For me - I must have value add - whether that means expansion, increasing rates, occupancy %, moving to automation and managing remotely etc - there needs to be a for sure way I can add value and streamline operations.

We paid for Sean's Airbnb Automated course.

Have any of you tried using automation in your rental business? 

A agent might do some searching or set up an automated search but except in the relatively small number of deals where the agent has an inside track about a property to come available the agent isn't making a huge difference for the finding of the deal.

I am also looking I only have 6 properties and use a mix of apratments.com, zillow, and QBO but QBO cost so much for the pro per month to have everything automated into it.

--> Automates a lot of your expense tracking --> Much cheaper than most softwares/fancy sheets --> Will probably save you a couple of thousand extra on your taxes if you follow all the recommendations. 

As someone that receives 100s of pieces of marketing, texts, and calls in a given month I can tell you that I put everything I get from some sort of automated caller/mailing system directly in the trash or just lose/block the number.

I want to get this process more automated. 

You can send out monthly emails, set up automations, and most importantly manage your leads with their sales hub. 

GFH is just like a lower version with fewer features that are not sufficient to automate a Short-term rental business.You can also consider using Ownerrez, I'm not trying to run an ad for them right now but Ownerrez is a great PMS, and it has seamless integrations with different rental channels.