Scaling Without Sacrifice: How AI Communication Transformed This Hostaway User's Growing Business

For property managers looking to expand their portfolios, maintaining high-quality guest communication often becomes a significant hurdle. As your property count grows, so do the demands on your time and team. This was the challenge facing Cory Davis, founder of Summit Time Rentals, when his business began rapidly expanding earlier this year.

This case study explores how Cory's integration of HostBuddy AI with his Hostaway platform has enabled him to scale operations efficiently while enhancing guest satisfaction — offering valuable insights for property managers at similar growth stages.

The Challenge: Growth Creates Communication Bottlenecks

With a business that began in 2018, Cory had methodically built his portfolio to approximately 25 properties over several years. But when Summit Time Rentals began accelerating its growth in recent months, adding nearly 20% more inventory, the communication demands quickly became overwhelming.

"You're getting dozens upon dozens of messages and it's just repetitious stuff that you just have to respond to. And it takes up a lot of time," Cory explains. This growing message volume created three key challenges:

• Repetitive questions consuming valuable staff time

• Risk of response fatigue affecting communication quality

• Limited capacity to focus on strategic business development

The operation had reached a critical inflection point where simply adding more staff wasn't an ideal solution — both from a cost perspective and an efficiency standpoint.

The Communication Conundrum in Vacation Rental Management

Cory's experience reflects a common challenge in the vacation rental industry. As portfolios grow, the communication workload doesn't just increase linearly — it often expands exponentially due to:

• More guests messaging across multiple platforms

• Increased complexity in property-specific information

• Greater potential for emergency or urgent situations

• Higher stakes for maintaining consistent response quality

Property managers typically respond by hiring additional guest service staff, creating more robust SOPs, or reluctantly accepting longer response times. Each approach involves significant tradeoffs between quality, cost, and scalability.

Finding the Right Solution: AI-Powered Communication

Four months ago, Cory integrated HostBuddy AI with his Hostaway account to address these growing communication challenges. The implementation process was straightforward, with the system learning from past guest interactions to maintain the personal touch that Summit Time Rentals values.

Key Benefits Realized

1. Maintained Consistent, High-Quality Guest Interactions

One of the most significant benefits Cory discovered was the system's ability to maintain a consistently positive tone in all guest communications — something that's challenging for human teams working with high message volumes.

"You could ask it seven times the same thing and it would be nice and polite. And as a human, me or anyone that even works for me, they're going to eventually get a little agitated and it's going to come through on that chat," Cory notes.

This consistency has contributed to improved guest perceptions of the company's service quality.

2. Property-Specific Intelligence That Matches Human Knowledge

Cory was particularly impressed with how the AI system accurately handled location-specific information for properties that were challenging to find:

"I had a conversation with somebody [about a hard-to-find property]... and it learned the way I spoke. It seems as if I'm telling the guest exactly where this property is or the lock box is behind this particular pillar. I was just very impressed with the way that it gathers the information and how it relays it in such a human-like, positive way."

This ability to provide accurate, property-specific guidance without human intervention has significantly reduced the hands-on management required for routine questions.

3. Strategic Team Reallocation for Business Growth

Perhaps most importantly, the automated communication system has allowed Cory and his customer service manager to refocus their efforts on strategic initiatives rather than reactive messaging.

"What it's allowed us to do is basically focus on other things. We're able to focus on pricing algorithms. We're able to focus on advertising, utilizing different aspects that we didn't really have time for before," Cory explains. "Currently, we're working on an upgraded version of an owner's manual... now we're able to focus on things that either grow the company or just make us a better company."

This shift from operational maintenance to strategic improvement represents a significant competitive advantage.

4. Enhanced Guest Perception and Review Quality

While Cory's properties have always maintained strong review scores (around 4.7 stars), he's noticed that recent reviews specifically highlight the quality of communication — something directly attributable to the 24/7 responsiveness of the AI system.

"One of the ladies even said the communications [are] above five star, if I could," Cory shares. "A lot of times guests, yes, they want answers to their questions, but they also just want a response. Even if it's a simple question, at least [the system] responds back."

The system even acknowledges when guests resolve their own issues, providing that extra level of service that enhances the overall guest experience.

Implementing a 24/7 Communication Strategy

Cory has customized his automated communication to fit his specific business needs:

• 24/7 coverage for most guest communications

• Custom hours (6am-10pm) for certain message types

• Seamless escalation for urgent issues requiring human attention

This balanced approach ensures guests always receive prompt responses while maintaining appropriate human oversight for complex situations.

Communication Best Practices for Growth-Stage Property Managers

Cory's experience highlights several key strategies that can benefit other property managers looking to scale their operations:

• Establish clear communication windows: Define when automated vs. human responses are appropriate

• Focus on response consistency: Maintain a positive, helpful tone regardless of question repetition

• Develop detailed property guides: The more information your system has, the better it can assist guests

• Free staff for strategic work: Use automation to elevate your team to higher-value activities

• Monitor guest feedback: Pay attention to communication-specific mentions in reviews

The HostBuddy AI Integration with Hostaway

The integration between HostBuddy AI and Hostaway's property management platform creates a powerful combination that enables property managers like Cory to scale operations efficiently.

Key features of the integration include:

• Seamless property data synchronization

• Automated guest messaging across all connected channels

• Contextual responses based on reservation details

• Real-time escalation of complex issues

• Analytics on communication performance

For Summit Time Rentals, this technology partnership has been transformative, allowing the company to grow without sacrificing service quality or adding proportional staff costs.

Looking Forward: Building on Success

While already seeing significant benefits from automated guest communication, Cory plans to implement additional features available through the Hostaway-HostBuddy integration, including smart templates and automated upsell opportunities. These enhancements promise to further optimize the guest experience while generating additional revenue streams.

Cory's approach demonstrates how property managers can leverage technology to break through traditional growth ceilings, creating more sustainable and scalable business models.

Key Takeaways for Property Managers

Summit Time Rentals' experience offers valuable insights for other Hostaway users:

1. Growth intensifies communication challenges: As portfolios expand, communication demands grow disproportionately

2. Consistent communication quality drives guest satisfaction: AI can maintain a consistently positive tone regardless of message volume

3. Team time is better spent on strategic initiatives: Automation creates space for business development

4. Technology-enabled growth is more sustainable: The right tools can help break through traditional operational ceilings

Note: This is a guest post from HostBuddy AI. To learn more about implementing an advanced communication strategy with HostBuddy AI for Hostaway, visit the Hostaway Marketplace or contact your account manager for details. Cory Davis is the founder of Summit Time Rentals, managing approximately 30 vacation rental properties as of April 2025. The company has been using the HostBuddy AI integration with Hostaway since December 2023.