How I Launched a Short-Term Vacation Rental Business in Under an Hour Using ChatGPT
We’re standing at one of those pivotal moments in history where everything suddenly changes, and society leaps forward to the next level.
The creation of machines, discovery and harnessing of electricity, the microprocessor, the internet and now ChatGPT, a generative AI – all of these revolutions have given the masses two important things: possibilities and time.
ChatGPT is set to revolutionize the short-term vacation rental industry by making it possible for any owner or property manager to quickly start up a business and provide customized concierge services to their customers in mere moments.
Why does that matter?
Because you can provide better service, in less time and that frees you up to work on your business instead of work in your business.
Major travel booking players like Expedia, Booking.com and Hopper are using AI already and looking into how ChatGPT could benefit them – but it’s a powerful, free-to-use platform, which means you can use ChatGPT to get started on your own short-term vacation business or scale your business by punching well above your weight.
Disclaimer on using AI
While I personally found ChatGPT incredibly powerful – there are also limitations.
In this article my purpose is to show how ChatGPT can be helpful and give exact examples with the raw output so that you can see for yourself both the good and bad.
While ChatGPT delivered a lot of valuable information and content at record speed, it also missed the mark in a few areas.
My ultimate goal is for you, as a vacation rental property manager or owner, to see how you can benefit from the power of ChatGPT today, whether that’s using it for ideation, using it for lists, templates, content, etc.
As with any AI technology, there are limitations and cautions. I strongly recommend carefully considering and reviewing all output.
Let’s dive in.
What is ChatGPT?
The first step to seeing how ChatGPT can work for you is understanding what it is, and how to use it.
ChatGPT is a free-to-use artificial intelligence system, created by OpenAI, that can predict text based on a prompt, which means it can carry on writing using a question or request as a starting point.
It has been trained on billions of examples of English text and can respond with natural sounding language and utilize its previous learning and ability to weigh appropriate answers. This means it can quickly prepare things like business plans, legal agreements, marketing copy, or emails to respond to guests. It can even write programming code.
To use ChatGPT, simply visit OpenAI’s website and login or sign-up.
You’ll be faced with a prompt where you can write a question or instruction to ChatGPT. You submit your question and in anywhere from a few seconds to a minute, ChatGPT will start writing a response. That’s it – the only thing limiting you is your imagination.
For me, I used ChatGPT to start a short-term vacation rental business in under an hour.
>> Read on to see how I did it.
How to start a short-term vacation rental business in under an hour
Before ChatGPT, I would never have been able to tackle a guide on how to start a business in under an hour. The list of things you need to put in place to get a short-term vacation rental started can be overwhelming, and each item is an effort on its own.
With ChatGPT, I simply gave it a prompt (asked it to do something), and within seconds it was giving me what I asked for.
The lists below are what I had ChatGPT create.
For new managers: If you’re starting your own short-term vacation rental business, you can ask ChatGPT to prepare these for you and you’ll be on your way.
But if you already have a short-term vacation rental business, you’ll want to check this list out too.
Afterall, ChatGPT is set to revolutionize our time – most business owners start out with just a few of these things figured out and quickly get so immersed in running the business, it’s hard to find time to go back and create everything.
For experienced managers: ChatGPT can take care of this in minutes so you can finally get that agreement or guest communication together that you’ve been putting off.
To make it easy, I’ve broken these things down into three areas:
- Business
- Marketing, and
- Legal
I’ve even provided the input I gave ChatGPT so you can go try it out for your own business.
I’ve also provided links to all of the raw output so you can quickly see which areas ChatGPT got it right, and where it missed the mark.
Tip: Wherever you see words in [brackets], just swap in your own City, State, etc.
Using ChatGPT for Business and Operations
ChatGPT can help you understand how to get your business started, prepare plans, procedures and communicate with owners.
| If you want to… | Tell ChatGPT… |
|---|---|
|
Build your rental inventory (Tip: It all starts here – without inventory you don’t have a business. ChatGPT can help you recruit new owners and build your inventory.) |
“Write a letter from a short-term vacation rental management company to a prospective owner trying to recruit them into their management program.” “Write an email to a prospective owner for our vacation rental management company after they inquired about our services. Include rental projections estimate.” |
| Create a business plan | “Write a business plan for a short-term vacation rental management company” |
| Set up a business | “How do I set up a business license in [your state] for my short term vacation rental company?” |
| Set up an LLC | “How do I set up an LLC in [your state] for my short term vacation rental company?” |
| Register a business with the state | “How do I register my new vacation rental management company in [your state]?” |
| Get permits to operate a short-term vacation rental business | “How do I get a permit to operate a short-term vacation rental company in [City, State]” |
| Get an EIN number from the IRS | “How do I file for an employer ID number with the IRS?” |
| Open a business bank account | “How do I open a business checking account with [your bank]?” |
| Operate a short-term vacation rental company | “What do I need to do operationally to manage properties for my new short term vacation rental company?” |
| Create Standard Operating Procedures | “Write an SOP for a vacation rental management company for the [cleaning/maintenance/reservation] team.” |
| Decide which software you will use to help run your short-term vacation rental management company | “What kind of software do I need to run a short-term vacation rental management company?” |
|
Write owner communications (Tip: From owner’s perks to policies, damage reports and billing statements – ChatGPT can help you keep your owners informed) |
“Write an email to the owner with their monthly accounting and billing.” “Write an email to a new homeowner who just signed up into your management program.” “Write an email to an owner letting them know that there was damage done to their property by the previous guest, that we are filing a claim with the property protection insurance company, and it was approved. We will be replacing the item for them.” |
Here’s an example of one email to an owner ChatGPT wrote for me in seconds.
