Help shape inventory management in Hospitable

I have the pain point of not quite knowing whether I have way too much of something or whether I am about to run out. I use Amazon Subscribe & Save for certain items. Other things just get replaced when they are too worn. 

This would be a great addition to Hospitable (assuming I could get updates from my cleaner).

I’m using the new Claude connection to hospitable to really get a handle on inventory.  I have a new email box that Claude has access to and my Costco, Amazon, Minoan and Walmart order emails all go to that specific box. Then Claude has with the delivery address the exact items that have been ordered for that home. That, along with the reservations details from hospitable, allows me to have a good system that takes into account purchase, use rates per item, and likely upcoming needs.  It turns into order reminders, likely low stock alerts, things like that.  With cleaners in 4 different states, this is better than constantly asking cleaners how we’re doing on stock, and wondering where all the paper towels went.  

We have a spreadsheet that we update on monthly basis - however, if we are walking multiple homes in between turnovers it gets hard to do a decent count. So I end up doing voice memo on AI and take pictures. Then I upload my spreadsheet screenshot from last time and ask it to highlight what needs to be changed based on my voice memo and what may not feel accurate based on the pic. I would say I also stock in owner closet my primary stock, but also have a secondary stock in the attic. So, I would want the tracking to indicate “where” the stock is.

I use a spreadsheet for each property where I can monitor supply level (low, medium, high) and also document when things have been stocked, ordered & received. But my cleaners also just text me when supplies are needed and I have to make sure the spreadsheet is updated. Having this feature in Hospitable could make this whole process that much more efficient!!

It would be awesome if Inventory Management integrated with Tasks. Imagine a cleaner or inspector is completing a cleaning tasks and has access to the entire property inventory and can add/remove items from it as part of their checklist. 

Right now I’m just getting text messages when things need to be restocked. It would be even better, if low inventory could trigger a procurement task too. 

It would be awesome if Inventory tracked: 

• Item
• Description
• Manufacture/Serial Number
• Location in Property
• Par levels
• Link to purchase item (if online)
• Cost

I like where this one is going. I think simple is better in this case. Let me (host) build a list of inventory items/consumables that are at each property. 

Present this list to my cleaner in the tasks app and allow them to tap one or more items that need replenishment. That would then notify the host (ideally with a to-do item in hospitable!) to order those items.

The less I and my cleaner have to text about menial things like this, the better! Keep the texts for the edge cases or problems, leave the routine stuff to tools like hospitable. 

Can’t wait to see how this turns out! 

Totally agree...Amazon subscriptions has great potential...but when I do my quarterly inspections I often find certain items stacked up in ridiculous quantities. My team has been surprisingly incapable of monitoring this...they just toss the new stuff on top of the old stuff without a thought.

I would love to be able to track the items in Hospitable. Unfortunately, there is no way we could get the cleaner to help with par levels, we just receive notifications when she is either out of an item, or it is almost out.

It would be great if my cleaners could just take a picture of what is needed and AI works out what it is and notifies me it’s ready to place an order for xxx as requested by my cleaners it has to be easy and seamless otherwise cleaners won’t use it.  

My cleaner is the same way. Which, for me, is fine. I don’t really want to monitor inventory levels, I really just need to know when something is low/out so I can ship it to arrive within a day or two. Having a way for the cleaner to indicate items that are low on stock directly from within the cleaning task (by picking items from a pre-populated list by me) would be awesome.

Right now my cleaner logs an issue in Breezeway with what she needs and we keep a tracker in Trello of what is needed, ordered and restocked. 

Our cleaner uses a google form for both our cleaning checklist and inventory - uses it with his phone as he cleans and then we have automated emails to me with items that are needed.  Also have automated emails that to out day before a cleaning if a low stock item needs to be delivered to the supply closet.

I have a quadplex and you ran rent each individual apartment or a group of them.  But all the inventory is in the shared basement.  So the inventory listing would be shared over 6 listings, each individual apartment and then the entire top/bottom floor.

Without the inventory being shared between them it would be a mess.  Also if you can add a “warehouse” location as well that would be good.  So we know what stock is on hand, just not deployed yet.

I agree with many of the above comments for features, but the thing we struggle with is that our properties use a variety of cleaners and we don’t seem to have a good way of keeping track of where/when our linens are going missing and who is responsible. 

My pain point is not being completely sure where I am on things that matter to me because they matter to me as a guest. I manage. inventory through my Turno app with the cleaners but it is not always updated and I find myself asking the cleaner after the fact to verify the stock levels. 

