VRMA Administrator
Sponsored by Minut
With property tech growing in popularity among vacation rental owners, you might wonder which tools are right for your business. In this article, we focus on the area of vacation rental monitoring specifically. Should you get a sensor for your rental? And if so, what do you need to consider when choosing one?
Why Monitor?
Vacation rental monitoring gives you instant insight into your rental property. Monitoring factors like noise and occupancy can help you prevent parties, damage, and neighbor complaints. By tracking temperature and humidity, you can keep the rental comfortable and energy bills low. And features like motion detection and security alarm protect your home between bookings.
Protecting Guest Privacy
Before we dive deeper into different types of vacation rental monitors, we need to talk about privacy. One reason many hosts opt for noise monitors is that unlike other tools (e.g., cameras), they protect guest privacy.
How does it work? The Minut sensor, for example, is cameraless and never records or stores personal data. All you as a host will see are numbers: noise level in decibels, temperature in Fahrenheit. When you pick your monitoring tool, make sure it takes similar measures to safeguard privacy.
Noise Monitoring: Indoors and Outdoors
The most popular type of monitoring for vacation rentals is by far noise monitoring. It has now become a tried and tested method to prevent unauthorized parties. In a recent pilot program conducted by Airbnb and Minut in Prague, the Minut sensor solved 100 percent of noise issues in 20 minutes or less.
The latest innovation in the market is Minut’s new generation sensor, which offers both indoor and outdoor modes. It’s difficult to build a reliable outdoor solution due to a range of factors: weather conditions, outdoor noise, and connectivity concerns.
Minut’s new-generation takes on these challenges with a weatherproof sensor that’s completely standalone. In other words, it works on its own, without the need to connect to an indoor hub and rely on precarious connections. Minut also developed a new feature called AudioID. It uses AI and edge processing to filter out the sound of wind on the sensor and fight false positives.
Occupancy Monitoring
Some noise sensors also have the ability to monitor occupancy. By counting the number of mobile devices in its vicinity, the sensor is able to pick up on potential crowds, which again helps in preventing parties and damage.
Temperature and Humidity Monitoring
Another area where sensors are becoming more and more popular is environmental monitoring. Keeping an eye on the temperature and humidity helps hosts and property managers make sure that the rental is comfortable for their guests. It also makes it easy to spot when guests check out without turning off the heating or A/C; which can lead to energy savings and lower bills.
Motion Tracking
By tracking the motion in the rental property, hosts can know that their guests successfully checked in and see when their cleaning staff come and go. This feature is often combined with a security alarm that protects the rental between bookings.
Keeping Operations to the Minimum
Before you decide on what you want to monitor, it’s important to consider the operational side. It might be tempting to get a combination of a few different sensors, but the variety of dashboards and systems can quickly become overwhelming for your staff.
It’s usually better to pick just one area of monitoring or invest in an all-in-one sensor like Minut. Not only does it contain multiple sensors in one, it also offers automations and integrations with tools you already have, including your OTA, PMS, and smart lock. This way, the sensor can alert you to the problem and try to solve it before you even need to get involved.
For example, Minut’s integration with Airbnb makes it so that Minut can contact guests directly through Airbnb Messages when it detects noise. Since a friendly reminder is all that’s needed to resolve most issues, the integration gives PMs peace of mind without having to be on call 24/7. And if you don’t use Airbnb, there are PMS integrations that work in a similar manner! With the latest developments in technology, it’s becoming easier and easier to keep your vacation rentals safe with minimal time investment.
