Say less to stress, and more to seafood cocktails and swim up pool bars!

Felicity runs a property management team in Goulburn, NSW and Mariah heads up a team in Adelaide. They share what it’s like to 

 take a holiday now that they’re on the Ailo platform 👇

What is it like taking a holiday now that you’re on Ailo?

Very different. So I did 2 weeks in New Zealand, I think it was the end of August. I took my laptop in preparation for the fact that, you know, usually when you go on leave, you need to do some work.

It didn't actually come out of my suitcase once, which was amazing! For the first time in probably 10 years.

The team could see exactly where things were at, exactly what needed to be done. The communication was all in the system, so it was all very clear for them, you know, what had been said or what had been promised.

I take holidays, Christmas and New Year every year without fail. I used to FaceTime back to the office to talk someone through end-of-month and make sure it got done properly.

I don't have to worry about that anymore. I can actually enjoy my Christmas break with my family and come back knowing that everything's been done, and I don't have to stress about that.

None

What is the vibe in the office now when team members go on leave?

The team's a lot more confident. Things are a lot more peaceful and time management's been much easier as well, so it's just a happier environment to be in.

I mean, life was chaotic then, with lots of Post-it notes and to do lists and mess on the table and, you know, trying to coordinate with everyone.

Now, I don't even have a paper diary or any notepads on my desk, because everything's just through projects and my actions. It's just so much smoother now, coming to work and dealing with everything.

For example, if I need someone to do something for me, I create that project and I assign them their actions. I don't have to ring them or text and say I need you to do this for me. They just look at their actions and know that that's what needs to be done.

How do you manage customer communication over the holiday period with a skeleton staff on?

Being on Ailo has made such a difference to our arrears. We aren't making daily calls anymore, there's just no need for it. The number of tenants that are in arrears has dramatically decreased.

Most of our arrears are 3 to 4 days now. We're not seeing over 7 days very often. Just being able to see when those payments are immediately being made, has been so helpful for our team. Not spending daily time on arrears anymore, it's just freed up so much time because the system does the majority of the hard work for you.

And for our investors, there's so much transparency in the app. They can see everything we can see from a rent perspective, so the communication has been a lot better around arrears. They can log into their app and see where their tenants paid to and when payments have been made.

Property Manager

Director

Principal

Business Owner

How the other half holiday: Life after legacy systems 

What do Crowded House, Billie Eilish and Messages have in common? They’re 3 legends set to rock your world this summer 🤘

Industry data shows us time and time again that the biggest driver of customer satisfaction is good communication. That’s why, unlike legacy systems, we built communication into the heart of the Ailo platform from day one.

Today we are thrilled to welcome Messages onto the stage, a game-changing update designed to help you:

 with a more intuitive, streamlined layout

 focusing on the messages that matter to you

A round of applause for the superstar property managers who rehearsed this back stage with us!

Pink

Lavender

Get a demo

Charcoal

1. Work even faster with an intuitive layout

✅ The new Messages list and preview options are 

You now have a clear list of all messages in Ailo grouped by time frame and with key information highlighted (like property address, key participants, date of latest messages and which team member is assigned to the message!). Configure the view as you like on both desktop and mobile!

Easily open and respond to messages from the Property, Projects or Messages page with a new pop-up feature! The pop-up also includes a handy side panel that identifies the property the message is linked to, key participants (with their contact details) and any team comments.

✅ Speed through tasks with bulk actions!

Mark messages as Open or Done, assign conversations, or download transcripts — all in one go. This is particularly handy if a team member goes on leave and you need to reassign their messages!

 to assign messages to team members for better collaboration

Make it clear who is responsible for a message by assigning it to them. This ensures the messages are attended to fast by the right people.

✅ You can now leave comments on messages!

Add comments directly within messages to create a transparent history of what happened and why.

Yep this one is a biggie. Find exactly what you need from any message, anywhere - whether it’s from a property, contact, project, messages list or your mobile app!

✅ Follow and unfollow messages, choose 

Stay updated on key discussions, or step away from those already resolved. You will automatically follow messages that you’re part of or have been assigned to.

✅ Advanced filters on your messages list

Want to view all messages for a particular investor, property or team member? Easy peasy.

✅ Messages are auto-linked to properties to help you stay organised

You can also take control and link or unlink them yourself, just like you can do with Projects.

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Meet Messages, your headline act of summer

Online scams and fraud are designed to trick you into disclosing your personal information or giving away your money. Anyone can be targeted, so it’s important to always remain vigilant.

We are aware of a current email phishing campaign targeting Australian renters. The email claims to be from the recipient’s real estate agency and asks the recipient to change the account details into which they are paying rent.

