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.
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.
Drop JPGs named photo-2.jpg to photo-4.jpg into the img folder and these fill in automatically. Until then the labelled panels show instead — nothing breaks.
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
Recorded for the Boostly Podcast in October 2022, 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