Many renters and homeowners still view property automation as a “luxury.” However, this technology is quickly becoming the norm. Furthermore, if you own vacation rental properties and you want to stay competitive in your industry, smart home automation is a business necessity.
Indeed, as a vacation rental owner, smart home automation will boost the safety and security of your properties, preserve the lifespan of your HVAC systems, save money on energy bills and make the job of managing your properties easier and more efficient.
Here are three reasons why you really need property automation for your vacation rentals.
1. Smart Locks Save You Time, Money and Increase Safety
Giving keys to guests is a hassle and a safety hazard. Some vacation rental managers or owners meet guests in person to give them keys. Others put keys in a coded lockbox on the outside of the property and provide guests with the code. Neither of these solutions is the safest or most efficient.
For one, travel delays and late guests result in missed meeting times—and you or your property manager will be left to wait for hours in the rental property until guests arrive. Secondly, a dishonest guest could make a copy of your keys, or an irresponsible guest might lose them. That’s a security hazard—and you may find yourself continually rekeying the locks on your properties at a significant cost.
A keyless smart lock will solve these hassles and security dangers. Smart locks feature a keypad that allows you to remotely change the keycode from anywhere, or create temporary access codes that automatically expire when you schedule them to. Even better, you won’t have to meet your guests in person anymore: Just send them the keycode by text or email for a convenient check-in process.
2. Smart HVAC Systems Protect Your Heating and Cooling Systems While Saving on Energy Costs
When you rent your vacation properties to short-term guests, the last thing your guests will think about is treating the HVAC system with care. They’ll turn up the AC and leave doors and windows open—wasting energy and straining your HVAC hardware. To preserve the lifespan of HVAC hardware and reduce energy expenditures in your vacation rentals, smart HVAC counteracts these abuses by:
- Automatically shutting down when doors or windows stay open for more than several minutes
- Automatically adjusting to energy-saving mode when guests check out and reactivating to normal status when new guests arrive
- Informing you when filters need changing and sending alerts about problems that could result in a system failure—so you can fix them before a costly disaster occurs
- Sending notifications when the internal property conditions exceed hot, cold or humidity thresholds, so you can remotely adjust the thermostat to prevent property damage
- Providing notifications when guests leave windows or doors open after leaving the property
A smart HVAC system saves time and money by removing the need to continually visit properties, saving on energy costs and preserving the lifespan of HVAC hardware.
3. Smart Home Technology Is Becoming Mainstream
Not only does smart home technology provide time and money-saving benefits, it’s quickly becoming the norm. Soon, vacation rental guests will expect the many conveniences home automation provides. Therefore, failing to upgrade your property could affect your bottom line.
Analysts predict that, by 2023, the growth of smart home automation in the U.S. will expand into an increasing number of households:
- 30.82 million will benefit from smart home energy management.
- 44.24 million will be equipped with smart comfort and lighting.
- 45.95 million will feature smart home entertainment systems.
- 60.01 million will have some form of smart control and connectivity.
- 42.75 million will benefit from smart security systems.
- 36.62 million will enjoy the convenience of smart appliances.
Considering that there were 127.59 million homes in the United States in 2018, these figures indicate that smart home automation will achieve significant market penetration in the years ahead. Make sure your vacation rental properties aren’t left behind!
PointCentral: Advanced Automation for Vacation Rental Businesses
At PointCentral, our team is on call to evaluate your vacation rental property needs, and to design the most technologically advanced automation solutions for your business. No matter the size of your company, PointCentral’s vacation rental automation solutions skyrocket profits and efficiency for a one-home operation in the same way as for an enterprise-level, vacation rental empire.