We know of renters, and non-renters, who have received versions of this email claiming to be from various real estate brands across Australia.

If you have received one of these emails, you should ignore it and report it to your real estate agency.

Phishing is a common way scammers try to trick you into giving them personal information such as username and passwords, verification codes, and bank account details. Phishing attempts come via email, where scammers use different social engineering tactics to impersonate reputable senders, like your bank or real estate agency.

Knowing how to protect yourself from phishing can go a long way toward helping you protect your personal information. Here are four easy steps you can take today:

Turn on multi-factor authentication when logging into an online service or account (including your personal email address)

Update software and turn on automatic updates

Learn how to recognise and report phishing scams (more info below on this)

More tips on how to secure your email and stay safe online can be found at 

Here are some tell-tale signs of a phishing email, along with an example of a current email phishing campaign targeting Australian renters:

This might be unusual, misspelt or slightly different from the correct email address.

Phishing emails are sent out to hundreds of people at once, so use generic greetings and sign-offs. They often don’t include contact details. In the example below, the email does not include the renter’s name, the rental property address, or the name of the property manager.

This can be a tell-tale sign, but it isn’t always the case. In the example below, ‘property management’ is misspelt.

Phishing emails will often encourage you to click a link or download an attachment to avoid a problem to create a sense of urgency.

Pictured above: An image of a phishing email that is currently circulating in Australia.

If you are unsure, verify the request for information from the sender by using a phone number or email address you know to be correct. Do not use the contact details you have been sent via email. 

If you are concerned that have been a victim of a scam, please report it to the Australian Government's 

If you receive a suspicious email or see a transaction in your Ailo account that you are unsure of, please report your concerns to Ailo by emailing hello@ailo.io. 

For more information on Ailo’s security and how we safeguard your data, please visit 

How to identify and protect yourself from phishing emails

Cash flow is the lifeblood of any small business owner, including the plumbers, electricians, gardeners, handymen, and other critical tradespeople who ensure rental properties are kept in tip-top condition.

But in property management, tradespeople typically have to wait until the end of month to get paid or even longer for larger bills that need multiple rent cycles to cover them.

The Ailo platform was designed to help trades get paid sooner. Bills are paid as soon as rent is paid (not at the end of the month in a batch), and property investors also have the option to pay expenses with more than just their rental income. If a bill comes in that is in excess of the rent that month, property investors can cover it using a bank account, debit card or credit card instead and still have the expenses appear on their statements.

Importantly, faster payments means tradespeople are more and more likely to 

prioritise jobs with agencies who use the Ailo platform

. Which means repairs and maintenance requests from renters are taken care of faster.

Miles, Ian, and Chris are all five-⭐️ tradies who love working with property management businesses who use the Ailo platform. Here’s why:

Miles is a handyman 🔨 Faster payments means he doesn’t have to stress that he has enough cash in the bank to fund materials for his next job.

“Being a small business, it is beneficial and crucial that cash flow comes in all the time, so I can continue working for future jobs,” he said.

“[When I work with agencies on Ailo], I get paid extremely quickly most of the time, which helps me tremendously because I don't have to stress and worry. I can go purchase materials and not have to check the bank several times before I go.”

He said getting repairs fixed promptly is important to keeping everyone happy – the renter, the property owner and the property manager. “You make sure that everything is working as it should be, because they [renters] pay for the services and for the rental.”

Ian is a plumber 💧 Faster payments means he can easily stay on top of his bookkeeping.

Ian is a small business owner and a plumber, and now that he’s a year off retirement he’s been dabbling in property maintenance work, too.

"Anyone who's part of the rental property industry understands the importance of getting things fixed quickly," he said.

“Accidents can occur, water gets lost, power can cause issues, gas can cause issues. And just generally, accidents can happen. So the quicker you get things fixed, the less chance you’ve got of having any dramas that aren’t necessary.”

The faster payments makes it faster and easier for Ian to sort out his accounting once the jobs are done.

“The advantage of being paid quickly is you can clear things off your books much quicker. So instead of it mounting up, you can keep up daily or weekly with getting things off your accounts paid and off your mind,” he said.

“Time is money. The quicker you can get things organised, the quicker you’re onto the next thing! Companies that use Ailo, they're gonna get my business.”

Chris runs a pool care business 🏊‍♂️ Faster payments is the cherry on top of being able to help ensure renters have safe and comfortable homes.

“I'm pretty happy with Ailo. We get paid within three or four days of submitting an invoice, which is always good for a small business like mine,” he said.

"Depending on what time invoices are submitted, but generally money is paid very promptly which is always nice.

