To see whether luxury housing for seniors truly lives up to the hype, one assisted living search platform is looking for a “glamorous grandma” to go undercover as a tester.
CaringAdvisor.com, a search platform for various assisted living options across the country, is planning to release a repository of senior facilities that call themselves “luxe” — they will typically start at $6,000 a month (an average senior home in the U.S. commands $3,000 a month) and climb much higher. It is offering $500 a month, as well as covering all living and travel expenses, to a senior interested in testing the living arrangements themselves as well as the different amenities (pool, gyms, senior activities) typically offered at these types of luxury facilities.
“We hope to gain a truthful insight into some of the best senior living facilities,” a spokesperson for CaringAdvisor.com told Inman in an email. “These facilities are luxurious and therefore not always the most affordable option. It’s important to us that people can make well-informed decisions when investing into living facilities for themselves or their families.”
The job of such a “Senior Living Assessor” will require spending six months going from one luxury living facility to another, spending some time living in each one and filling out a report and questionnaire about its different features. Applications, which are asking for people over the age of 60, comfortable writing in English and in good enough physical health to travel frequently, are due by January 31 but the actual job won’t start until COVID-19 is under control.
CaringAdvisor.com
“Once we have chosen the tester we will assess the situation and if we feel it’s safe to run the testing and traveling we will do so,” the spokesperson said. “However, we will delay the testing program to fit with any COVID-19 guidelines, or if we feel it will be unsafe for any staff, testers or members of the public.”
As older people living in senior homes have been particularly hard-hit by the outbreak of the respiratory disease, significant vaccination needs to be complete before the project can begin. Since the facilities range from “New York City facilities offering lobster and meditation groups, to outdoor swimming pools and fitness centers in Texas,” frequent travel also needs to be made safe again.
That said, CaringAdvisor is confident that vaccination efforts will make starting the job a reality in the near future. The ideal candidate, they say, is a “sophisticated woman of high standards” who is also not “afraid to tell the truth” when deciding which facilities are truly luxurious and which are not worth one’s money.
“We are not trying to scrutinize any faculties but we do want a truthful representation of them and their features,” the spokesperson said. “Of course we want someone who is going to enjoy their experience whilst working as an assessor, so someone who is glamorous by nature would be a benefit.”