Notifications On: Running a Business with ADHD and AI
October is ADHD Awareness Month, so I want to be open about how I work. I have ADHD, and I run a hospitality business with every notification switched on. AI now does the work that used to swallow my days, which leaves me free for what I'm good at: spotting opportunities and looking after people.
In short
I run Guesture, a short-term rental management company in South Wales, with ADHD and with AI doing the admin.
Jobs that used to take me hours, from the morning inbox to owner reports, now take minutes, and a person still approves everything.
The time it frees goes into owners, guests and new opportunities for the homes we manage.
Running a business with ADHD: how my brain works
My head is full of ideas. A new service for owners, a partnership with a local business, a better way to price a flat for a big match weekend. They arrive fast, and they arrive anywhere: in the car, mid-way through a property check, at eleven on a Saturday night.
What my brain struggles with is everything that comes after the idea. The follow-up email, the invoice, the spreadsheet, the thing I promised to do on Tuesday. For years, that's where good ideas quietly died.
I've learnt to work with the way I'm wired. When hyperfocus arrives, often late at night, I use it; much of our website was built in those hours. Other days, getting started is harder. The difference now is that those days don't cost the business anything, because the work keeps moving whether my brain is in top gear or not.
A working day without a desk
I work from home, my day is unpredictable, and I can be called to a property at any moment. So the office travels with me.
The iPad starts the day. Before I'm properly up, I ask the AI to go through the inbox. Within minutes every new booking has been checked, replies are drafted and anything urgent sits at the top. I'm reviewing decisions, not wading through emails.
My AirPods are the office. They read out every notification as it lands, so a guest message or an owner's question reaches me on a walk, in the car or halfway up a staircase.
The Apple Watch keeps things moving. A tap reminds me what I'm in the middle of. When the AI has prepared something that needs my say-so, I approve it from my wrist. Nothing goes out without me saying yes.
The laptop is for deep work: owner reports, pricing, planning and building new things.
Most advice for ADHD says to switch notifications off. For me, hearing everything straight away means I deal with it or park it, instead of letting it pile up until it becomes a problem.
How AI turns hours of admin into minutes
None of these jobs is glamorous. All of them used to take me hours, and most were the ones I'd put off.
The job | How it used to go | How it goes now |
|---|---|---|
The morning inbox | An hour or more of reading and sorting, with leads buried among newsletters | Sorted in minutes; every booking checked, replies drafted for my approval |
A stay request | Check availability, hold the dates, write the booking document, raise the invoice, reply: an afternoon | Dates held, paperwork and invoice prepared, reply drafted; I check and approve |
A corporate or agent enquiry | Pulling availability and rates across several homes by hand | Options laid out quickly; I set the price |
Monthly owner reports | Long evenings reconciling payouts from every booking site | Figures gathered and cross-checked; I add the story behind them |
Launching a new home | Listings, certificates and property details chased one by one | A step-by-step launch pack, with every document and registration tracked |
Following up owner enquiries | Warm leads went cold when the week got busy | Every enquiry gets a personal follow-up, ready for me to send |
Every job is also saved and logged, so nothing lives only in my head. If I'm pulled away halfway through, I pick up exactly where I left off. With ADHD, interruptions are guaranteed. Now they don't cost me the work.
How AI helps me turn ideas into opportunities
Saving time is only half of it. The bigger change is what happens to ideas.
An idea used to need an evening of research before I knew whether it was worth anything. By then the spark had often gone. Now I can say it out loud on a walk, and by the time I'm home there's a first answer: who else does it, what the rules are, what it might cost and what the first step looks like.
That's how ordinary moments turn into business:
An owner's question becomes a guide. When one owner asks something every owner should know, like what a fire risk assessment involves, the answer becomes a blog post as well as a reply.
A recognition becomes a story. Winning Best Property Management in Newport two years running isn't a certificate in a drawer. It's a reason to start conversations with owners.
A local business becomes a partner. Our guest guides introduce guests to the cafés, makers and services around each home, and those businesses get something back from us.
