When it comes to property management, most tasks are reoccurring and can therefore be automated. For example, automated tasks are useful for; scheduling check-out cleans, booking key handovers, scheduling the monthly gardening, or even the annual smoke alarm test. This article will help with creating automated tasks and save them as templates for future use.

Have a look at this video here, or read through the instructions in this article to find out how.

1. From the dashboard, click on "Tasks" from the left panel.

2. The next screen will take you to the task overview. From here, you can check all your scheduled, overdue and completed tasks. Since we want to create a new task template, click on "New template" from the top right and select "Create from scratch" or "Duplicate template" if you already have one set up and wanted to automate the same task for another property.

3. By clicking on "New template", you will be taken to the new template form to fill out the details needed to complete the automation. Remember to toggle "Automate task" on the top right.

Each section of the template has been broken down below:

Property - This is where you select the property that you want to assign the template to.

Assignee - If you have added users (cleaners, gardeners, contractors), you can assign them to the task. This is useful if you have the same person completing the task each time. If not, you can leave this blank and assign the task to someone closer to the date.

Task Details - Specifics of the automated task, which is broken down into 4 sections.

a. Type - The type of work related to the template

b. Name - The name we want to assign to the task template

c. Instructions - High-level instructions of the task

d. Attachments - Any documents, files or pictures relevant to the task.

Checklist - You can create a custom checklist for the assigned user to complete (mobile-friendly).

Schedule - Schedule particulars of the task template.

a. Start time - When to start the task automation.

b. Complete by - Assigned time for completing the task.

Cost - You can also add costs to be deducted from the homeowner or payment to the person completing the task (assignee). It is recommended to add the "Amount charged to Homeowner" if you are utilising the "Homeowner Statements"; more about it here.

*Please note that the user assigned the task won't see the cost if added under "Suppliers & Contractors".

Subtasks - Other tasks that need to be completed at the same time as the main task. For example, you could add linen delivery as a subtask and assign it to another user.

4. Click on "Save template" at the bottom once we are done with the specifics of the task template that we want to automate.

As soon as a booking is successfully placed through Airbnb, any automated tasks scheduled to be created "By accepted reservation" will be created.

Any automated tasks scheduled to be created "By accepted reservation" will only be created where their reservation is successful. This means the payment has had to be successfully processed before a task will be created for a Vrbo or Booking.com reservation.