Systems for short-term rental managers
Owner acquisition, AI, automation and direct bookings — written from a live portfolio, not from a course.
Everything here is something we run at Rather Be Properties. When it didn't work, we say so.
Al and Elissa Sedighravesh. Al on camera, Elissa on everything else.
Who we are
We own and run Rather Be Properties, a five-star vacation rental management company. We launched our first property in November 2021 and now manage 32 across California, Arizona and North Carolina.
Elissa spent a decade in five-star hospitality at premier resorts in Australia and Dubai — including training spa teams at Atlantis. She writes the systems and standards. Al came from twelve years in residential real estate and mortgage lending, retired from that in 2023, and handles owners, numbers and the camera.
We met in Dubai in 2014. We've since travelled the world as digital nomads with two small children, moved across the country, and extended the business into North Carolina — all while running other people's properties. That's where the systems came from. Not from theory.
Doors & Data is where the rest goes. The templates, the numbers, the automations, and the mistakes that cost us money before they taught us anything.
No stock photography on this website. Every picture is a Tuesday.
Downloads
One is free and finished. The rest are being written from the same portfolio, in the order managers keep asking for them. No pre-orders — you'll be able to buy each one the day it's ready.
26 automated guest and owner messages, mapped end to end — every trigger, every conditional branch, and what each one prevents. 26 pages.
The monthly statement and the narrative that goes with it. Owners rarely leave over occupancy — they leave because they can't tell what happened to their money.
Pitch deck, pricing page, proposal and the six objections every homeowner raises — with the answers that have actually won us properties.
Signed agreement to first booking. Every task, who owns it, and the order that stops a launch slipping three weeks.
The clauses in a management agreement that earn or cost you money — starting with the pre-approved maintenance threshold. Reference material, not legal advice.
All five together: messages, owner statements, owner acquisition, onboarding and the clause library. Buy the bundle once and every future update is included.
On the record
We've been asked the same questions in public three times now — at four properties, at thirty, and at thirty-two. The answers changed. Worth hearing in order.
with Liam Carolan
The earliest one, and the most honest. Hosting, travelling with two small kids, and the year we ran without a pricing engine.
Watch the episode → August 2024 · 30+ propertiesCraftedStays, with Gil Chan · EP22
Four properties to thirty in about a year — what held, what broke, and how the guest experience survived the growth.
Listen to EP22 → August 2025 · 32 propertieswith Sebastián Muñoz of Angel Host · 65 min
The long one. How the management business actually got started, told after the systems existed — start to finish, an hour of it.
Watch on YouTube →Recorded back when we ran four properties instead of thirty-two. We've left the mistakes in, because the mistakes are the useful part.
26 messages, every trigger, and the reason each exists. If it's useful you'll hear from us when the next thing lands. If it isn't, unsubscribe in one click.
Get the 26 messages26 pages · no card required