“It is nice to have in the back of your mind that you'll be paid fairly promptly. Always good.”

The #1 reason tradies love Ailo (hint: fast cash)

Does ditching multiple programs, while winning new business at record speed sound too good to be true? You probably haven't heard of Ailo then.

Mariah Brierley and Mandy Goodwin from leading South Australian real estate, LJ Hooker Kensington & Unley, have done just that and in the process, totally revolutionised their entire property management business. 

Can you share more about your experience with Ailo?

Prior to the switch with Ailo, we were using 1. a maintenance program, 2. an inspection program, as well as 3. a trust accounting program.

So now we've switched to just using Ailo on its own, eliminating all other products.

Since the change, we've found that we're running a lot more smoothly. We're finding that we're able to keep on top of all of our systems and projects, and having everything in one place is a lot easier.

We changed from multiple programs to Ailo to keep everything in the one place. For us, it made our day to day a lot easier. We were able to see exactly what we had for the upcoming days.

With Ailo we find that we're able to check at the end of the day that everything's been ticked off. So knowing that going into the next day there's nothing overdue or outstanding. 

We can see where we're got holdups in our workflow and where we need to apply a little bit more training or staff time to get those things done.

From changing from multiple programs to the one, I think we've found it's a lot easier to be able to see where everything is. 

If a tenant rings and has something that they're following up, we know where to look. Whereas previously having to change between is it a maintenance inquiry, is it in that system, is it a general inquiry, did it come through email, who did it go to versus now just knowing exactly where to go for that information.

It has really helped our team. Especially if the staff member is off sick. It's easy for us to trace exactly where everything's at and for tenants, that's been a huge relief for them as well.

How do you use Ailo in your new business pitch?

What I have loved about Ailo is the point of difference. When you are trying to get a new landlord on board, you do need points of difference that you can lean on and Ailo has definitely been one of those for our agency.

I talk about the app and what it can offer experience-wise for the landlord. 

I really hone in on digital wallet because it allows them to effectively withdraw their rental income or the rental funds whenever they'd like to. The digital wallet has been really, really well received - I get a lot of great feedback from our landlords about the digital wallet. They love that it is a more customised approach.

When speaking to landlords, I also mentioned that they are going to have one point of contact within our team. 

Ailo allows landlords to effectively and efficiently communicate directly with that point of contact within our agency. It's easy to use the chat feature, especially when landlords want quick responses. They want to be able to reach out to you at anytime and have the confidence that you'll take action in a timely manner. It gives our team the power to respond just as easily and effectively as well. 

I don't need to worry about over-promising on that because that’s what the platform does. It works brilliantly.

What was it like migrating from your legacy system to Ailo?

Any software change can be daunting, but changing through to Ailo was actually a really smooth transition. I don't think it's been smoother with any other technology transition I've had. So from that was a really nice comforting firs experience using Ailo.

From what we've used Ailo for so far, we've made our days a lot easier to run. Going forward, we’re hoping Ailo is going to continue to alleviate a lot more stress and be able to let us focus on our clients more than the day-to-day tasks that we used to focus on.

Mariah & Mandy's transformation is almost too good to be true

It's almost 2025. Information is at our fingertips. Transport arrives in 5 minutes. Our dinners are only a few clicks away. 

Caitlin McCormack and her team at Stone Real Estate Port Macquarie are passionate about providing the same level of convenience (and luxury!) to their customers - which they're now able to deliver with the help of Ailo.
Discover how Caitlin and her seasoned team of property managers are transforming the industry to be more exciting and efficient than ever before. Check it out 👇

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Can you share a little bit about your experience using Ailo?

At Stone Real Estate in Port Macquarie, we're all about maximising the opportunities for investors and having great communication with our tenants. I've been working in property management for four years, and I was with previous agencies before coming to Stone. 

We've got a new fresh approach to property management and being backed by software with Ailo, I think that that's our point of difference. I think that it's a new, fresh approach to something that's sort of a bit outdated. 

Ailo allows investors to have their property and information in the palm of their hands. I've heard other people say it's similar to the difference between getting a taxi and getting an Uber – other than standing at the front and waiting for a taxi to come to you, you can see exactly what's happening and when to be prepared.

It makes me feel excited. It really does. It is something that I've never seen before, something that no one in the local area has seen before. It is a point of difference that where it's backing us to be able to grow our business.

What are the benefits to you of using Ailo? 

From a BDM's perspective, it's great having something that people haven't seen before - that I'm very excited about, and that they can get excited about. Taking a phone and a laptop to a presentation and showing them exactly how it works in the real world - I think that it's a really strong point of difference. 