Also, some inventory is to be replenished like cups under the coffee maker and other things are more storage such as bathroom tissue.  It matters that everything is inventoried and replenished EVERY TIME!

I use Breezeway to handle turnovers, a lot of maintenance tasks, and inspections.  Each month as close to the first Monday of the month as possible I assign a “Inventory Check-in” inspection task to the cleaner or a team-member who will be at the property next and they tally:

• Video doorbell battery level:
• Garage Video keypad battery level:
• Yale front door lock battery level:
• Dish soap level: (report as issue if less than ¼ bottle)
• Hand soap level (report as issue if less than ¼ bottle)
• etc

If this could be rolled into Hospitable with conditional language on the task assignment itself (example to follow) it would be SO SO SAWEET!!! 

IF no inventory inspection has been completed in past 2 weeks THEN assign “Inventory Inspection” to NEXT AVAILABLE for NEXT VACANT DAY and create a payment task of AMOUNT upon successful form submission.  IF items are marked as needed (trigger could be a simple selection that the inspector makes OR an action triggered from the quantity level reconciled against a reorder threshold) THEN create shopping list, tag to property, and assign to SHOPPER 

I created an app that connects directly to Hospitable that lets you know exactly what’s at each house and what is needed to get it back to desired levels.  It’s supposed to be in Hospitable’s app store but don’t think they have gotten around to adding it yet.  You can check it out here: https://strcomms.com

I like the idea, but for us the challenge isn’t inventory software—it’s getting everyone to consistently use any system.

I can’t even get our cleaning company to write on a whiteboard when we’re running low on supplies.

I also can’t get the owner of the cleaning company to use any scheduling method other than a PDF of the monthly calendar and occasional calendar updates by email.

An inventory feature in Hospitable would be useful, but it would only work if everyone involved consistently updated it. In my experience, getting people to follow the process is much harder than finding the right software.

​@Jake Shepherd — great thread to watch, and I'd add an angle I haven't seen raised yet.

Before short-term rentals I spent years as a technology strategist for Retail & Consumer Goods at Microsoft — working across luxury fashion, outdoor recreation, grocery, e-commerce, and food & beverage brands on digital transformation and enterprise architecture. That world lives and breathes two of the things this thread is circling: item-level RFID and IoT-driven operations.

The short version of what I'd bring: "inventory" here is really two different problems — fast-moving consumables and durable assets like linens — and they want opposite tools. And the hardest part isn't the software; it's that a single host has no way to impose the structure that makes any sensing (RFID, vision, weight) actually work. That structure is exactly what a platform like Hospitable is uniquely positioned to standardize.

I'd value comparing notes before the design locks — happy to grab a slot with Andrew. Some of this may be genuinely novel to this side of the industry.

Colin - Great listing you’ve got there! I’m from Seattle and love visiting Leavenworth and have saved it for future trips. -Lee

using notion to keep track of big inventory, like furniture, but for perishables like cleaning supplies, we just stock up, and ask our cleaners to let us know when something is low

For the most part I’m relying on the cleaners to tell me when things are low, and I keep a list. Then I either make a supply run, or schedule. Walmart delivery for the next turnover.

My biggest pain point is towels and linens. All of my laundry across 6 houses is handled off site. Which means I never actually know how much I have, and what needs to be replaced. There’s currently no accountability built in to this workflow for my cleaners, and that needs to change. Stuff goes missing, and I get a lot of sheets and towels coming in that aren’t mine. Part of it is I need to find a new cleaner, but it would also be great if hospitable could build out an accountability system for this.

This would be a GREAT feature, thank you! We are using Asana to document when a cleaner tells us something is low, when it’s been ordered, when it’s been delivered to our inspector, and when it finally makes it to the house. (We don’t ship directly to the homes- our inspector takes it between bookings.)

Ideally we want to order restock once a month for ALL the properties so we don’t have a ton of separate transactions on our owner statements and I’m not having to pay the inspector to run all over town, but cleaners aren’t always mindful about reporting. (Our inspector sometimes tells us when something’s low as well)

We plan to shift towards a supply program where we order in bulk once a quarter, have the restock taken to the property, and charge the owners a flat fee per month, so it would be nice if the software could accommodate both types of models- ordering per property and ordering vs a centralized supply program.

I have QR code in supply closet and cleaners scans the code and a vibe coded app opens on their phone with supply item and photo of everything in the supply closet. The cleaner just taps whether the item is low or out; after each clean, it's tracked by Claude. Claude sends order reminder. With Cowork I can have it place the order for me as well.

Would love to know more on how you did this as this is awesome idea!