AI as the new back-of-house assistant in management rights
Did you know AI is quietly transforming management rights by streamlining admin, improving workflows, and giving operators back time—without replacing the human side of the business?
For a long time, I wanted nothing to do with artificial intelligence. Toward the back end of my previous career, I watched it slowly creep into conversations across different industries and made a quiet decision that it was not for me.
I told myself it was scepticism and caution, a concern that we were rushing too quickly to replace human judgement, experience, and relationships with something that did not truly understand the work it was being applied to. Looking back, there was probably also an element of stubbornness in that resistance.
Greg’s column was first published in the March edition of Resort News. OUT NOW. Read it HERE
At that point in my career, I was managing a team of around eleven people, overseeing major accounts, and carrying accountability for a multi-million-dollar operation. My days were full and often overflowing. I was constantly switching between people management, client demands, reporting, planning, and problem solving. With perspective, I can now see how much support a tool like AI could have provided, not by replacing decisions, but by taking pressure off the margins and freeing up headspace.
Despite that, I resisted it for years.
That perspective began to shift after I moved into management rights brokerage.
I did not enter this industry as an operator, but through spending significant time on site with managers, walking through their businesses, reviewing systems and agreements, and listening to how their days unfold. Over the past year, I have sat at kitchen tables, in caretaking offices, and around common property discussing workload, burnout, staffing pressures, and what buyers and financiers really focus on when a business goes to market.
Read: Management rights explained: A practical guide for first-time buyers
What has stood out is not loud adoption of new technology, but quiet experimentation.
Many operators are already using intelligent tools in the background, often without labelling them as AI. These are small efficiencies layered into existing routines. From the outside, management rights still appears traditional. From the inside, it is evolving in subtle, practical and invisible ways.
Some remain hesitant to openly acknowledge using these tools. It is often mentioned almost apologetically. There still seems to be a belief that using AI diminishes experience or effort, when in reality the opposite is usually true. The operators using it most effectively are organised, thoughtful and very intentional about how they run their businesses. They are not shortcutting the role. They are protecting their time and focus for the parts of the job that genuinely require a human.
What changed my thinking was not a sudden embrace of AI, but fatigue from watching capable managers spend so much of their time on tasks that were necessary but not particularly valuable. Administration, emails, documentation, and repetition steadily consume time and mental energy that could otherwise be spent on higher-value work.
I still do not believe artificial intelligence belongs at the front of house. Management rights remain a relationship-driven business where presence, judgement, and trust are critical. However, I have come to see real value in AI operating quietly in the background, supporting rather than competing with the human element of the role.
When approached properly, AI is not about replacing managers or stripping personality from the business. It is about improving clarity and supporting better outcomes with less friction. In many ways, it functions best as a back-of-house assistant, taking care of routine tasks so attention can remain where it matters most.
Most management rights software platforms are not marketed as AI-driven systems, yet they increasingly rely on intelligent automation. Dynamic pricing adjusts rates based on demand. Automated guest messaging improves response times and consistency. Reporting systems surface trends without hours of manual work. Because this intelligence is embedded, it feels like smoother operations rather than a dramatic shift to AI.
The relatively slow uptake of AI within management rights has little to do with age or resistance to change. It is about practicality. Operators are time-poor and understandably cautious about introducing anything that might create more work or uncertainty. What they value are small, reliable improvements that genuinely make the role easier.
In practice, a significant portion of a manager’s week is spent on repetitive tasks: drafting emails and notices, responding to similar owner questions, preparing reports, updating logs, and assembling handover notes. None of this is complex, but it is draining and time-consuming. When used properly, AI can handle the first pass, whether that is drafting an email, summarising correspondence, converting voice notes into written records, or creating templates for routine communication. The manager remains firmly in control, reviewing and approving everything, while benefiting from speed, consistency and reduced cognitive load.
From a brokerage perspective, this matters more than many operators realise.
For caretaking operations, AI can help move important knowledge out of someone’s head and into documented systems such as maintenance schedules, contractor instructions, incident processes, and inspection checklists. Once workflows are documented, they become easier to delegate, audit, and explain to a buyer. While this has operational benefits, it also plays a meaningful role in sale readiness.
Letting operations see similar advantages. AI can assist with guest communication templates, booking responses, review replies, and internal handovers, maintaining tone and consistency during busy periods without removing the personal touch guests value.
One of the most significant advantages AI offers is clarity.
Many management rights businesses are well run but poorly documented, with information scattered across emails, notebooks, spreadsheets, and memory. Fragmented information increases stress, efficiency declines, and buyers may sense that.
AI works best when information is structured and centralised, making it easier to summarise, analyse, and identify gaps. Operators spend less time searching for information and more time acting on it.
There is also a longer-term commercial benefit. Businesses with documented systems, consistent communication, and clean workflows are easier to hand over and easier to sell. Buyers are increasingly drawn to clarity and repeatability. AI, when used sensibly, can quietly support both without changing how the business feels day-to-day.
Artificial intelligence requires direction, oversight and still relies on the operator. The most successful use of AI comes from asking a simple question: what takes time but should not?
And for the avoidance of doubt, this article was written the old-fashioned way. Hand on heart, AI did not write it.
It did, however, scan previous Resort News editions to check when this topic was last covered and proofread for spelling and grammar. While it has been touched on in the past, considering how quickly the technology is moving, it is worth keeping the conversation top of mind.
Used sensibly, AI does not replace judgement or relationships. It gives operators back time and headspace through structure and automation across the business. And when it comes time to sell, that clarity will be valued by buyers, sellers, and brokers alike.
The latest print edition of AccomNews is out now. Read it HERE