Ailo allows us to be customer-focused and not be dragged down by admin. And being a BDM is not always an easy role. It's something that's exciting to the people that you're speaking to... Ailo drums up that excitement and gives us a point of difference. 

What do you like about managing your projects on Ailo? 

The customisation of projects I think is really important. I'm very process driven and having a system that works for me in the sense that I can know that my processes are going to be uniform from one property to the next and regardless of what stage that I'm at, we're all going to have the same result. Knowing that whatever spanner gets thrown in the works and whatever phone call I get when I do get back to that process, I know exactly where I'm up to. 

Do you have any advice for someone thinking about using Ailo? 

I would definitely change to Ailo. I think that it makes your day-to-day more uniformed, keeps you accountable. It's a process driven software that is customisable and works for the individual person or the individual agency and how they operate.

When Uber is the norm - why remain a taxi?

We love a five-star review. It means we have exceeded a customer’s expectations, and they felt like they got everything they wanted (and sometimes even more!).

We regularly survey renters who use the Ailo platform to understand what they love, what they like, and what they think we can do better. So what do renters love about Ailo?

Here are the top 4 reasons why An, Leisa, Ajay, Annette, Lei, Gary, Maálona, Kai, and thousands of other renters who gave Ailo 5-stars 🌟

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1. “It’s easy to contact your property agent – they reply right away!”

An W rents in Adelaide and loves how she finally has a direct line to her property manager via messages in her Ailo app.

Chat is a fast and asynchronous way for her to connect with her property manager to get questions and repairs sorted faster without the unnecessary formality of traditional communication tools.

“Before using Ailo, it was hard to contact my property agent. I had to just email them. Then it depends on when they see it, and then you have to wait for them to reply to you. It was really hard," she said.

"But if you use Ailo, they reply very fast through the app. You just type a message, and they reply to you right away! I mostly get a message back in 5-10 minutes. It’s very quick and easy!"

 Through the Ailo platform, your agency can measure your property manager's response times to help them improve their service ⚡

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2. “It reminds me when to pay my rent!”

Gary T rents in the Atherton Tablelands, QLD and loves the rent reminders that pop-up on his phone a few days before rent is due.

"It’s been a great experience. Before Ailo, my biggest issue was knowing when rent was due. So this has been an awesome app to remind us when we need to pay [and how much we owe]," he saif.

When he opens his app, Gary can see when his next rent payment is due and never misses a beat with notifications.

"More importantly, it tells me how far I’ve paid rent in advance. So it gives me an idea of when I need to make my next payment, and it helps me budget!"

Great job, Ray White Rural Atherton! 👏

Leisa R rents in rural southeast QLD and loves how fast it is to pay her rent.

“I find the app a lot easier to use than the old way," she said. "You just press a couple of buttons and rent is done. It’s quick and easy to pay rent.”

When Leisa signs into her Ailo app, the amount of rent owing and when it is due is front and centre. She simply clicks “Pay rent”, chooses her payment method (direct debit, debit card, or credit card), and hits “pay”. Three clicks is all it takes.

On the Ailo platform, your paid-to date advances on a daily basis, which means you can make more frequent smaller payments if money is tight one month to avoid going into arrears. Previously, agencies typically could not support multiple, small payments because of the enormous overhead required to accept, receipt and reconcile each payment.

4. “I can see all my rental payments & bills in the app.”

Kai H loves the visibility he gets in his Ailo app. He always knows what’s going on.

He can check his payment history, see upcoming rent and bills, view his tenancy details, and scroll through a log of all of his conversations with his property manager in real-time 24/7.

What do renters like about Ailo? It’s simple.

Jean-Claude lives in Cairns and last week got a note from his property manager that they were moving to the Ailo platform.

As part of the changeover, his property manager said he would get more rent payment options (including debit and credit cards) and a mobile app that he could message his property manager directly on to report and resolve repairs quickly, see upcoming rent and bills, and view his tenancy history.

One week in, we got the lowdown on how he’s finding the change.

Tell us about your first time paying rent on the platform – how was it?

My real estate just switched to Ailo. They sent me a link to the app, and I made my first payment through it last week.

I think it was around 12 o’clock at night, because I was getting up to go to work. By the time I finished getting ready, I got a notification saying you've been paid, and that’s when I pay my rent so I don’t forget.

I could pay right now or pay later – and it had the sum amount I owed. I changed it, because I wanted to pay two weeks in advance, and then pressed pay rent.

What was your first impression when you signed in to the platform?

The app looks really nice, to be honest. And it was simple, actually. Really simple. I logged in and it had all my rental history. And it asked if I wanted to pay rent today, and I clicked on that. It was straightforward, not confusing.

How was your experience compared to the previous way you paid rent?

