CrashPlan), indefinitely.

Can we import data from our current system?

Yes. We might need to charge a fee for this, depending on the format and amount of data that you need imported. See the long answer below, or Contact support for more information about importing your data.

General questions

Do you offer training?

We offer online training and information through our help pages and on our blog, backed up by support if you have questions on how to use the site.

Can I customise the appearance of my website?

Yes you can. Colours and logos can be customised through the admin interface of your website. If you would like assistance, our designers can help to get your site looking great.

Are there reporting features included?

Yes, you can run various reports on listings, providers and approval activity. If there is a report that you would find useful, please let us know so that we can include it in the system.

What support options do you offer?

We provide prompt and helpful support over email and phone.

More technical questions

Can we integrate with our student authentication system?

Yes, although we recommend email verification instead. We support LDAP(S) and CAS for student authentication, as well as simple authentication using an HTTP POST request to a script on your website.

Do you offer SSL/HTTPS?

Yes we use SSL for pages with sensitive information (such as sign in and registration). If your website address is on a subdomain of studystays.com or studystays.com.au this is something we can do for you very easily. If the site address is under your institution's domain we will send you a certificate request so that you can arrange the certificate.

Can I export data from StudyStays?

Yes you can export provider, student and listing data in CSV format.

We already use something else for our accommodation listings. Can we import the data from this into StudyStays?

We can do your data import for you, given that you can provide the data in a suitable format. We will usually charge an additional fee for this. When we import students or landlords this way, it's quite likely that we'll need to ask these people to choose a new password before they can access the site.

Can we use our own domain name?

Yes, absolutely. Please be aware that there are some additional costs when you want to do this with SSL as we'll need to assign your website a new IP address and coordinate the certificate request with you. These setup costs are included for free in the 'Big' plan.

Can we hide our trial site while we’re setting it up and testing?

While your site’s in trial mode it’s not linked from anywhere on the web, so people will only be able to find it if you tell them the address. So your trial site is effectively hidden until you decide to launch it to the public.