Portfolio · AI Automation & Operations engagement Automating Operations for a Property Manager A Cape Town property manager with around 100 properties and a team of five was running everything by hand. In 9 weeks, I replaced the manual coordination with a CRM and AI automations that answer, track and follow up on their own.

The challenge

Enquiries from property owners sat unanswered for three days or more. Maintenance requests came in by WhatsApp, email and phone, with nothing tracked. Data was copied by hand between Gmail, a spreadsheet and the invoicing tool, and leads that didn't convert straight away were forgotten.

Approach

Having run operations at Hostmaker in Lisbon and Barcelona, I'd seen this exact pattern before. I spent two weeks mapping how work actually moved through the business, then set up one CRM as the single source of truth and built AI automations around it for enquiries, follow-ups and maintenance. The team now spends its time on the work that needs a person.

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Key deliverables

• CRM setup: HubSpot as one place for every enquiry, property owner and deal
• Enquiry automation: instant personal replies, lead scoring and routing to the right person
• Automatic follow-ups: every lead followed up until they reply or book a call
• Maintenance triage: one channel for all requests, assigned and tracked automatically
• AI website assistant: answers common questions and qualifies leads before they reach the team

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Inside the build: the enquiry automation

The workflow behind the faster response times. Before, a host enquiry sat in someone's inbox until they had time to read it, and anyone who didn't reply straight away was usually forgotten. Now every enquiry is answered, logged and followed up without anyone having to remember.

1. 1
   A property owner enquiresWebsite form

   An owner fills in the form on the website with their property details. Submitting it triggers the workflow.

2. 2
   AI qualifies the leadZapier · Claude API

   The AI reads the enquiry, picks out location, property type and size, and scores how good a fit it is for the business.

3. 3
   The CRM is updatedHubSpot

   A contact and deal are created with all the details, and the lead is assigned to the right team member by area.

4. 4
   A personal reply goes outGmail

   The AI drafts a reply that mentions their property and includes a link to book a call. It goes out within minutes.

5. 5
   Follow-up runs itselfHubSpot

   No reply? Follow-ups go out on day 2, 5 and 10. The moment they reply or book a call, the sequence stops and the team is notified.

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Results

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Skills applied