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The Burden of Manual Supply Tracking
Daugherty Management previously relied on a very manual system to source and distribute its inventory. This included first ordering supplies from major chains, then manually unpacking and warehousing all of the stock, and eventually distributing the supplies to properties as needed. While this is a standard system of events, it was not being tracked accordingly and significantly impacted owner relations and billing.
Cleaners would submit handwritten tickets every time they took inventory to a particular home but then had to rely on memory to recall what they actually restocked in each home. Then every quarter, those handwritten tickets would get rolled up into a mile-wide spreadsheet of every supply distributed to a house during that time. This would be used to bill owners for the applicable supplies, which could be “unwieldy” when trying to explain every line item when it came time for billing.
Mike explained, “another huge problem we faced before implementing Breezeway’s inventory documentation and tracking capabilities is that we had no idea what our shrink levels were. Previously, we had no way to track where our supplies were going, and we had to trust that everything that was going out of the warehouse door was actually going to stock our homes. Now with Breezeway, we can keep track of individual units, which has made this problem all but disappear.”
Scheduling and documenting work at each home was also nearly impossible before Breezeway. Cleaning and maintenance work could be scheduled, but there was no way to confirm if or when it was completed. Mike himself was on call 24/7 trying to triage issues from cleaners, guests, and owners when things fell through the cracks.
Setting up an Automated Inventory Management System
When Daugherty Management signed on to Breezeway, their team was immediately able to track and document all of the work done at each property. Field staff can now go into a property with a clear checklist of what needs to be done and report their progress in real-time. Inventory needs are now automatically tied to each task to monitor supply stock levels and track what property each item is going to. This information is now easily tracked and stored in Breezeway to automatically pull a report to bill homeowners.
Mike has even taken this opportunity to sign up their external vendors on Breezeway to ensure that all of the work done at their properties is aligned with the quality standards they’ve outlined in the platform. Mike says, “when our vendors can just download the app to their phone and see exactly what they need to do and what we expect, it makes their lives easier too.”
With the extra time he was saving, Mike went all in on Breezeway, “I may have taken Breezeway to some levels that other property managers just don't. I use it to manage the inventory of all of our employee uniforms, manage all of our meetings within the operations department, and house a lot of our training documentation because it's such a pliable platform with all of our users on board.”
To further bolster their inventory management, Daugherty Management also integrated Breezeway with sojo to ensure all of their homes are stocked with what guests need and more. sojo’s pre-packaged amenity subscription boxes save their teams the headache of sourcing and ordering supplies in bulk. With sojo, they know their supplies are high-quality and consistent every time, and owners know what they’re paying for. It also saves their teams time at the warehouse, so they no longer have to kit up everything they need for a turnover, they can just grab a sojo box and go.
“sojo’s private label branding of all their toiletry kits also makes a huge difference when we're promoting our service to potential homeowners in showcasing our professionalism.” - Mike Short, Property & Operations Manager at Daugherty Management
Efficiency to Drive Scalability
The efficiency Daugherty Management created not only improved their internal operations, but it also carried over into benefits for the guest experience. By implementing Breezeway Messaging with Operations, Mike is no longer glued to the phone with urgent requests. Instead, his guest services team can message guests and create work orders to manage requests all in one dashboard. The team now has the time and the ability to send pre-arrival messages, so guests are delighted before they even start their stay and don’t just hear from the property manager if there’s an issue. Small touches like this have helped Daugherty Management improve the guest experience and drive repeat guests and referrals.
“I am probably Breezeway’s biggest fan. It's been the biggest game changer for the operations of our business. We've also almost doubled our home inventory in the last three years. So, it's been an essential, key piece of technology that's made all that possible.” - Mike Short, Property & Operations Manager at Daugherty Management
Doubling the number of homes in their property management portfolio is no small task, and it takes an incredible amount of operational efficiency, quality control, and brand building. By improving its offering, Daugherty Management has become the prominent property management company in its market. It significantly improved the guest and owner experience by implementing tools for tracking work and inventory, and it completely changed their business and their brand.
