Vrbo has free price automation software.I use Excel for book keeping.I don't pay for any third party software, not really needed on 1 or 2 properties.I charge a little extra for cleaning fee than actual cleaning costs.

Is it time to bite the bullet and join the world of Automation?

Would love to learn how you guys are automating some of your tasks.

We built into our automated messages to ask for feedback and do so prior to a review.

Just looking for the automated transaction piece so that I don't have to go back to Excel.

Automate property management or hire a property manager.

Once you get more than a few, then automation makes a more sense IMHO.Short list - Pricelabs for pricing.

Personally, I'm currently using Hospitable, which can automate a lot of the communications (even detecting and responding to a lot of questions).

Each renter profile comes with its own booking patterns and renewal needs, as you mentioned... but we find that a 30day rental period with option to renew and automated reminders to the renter works great!

For my first investment deal, I wanted to learn how to manage a property that is still within reasonable distance, but far enough so that it will force me to automate and learn how to manage it remotely.