Student Doctor Housing
A marketplace built around a real gap in medical education.
Medical students on clinical rotations need short-term housing near unfamiliar hospitals, and landlords near those hospitals have inventory sitting empty. Student Doctor Housing bridges that gap. We configured the full marketplace on Sharetribe with user types, listings, search, payments, and everything in between.
The Challenge
Medical students rotating through hospitals away from their home institution need short-term housing often for just a few weeks in cities they've never lived in. The options are scattered: extended-stay hotels, Craigslist posts, word-of-mouth threads in forums. Meanwhile, landlords near teaching hospitals have furnished units sitting vacant between tenants.
Student Doctor Housing set out to build a purpose-built marketplace for this niche. The platform needed verified user types, location-based search, listing categories tuned to rotation housing, built-in payments, and a checkout experience simple enough for a third-year medical student to complete between shifts.
The Approach
This was a Sharetribe-native configuration engagement, no custom code, all platform:
- User types and access control designed around the two sides of the marketplace: Guests (students and doctors) and Hosts (housing providers)
- Listing types, fields, and categories configured specifically for rotation housing — not generic short-term rental
- Search filters and listing logic built around how students actually find housing: location, availability, price
- Monetization logic set up to sustain the platform from day one
- Branding and layout customization so the marketplace feels purpose-built, not like a Sharetribe template
- Email notification triggers and templates configured for the key moments: account creation, listing published, booking confirmed, payment processed
What We Delivered
Domain & Access Control
Domain connection, user verification requirements, and access control so the marketplace stays limited to verified students, doctors, and housing providers.
User Type Configuration
Custom user types and fields for Guests and Hosts, each with the information needed for their side of the transaction.
Layout & Navigation
Top bar, footer, page creation, routing, and responsive layout customization across mobile and desktop. Branding and theming aligned so the platform feels intentional, not default.
Listing System
Listing types, fields, and categories configured for rotation housing. Search filters and listing search logic tuned to how students actually look for short-term rentals, by location, dates, price, and property type.
Monetization
Marketplace commission and fee logic configured so the platform generates revenue from transactions without adding friction to the booking experience.
Integrations & Email Templates
Third-party service integrations wired in as needed, plus email notification triggers and templates for every key moment in the user journey, from signup to booking confirmation.
Minimum Transaction Configuration
Transaction floor set to protect the platform from micro-bookings that wouldn't justify the operational overhead.
Functional QA
End-to-end testing of the core user flows, login, create listing, search, and checkout to make sure the marketplace works before the first real booking.
The Result
Student Doctor Housing launched as a focused, functional marketplace purpose-built for a niche that generic rental platforms don't serve well. Verified users on both sides of the transaction, search logic tuned to rotation housing, and monetization in place from day one. The platform is live, processing bookings, and ready to grow as awareness spreads through medical school networks.
