The Five Pillar Diagnostic
The Booth Collective created this diagnostic tool to evaluate the operational health of any part of a vacation-rental business. While we often run a full analysis across all departments, you can start with the Mini Operational Diagnostic below to assess a single area of your operation.
Once completed, you’ll receive a department scorecard and a breakdown across the five operational pillars, along with key insights based on your responses to help identify where structure is strong and where operational strain may be forming.
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Your operation is only as strong as the people doing the work. Whether that’s a founder wearing every hat or a multi-market leadership team managing complexity. The People pillar evaluates structure, clarity, capacity, and capability at every level.
Example:
A coordinator spends half their week solving issues outside their job description because no one else has true ownership.
Ask Yourself:
Does my team operate in defined lanes, or are they constantly compensating for system gaps?
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Workload examines how real work flows through your team, not what’s written in the org chart. It captures seasonality, distribution, invisible labor, and operational strain across every function.
Example:
During peak weeks, guest messages double and response times slip because the workload model assumes “typical days” rather than realistic volume.
Ask Yourself:
Does the amount of work match the team I have, or does it rely on heroics?
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Process measures whether your workflows are defined, accessible, and followed consistently across teams and markets. This is where operational drift, rework loops, and gaps in sequencing appear.
Example:
A new home gets onboarded with missing information because there’s no universal checklist across departments.
Ask Yourself:
If one key person stepped away, would the work break—or would it continue cleanly?
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Tech looks at whether your systems accelerate work or create drag. It identifies misconfigurations, manual patches, tool overlap, and automation failures that slow teams down.
Example:
Your PMS sends duplicate messages because automations were built on top of old workflows, and nobody knows which rule controls what.
Ask Yourself:
Do our tools make the work easier or have they created more of it?
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Coordination evaluates how well teams hand work off, close loops, and communicate during transitions, high volume, or cross-market operations. This is often where high-performing teams quietly lose efficiency.
Example:
A maintenance issue is resolved in the field but never communicated back to guest services, leaving the guest waiting for an update that should have been immediate.
Ask Yourself:
Do our teams operate as one system or as separate parts hoping everything connects?