Automation is transforming the way that the short-term rental industry works, allowing hosts to do more with less and scale their businesses faster than ever before. The best part is that these automation tools are not only useful for big companies but also for short-term rental hosts who don’t rent out multiple properties. As a result, there are automation tools you can use at every stage of your business’s growth.
To help you get started, here are the top 6 automation solutions to improve your vacation rental management and how they benefit your business.
1. Smartlocks
Using smartlock solutions for your Airbnb properties eliminates the problems that come along with granting access to your property remotely. When you use smartlocks, you’ll no longer have to deal with the hassle of key exchanges or disruptions caused by guests checking in early or overstaying their bookings. Smartlocks also help to keep your property secure by ensuring that only authorized individuals have access to your property.
August is a popular smartlock option for Airbnb hosts and it even allows you to control the lock using Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. It uses a smartphone app that guests download and the August Smart Lock Pro + Connect version works with Z-Wave and HomeKit-based smart home systems.
Lockitron Bolt is a smartlock technology that is designed to fit over an existing deadbolt. Access to the property is then managed via the Lockitron app.
2. Copywriting Services
Not every sentence of your Airbnb listing needs to be written from scratch. In fact, most of the content writing can and actually should be automated. Automating your copywriting for your listings will ensure that new listings get created faster than ever.
Using copywriting services, you automate the creation of the property descriptions for your listings. There are a lot of vacation rental copywriting services and you can find one on Upwork or Fiverr. Make sure to provide the copywriter with the general guidelines for writing your Airbnb descriptions such as mentioning Airbnb supplies you plan to offer, as well as, the property’s features and amenities.
3. Home Temperature Automation Units
One of the most important steps you need to take to ensure that your Airbnb listing is profitable is controlling your utility costs. The biggest factors affecting your utility bills will be the usage of heating and air conditioning by your guests. To improve your vacation rental management, you should install a smart thermostat.
Home temperature automation ensures that your property stays a consistent temperature while there are guests in the home. You can even use away features, such as those found on the Nest Thermostat E, to automatically adjust the temperature after your guests leave.
Smart thermostats also make it possible for you to adjust the indoor temperature remotely according to your guests’ preferences. A smart thermostat connects to your home Wi-Fi which will allow you to adjust the temperature remotely for your guests via an app.
The ecobee4 Smart Thermostat pairs with Amazon Alexa allowing guests to control the home’s temperature with their voices. It also has the ability to notice when guests leave and adjust the indoor temperature automatically.
4. Smart Lights & Sensors
In the same way that you can use smart thermostats to manage the indoor temperature of the property and your utility bills, smart lights help you lower your electricity costs. Installing smart lights and sensors will allow your smart home system to automatically detect when rooms of the property are not in use and automatically shut off the lights.
Smart lights can also serve as a security tool for your property by allowing you to remotely schedule times for the lights to turn on in your home. This can act as a deterrent to thieves since they won’t be able to tell if someone is home or not if you randomize the on/off times for the smart lights.
5. Vacation Rental Software
If you are a professional host, automating your vacation rental management absolutely requires the use of the software. It can serve as the dashboard for assessing the status of your bookings and properties in real-time and save you loads of time by automating repetitive tasks.
Vacation rental management software, such as iGMS, offers a wide array of valuable features for hosts. You’ll be able to manage multiple Airbnb accounts from a single dashboard, automate your communications with guests, sync your property availability calendars on multiple vacation rental sites, and much more. In addition to guest-related tasks, you can also use this type of software to manage your team and cleaning tasks.
By the way, iGMS offers a $30 bonus for Mashvisor users if you register through this link.
6. Accounting Solutions
In the same way that vacation rental management software allows you to gain real-time insights into your vacation rental business, accounting automation solutions help you to assess the financial health of your business. Using tools such as Quickbooks, Mint or Waveapps, you can automatically download transactions from your Airbnb dashboard and important expense receipts and invoices.
Using these apps will help you to create budgets and forecasts for better vacation rental management. In addition, your business transactions will be automatically organized, making it easier and faster for you to prepare for tax time.
Determining What’s Best for You
While vacation rental management automation won’t allow your business to run on complete auto-pilot, it will significantly reduce the amount of work that is involved. No longer will you have to waste precious time on repetitive tasks. Use automation to handle the tasks that you do over and over again and you’ll be able to spend more time focusing on growing your business.
Choose automation tools that can offer the best potential long-term returns for your business, even if there is a significant upfront cost. Opt for tools that have upgrades built into the cost so that you don’t have to worry about investing in automation technology that will become obsolete before you can recoup your investment.
This article has been contributed by Inna Shevchenko from iGMS.