How to use ChatGPT for Marketing
ChatGPT can help you come up with a name and logo, and even get a website started.
It can also help you create communication with guests in seconds.
| If you want to… | Tell ChatGPT… |
|---|---|
| Come up with a name | “How do I come up with a good name for my short-term vacation rental company in [City, State]?” |
|
Create a logo (Tip: you can use Adobe Sensei, Tailor Brands, Wix Logo Maker or DesignEvo to generate your logo using AI) |
“How should I design a new logo for my short-term vacation rental management company?” |
| Build a website | “What's the best way to build a website for my new short-term vacation rental company?” |
|
Build a WordPress site (Tip: ChatGPT knows a few programming languages too! It can write HTML, Java, Python, VBA and more) |
“How do I build a website with WordPress?” “Write the code in HTML for my home page of my vacation rental management company in [City, State] for my website designed in WordPress.” |
| Pick a domain name for your website | “How do I choose a great domain for my vacation rental company in [City, State]?” |
|
Write website copy (Tip: You can get really creative here – it just depends what you want on your website, these are just some examples) |
“Write the copy for the home page of our website for a vacation rental management company.” “Write the copy of our short term vacation rental management company's website explaining the benefits as a guest vs homeowner” “Write a blog around the best activities in [City, State].” |
|
Write guest communications (Tip: The sky’s the limit here – from welcome emails, to instructions, to concierge type services, ChatGPT can help you keep on top of guest communications) |
“Write an email from a short-term vacation rental management company to a guest after they reserved a property.” “Write an email from a short-term vacation rental management company to a guest with arrival instructions.” “Write an email to a guest explaining check-out instructions including taking out trash, locking doors, and all of the details required to check-out.” “Write an email to a guest asking them to leave a positive review on the marketing sites.” “Write an email to a guest telling them about top things to do in [City, State].” |
Here’s an example of how I used ChatGPT to generate 10 names for a new vacation rental management company in seconds:
How to use Chat GPT to Start Legal Documents
ChatGPT can help you create agreements and contracts that you’ll need to run your business.
| If you want to… | Tell ChatGPT… |
|---|---|
| Create an Operating Agreement for your LLC | “Write an extensive business operating agreement between two business partners where one owner has 51% and the other has 49%.” |
| Create a property management contract | “Write an all-inclusive, extensive vacation rental management contract between the management company and a vacation rental homeowner.” |
| Create an employment agreement | “Write an extensive employment agreement for a short-term vacation rental management company.” |
| Create a rental agreement for guests | “Write an extensive rental agreement between a vacation rental management company and a guest.” |
Here’s an example of how I used ChatGPT to write a business operating agreement between two business partners in seconds.
Important things to keep in mind with ChatGPT
Now that you know how to leverage ChatGPT to launch your own short-term vacation rental business, there are just a few key things to keep in mind as you get started:
- ChatGPT can get you started, but you’ll want to add a personal touch to some of what it writes, make sure you give the output a good read and add your own flavor to it.
- All agreements should have a quick review from a lawyer before you start using them.
ChatGPT won’t actually send the emails to your guests and owners – so you’ll still need to keep on top of communicating with your customers, but software and digital assistants can help with that too.
Level up your vacation rental business with ChatGPT today
ChatGPT is revolutionizing the world and the short-term vacation rental industry with it!
Imagine how you could scale your business with a tool like ChatGPT fast-tracking the creation of your business plans, agreements, websites, and communication.
ChatGPT has the power to give you time – and that time can be used to get your short-term vacation rental business off the ground, or to take it to the next level.
If you’re looking to take your short-term rental business to the next level and beyond, check out this playbook for how I grew my business from 0 to 500 properties in just five years and start building your inventory with the help of ChatGPT!
Author: Brooke Pfautz
Brooke is the founder and CEO of Vintory. He literally wrote the book on how to grow your short-term rental inventory, and it's a 3-category Amazon best seller (get it free here). Brooke and his team have helped more than 500 companies add more properties and grow their revenue.
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