Efficient Automation for Short-term Rentals
Learn how automation helps Scott streamline operations, ensure that everything runs smoothly, and provide an exceptional guest experience.
In this episode of the Hospitable Hosts podcast, we are joined by Scott Sherin, Founder and CEO of Trusted Stays, which offers professional short-term rental management services with a performance guarantee.
Scott entered the world of short-term rentals after purchasing his first property in Blue Ridge, Georgia, and managing it remotely. After achieving success as an Airbnb Superhost, Scott began sharing his experience online through social media and the Hospitable Hosts Community, and launched a co-hosting business. Since then, he’s grown his portfolio to five co-host clients.
In this episode, Scott shares how he uses Hospitable and Zapier to automate repetitive tasks and incorporate AI into his workflows, enabling him to run his short-term rental business more efficiently.
Press Play now to learn how automation helps Scott streamline operations, ensure that everything runs smoothly, and provide an exceptional guest experience.
Do you prefer to read the highlights? We’ve got a summary of the key takeaways below.
Running Short-term Rentals Without Automation
Scott says that in his early days as a host, managing his rental property remotely without automation tools was very challenging. “It's very chaotic without having tools like Hospitable to help smooth things over. Things like setting up automated booking confirmation messages, changing door codes manually instead of having an automatic changer, not having review rules, not having any automated correspondence with guests.”
He thinks he’s very fortunate that he entered the business with an automation-first approach, so he started using automation software early. “Without being able to use those tools, there'd certainly be a lot more manual work for my business. It would take up a lot more of my time, and I wouldn't really be able to operate it as smoothly as I am,” Scott emphasizes.
Helping Hosts Self-manage Like a Superhost
Scott thinks that being an Airbnb Superhost is all about prioritizing the guest experience in every sense. “It's a level of quality that they're expecting the property to have, and the level of care they're expecting their host to have for them, prioritizing their stay.”
Scott says he saw on Facebook forums that hosts had many common questions, so he decided to create templates and guides to share what worked for him. He provides these resources for free.
“It doesn't hurt my business at all, but it can help them with theirs, and then just gives Airbnb hosts a better reputation overall, encourages more people to travel through the platform,” Scott explains. “I see it if I can help other hosts, then ultimately, we all win.”
Why AI Automation?
Scott reveals that he started using AI automation tools because he was curious about how AI can help him do things better, earn more money, save more time, and enhance guest experience.
“It's just really a curiosity and an open-mindedness to want to improve my business, to learn new tools, and try to stay at the forefront of this new technology age. So that's how I stumbled uponZapier and even Hospitable initially. And since then, I've just found it interesting. I love talking about it, learning from others, teaching others, and just diving headfirst into that world.”
Automated Workflow That Has Changed Scott’s Management Rentals
Scott shares a simple Zap that he thinks most hosts can create right away. “I have a Zapier Zap set up, and the trigger is when a new review is received. And what makes that really interesting is that when I get the new review, I have an AI step that automatically summarizes any recommendations or constructive feedback from it. And then it adds it to my to-do list and categorizes the specific piece of feedback.”
Scott emphasizes that feedback is only helpful if you turn it into an action item, so he also built a Zap that triggers when a guest sends a message. “I can take reviews, messages, all of our conversations, and turn that into action items to help improve the guest experience,” he says. “I wake up with a list of to-do items, and it's just feedback from my guests in their reviews and messages. And I can assign those to team members and get them checked off quickly. Now, I'm always thinking proactively. I'm always enhancing my guest experience as a result.”
Advice to Hosts
Scott underlines that AI automation offers many possibilities for hosts, and it takes a little bit of experimentation. “This stuff can really seem intimidating, but if you just jump in, and you're in the Hospitable Hosts Community and Hospitable Facebook group, and you have a curiosity to improve your business, then you can figure out a lot of these tools self-sufficiently. So I encourage anyone to get curious, talk in the Hospitable Hosts Community, and not worry about the overwhelming nature of AI and tech,” he says.
“I think the tech is getting better and better. And I think the people who are learning it in real time are going to have a big advantage compared to those who tend to lean more on the old school way of hosting,” he points out.
Listen to the full episode of the Hospitable Hosts podcast to discover how AI automation can help you run your STR business more efficiently.