The calendar becomes revenue. Match weekends, concerts and big events are spotted early, so prices and minimum stays are set before the demand arrives.
A quiet week becomes a booking. University placements and longer work stays fill the gaps between holiday guests.
New rules become trust. When the Welsh registration and the Cardiff visitor levy arrived, we could explain them to owners clearly and early.
AI doesn't have the ideas for me. It does the legwork that tells me which ones are worth chasing, fast enough that I'm still excited about them. For a brain like mine, that speed is everything.
What I do with the time it gives back
I trained in hotels. Eight years in hotel management, including running a four-star hotel with an AA Rosette kitchen, taught me that hospitality happens between people, not in spreadsheets.
So the hours AI hands back go to the things no software can do. I meet owners in person before they sign anything. I walk through homes and check the details guests notice. I answer owners myself. I'm out in the community, with the Dragons of Newport and the local businesses we work with. And I build what's next.
Work is woven through my whole day rather than boxed into part of it. Some people would find that exhausting. For me, it's the first time the job has fitted the way I think.
What AI-assisted management means for property owners
Owners choosing a manager usually face a trade-off. Big firms have systems; small firms have care. We've built Guesture so you don't have to choose.
You speak to the founder, not a call centre.
Answers come quickly, because the groundwork is already done when your message lands.
Nothing slips. Every booking is checked, every certificate tracked, every job logged.
Your monthly report arrives with the figures checked and the story behind them explained.
Opportunities for your home are spotted early: big events, longer stays, rules that are about to change.
People make the decisions. AI prepares the work. Our team decides, and nothing is sent without a person approving it.
Where Guesture is heading
I see Guesture as a hospitality business developer, not a key-holder. Over the next three years, this way of working is what lets us grow without losing the personal touch:
More homes across South Wales, Bristol and Bath, each still treated as if it were the only one.
Bigger and different properties: larger homes, event venues, and aparthotels or small hotels run for their owners.
New services for owners, built from what we already do well.
A trusted voice on Welsh regulation, so owners hear about changes from us first.
There's one piece of kit I'm still waiting for: something like the Apple Vision Pro, in a version light enough for a full working day. Picture walking through a new property with its photos, floor plan and launch checklist floating beside you. For the way I already work, it's the obvious next step.
Why I'm sharing this in ADHD Awareness Month
Earlier this month, Rosie Higgins of Unquiet Media, a fellow member of the Dragons of Newport, created a set of ADHD Awareness Month posts with us. She took what I'd shared about ADHD and made it clear and honest, and this post is the longer version of that story.
It's also how we like to work locally: two local businesses making something together that neither would have made alone.
Why I love what I do
ADHD is part of who I am, and some days it's hard. But I've stopped fighting the way my brain works and built a business around it instead. The technology holds the details. I bring the hospitality.
If you have ADHD and you've been told to switch everything off, it's worth asking whether that really suits you. For me, the answer was to switch everything on.
And if you own a property in South Wales, Bristol or Bath and you want a manager who answers, my notifications are on. Get in touch, and you'll be talking to me.
Questions owners ask
Does AI make decisions about my property?
No. AI prepares the work: drafts, checks and figures. Our team makes every decision, and nothing goes out without a person approving it.
Will I still deal with you personally?
Yes. Owners speak to me directly, and that won't change as we grow.
Where does Guesture manage properties?
Across South Wales, including Cardiff and Newport. We also welcome owners in Bristol and Bath.
Is ADHD a problem when you run a business?
It brings real challenges, especially with follow-up and admin. It also brings ideas, energy and deep focus. The right systems let you keep the strengths and cover the gaps.
About the author
Pedro Reis is the founder of Guesture, a boutique short-term rental management company based in Newport. He spent eight years in hotel management, including as general manager of a four-star hotel, and has run his own hospitality business full-time since 2017. Guesture won Best Property Management in Newport at the Quality Business Awards in 2025 and 2026, and holds Plum Guide partner status and Marriott Homes & Villas accreditation.
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