As possibly the busiest season you’ve had in years comes to a close, another opportunity presents itself: the chance to upgrade your short and long-term rentals.
The word “upgrade” possibly makes you think of spending a lot of money and tackling renovation projects. What if we told you that there’s another way?
You can make the most of lower occupancy levels this off-peak season by adding cookie-cut smart home tech amenities, like HVAC Management, to your rentals. There’s no need to pause bookings or viewings with property tech that has a retro-fit turnaround time, simply make your installations during turnover or vacant periods.
5 reasons why you need automated HVAC Management
Firstly, what is HVAC Management? HVAC Management is a tech-powered automated software transforming how heating and cooling malfunctions are recognized and addressed. It’s a solution that is quickly becoming an essential component of the modern home. Here’s why you need it in your short-term rentals…
1. Prevents costly repairs
What usually happens when there’s a heating or cooling issue in your rentals? Panic? A long wait for maintenance repair? An inconvenience to residents?
They say you can never be prepared for the unexpected, but with HVAC Management, which constantly monitors the health of your machine, you can get ahead of and deal with problems before they become a sudden and costly repair job.
HVAC Management property technology flags and alerts property managers of minor issues as soon as an abnormality occurs, reducing critical maintenance needs and therefore unit replacements. A study by one of PointCentral’s partners reveals that this tech can save property managers on average $250 annually per rental!
What’s more, the automated system will analyze and inform property managers of any inefficiencies within a HVAC machine to prevent accelerated wear-and-tear, and “hidden” failures the machine has that residents or guests may not notice or report.
2. Collects and analyzes your data
The smart home tech software will not only collect real-time property heating, ventilation, and air conditioning data, but it will also analyze it for you. HVAC Management software compares the current temperature of a rental to the desired set temperature, assessing for any discrepancies.
If there is a significant discrepancy between the temperature of your rental and the temperature you set it to reach, you’ll instantly be alerted through the app, by email, or text.
An alert notification may look like this:
“Unusual HVAC usage patterns, suggesting user thermostat malpractice.”
Or
“Significant temperature differences that suggest system failure and require an immediate response.”
3. Switches protection of assets from reactive to proactive
The consistent monitoring and care of your HVAC machine will inevitably increase its lifespan, meaning property managers can significantly reduce overhead spending on acquiring new machines.
And the benefits of this home automation tech don’t stop there, HVAC Management enables property managers to proactively protect their systems and will even send recurring or season reminders for vital maintenance upkeep, such as replacing the filters.
4. Maximizes operational efficiency
HVAC Maintenance software equips property managers with a monthly health report as well as a system performance dashboard. So, you can be aware of how much energy your rentals are using at any given time, compare current data to previous days, months, or years, and much more.
For example, on the performance dashboard, you’ll be able to view your HVAC system’s efficiency based on the outside temperature and the average time it takes to heat or cool the rental. It’ll also record when issues are first flagged and how severe the temperature discrepancies are.
These insights are invaluable to you, but even more so for the technicians who’ll maintain and repair your machine.
5. Improves guest satisfaction
And don’t forget how any improvements to your operations trickle down to the service your residents or guests receive.
With HVAC Management you’ll be able to fix issues within hours of the alert (likely before residents even realize there’s an issue with the machine). Plus, you can ease the influx of demand during peak failure days (usually the first hot or cold days of the year) and therefore reduce inconveniences to your residents.
Another highly attractive feature of HVAC monitoring systems is their ability to prevent high energy bills caused by inefficient units and lack of temperature scheduling. So, you can save on operational costs and help your residents save on bills (an appealing feature for prospective residents).
An example of HVAC Management in action
In 2020, a couple received a heating alert for one of their rental properties while they were on vacation. The notification informed them that the indoor temperature of their rental had significantly dropped to below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
They arranged for a technician to inspect the property and a faulty valve was found. So, despite being miles away, they were able to resolve a critical HVAC system malfunction within a matter of hours.
Had the issue gone unnoticed (which would’ve been likely since it was off season) they could have faced significant damage to their property from frozen or leaking pipes. This may have forced them to close the rental to bookings while repairs took place.
Luckily, they avoided all of this, because of the automated HVAC Management alert they received.
Want to join the property managers saving costs on HVAC damage, repairs, and replacements? Talk to one of our team members here.
