Booked Solid Show - Short Term Rental Podcast EP84 - Vacation Rental Automation: Running a Five-Star STR Business on Autopilot with Sean McGregor
Oct 22, 2025
Sean McGregor, founder of NoCodeSTR.com and seasoned vacation rental host, shares his journey of automating short-term rental management. He reveals how no-code tools like Zapier and Airtable can streamline guest communication and operations, allowing hosts to maintain high ratings while traveling the world. Sean emphasizes designing automations around guest experiences, leveraging AI for issue resolution, and encourages hosts to focus on the joyful aspects of their business. Discover the secrets to preserving time and enhancing guest satisfaction with technology!
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Guaranteed Five Stars To Build Trust
- Sean started co-hosting after COVID and guaranteed five-star reviews to build trust without charging commission.
- Tight systems and automations were the only way he could promise that reliability at scale.
Compound Value Of Small Automations
- Small time savings compound: automate tasks that save five minutes daily and layer them to reclaim major time.
- Repeated micro-automations convert a job-like business into a self-running operation.
Database-Driven Automations Scale Better
- Airtable is a relational database that replaces dozens of property-specific zaps with one scalable zap.
- A database-driven stack lets you build guidebooks, owner portals and cleaner apps tied to the same data.