Ailo makes everything a lot easier. Everything's there and where you need it to be, so you don't have to go searching through like six different tabs to find where you need to go like in my banking app.

As soon as you open it, it’s like ‘hey, do this or this!’ It was cool. The amount of money it showed was the amount of money I owed. And it told me, ‘you need to pay rent today.’ I signed in and it was just there. I love that, because when you go to your banking app you have to go through like three different screens.

I like using my visa debit card. Anything online that doesn't require face-to-face, I pay with an actual card. It’s always on my desk or right next to me. So I was like, I'll just use this. I didn't care about the fee [associated with paying with a debit card]. If Ailo was like a super complicated system maybe, but it wasn't. It took me, like, seven seconds [to pay rent].

Besides more ways to pay rent, what else do you like about the Ailo platform so far?

I think the only real biggest issue renters have – outside of transferring money for rent – is trying to get in contact with their property manager to get either repairs or something done. But Ailo already has that in the app, because you 

can chat or message your property manager

7 seconds. That’s how quickly Jean-Claude pays his rent

Michael Thompson is an electrical contractor in Berry, NSW. He’s been partnering with the local property management business there for around 15 years, helping to keep rental properties safe and comfortable.

Cash flow is so critical for small businesses owners. How important is speed of payments?

Waiting for payment is not good, especially when it can be a large amount of money.

In the old way, sometimes you'd put your bill in and they’d say, “Oh, the landlord hasn't got enough money in the account. You'll have to wait.” So that was a little bit disappointing.

How quickly do you get paid via agencies who use the Ailo platform?

With Ailo, it’s great. I send an invoice and it's in the bank account within a day, which is very good. That’s now the norm. I’ve experienced all good things and I’ll keep doing that property manager’s work!

If you get paid promptly, you're more inclined to go back to a job or to another job a lot quicker than you would if you know that it's gonna be a long wait!

This electrician gets paid at lightening speed ⚡️

and the mastermind behind the Blackshaw Belconnen team's operational excellence and enviable culture. 

Her latest master stroke supporting the team in Canberra? Saving 1.5 days of admin every month by ditching her legacy property management software and the patchwork of third-party apps and plug-ins that came with it.

Hear how Esther's decision to move to Ailo not only helped her find significant efficiency gains but also helped her team work even better together.

What is it like using Ailo compared to your legacy software?

Ailo has transformed my life. We’ve got one and a half days worth of time back into my working week every month. Absolutely phenomenal. It's honestly those disbursements that used to take so long, and now they're gone. 

Plus, there were about five separate apps that we were using to be able to deliver the service that we do. Now we're using just one powerful platform: Ailo.

What is like migrating from your legacy system to Ailo? 

Migrating from our old property management system across to the Ailo platform was smooth sailing. We had amazing support, and honestly our data looks even better than it did before. 

As a team, it’s been amazing for all of us. We really are a collaborative team and Ailo supports us to work in that way. 

What is your advice to property managers thinking of moving to Ailo? 

For any property managers thinking of moving over to Ailo, well if you'd like to be able to go on holidays and come back with everything still running smoothly, Ailo is where you go.

Blackshaw wins back 1.5 days a month 

They want the information they need when they need it – they don't want to wait for someone else to start their workday (or for a statement at the end of the month), so they can complete their tax return or review their cash flow.

Everyone has the same amount of time in a day – 1,440 minutes. Hear how Renee, a property manager at Freedom Property in Darwin, uses the Ailo platform to make sure her customers spend as little time as possible waiting for to reply.

What do your investors love most about Ailo? 

My owners and tenants love the chat feature. They know that I'm going to get the message within seconds of them hitting send. 

When I'm lying on the couch, I can just answer a chat quickly while I'm watching Home and Away. An owner will send through a quick chat, ‘Hi Renee, I haven't received my end of financial year statement’. And I'll say, 'No worries, log into your app and have a look, you'll find it here' really easily - without having to get up, login to my computer, and track it down and email it. 

I can just do it from my couch. It's amazing.

The transparency for their properties for tenants and owners has been a real blessing for everybody. 

What's New in Ailo

week of 4 july 2024

Hola! There’s a new Project on the block: Meet Take-over Management 👋

It's the little things 💪

✅ You can now remove incorrect forms you added by mistake so you don’t need to recreate a new action

✅ The Contacts section of your mobile app has had a glow up

Secret Squirrel 🐿️

“Wouldn’t it be nice if the world was chocolate, and if we could have multiple, time-stamped property notes.”

🎉 Congratulations, Sarah from Ballarat in Victoria 🎉

"It would be great if we could download bills within the Bills tab.”