Naturally as the year begins to wind down, short-term rental property managers may be reflecting on what could’ve been done better. Maybe you’re thinking about where you could’ve cut costs or how you might have increased revenue. The year ahead presents a golden opportunity to set higher goals and bigger ambitions.
For instance, maybe you want to boost short-term rental occupancy year-round. Or maybe a major focus is to reduce expenditures in light of the rising energy costs. Whatever your goals are, there’s no better time than now to invest in changes that will benefit your entire business.
Short-term rental managers have continued to adopt smart home technology solutions to optimize and modernize their businesses for better operational efficiency and guest experience. For example, saving up to 23% on heating and cooling when installing a smart thermostat. If you’re unsure whether to take the automation leap, we’re here to demonstrate the benefits of property tech by taking you through what a day in the life of a smart rental looks like.
A day in the life of a smart short-term rental
10 AM: Guest checks out an hour early
The access technology automatically locks the rental upon check-out, securing your property without the need for onsite staff. You’ll receive a notification, as the property manager, as well as any relevant operations teams. In this case, housekeeping is notified that the rental is ready to clean. Check-out is seamless; it doesn’t require physical key handovers or onsite employees to secure the property, plus your job of organizing team workflow is done for you! You can simply monitor the progress of the turnover through app notifications.
11 AM – 12 PM: Housekeeping and inspection are completed
As with any access or departure from your property, you immediately receive confirmation of the housekeeping team’s arrival at the property. This provides absolute assurance that turnover is underway. The smart tech will automatically notify the next team when housekeeping leaves the property. This process runs smoothly until all tasks, including short-term rental inspections, are complete.
1 PM: Your property is ready for the next guests
With a smart property, the turnover process is as easy as one, two, three. What’s more, thanks to the early check-out of last night’s guests, and the efficiency of your turnover process, you have the opportunity to upsell early check-in to the next guests. Earn extra revenue with operational efficiency. Even if the guests don’t want to check-in early, you’ll still have saved on costs by optimizing your employees’ time, not to mention your own time.
We’ve discussed the best case scenario, but short-term rentals, like with any property, can be unpredictable. Smart home tech prepares you for when something goes wrong. Be prepared for the unexpected with monitoring technology for immediate notification of issues, so you can put in place fast-responding protocols.
What would that look like?
9 AM: A water leak detected
You receive a notification on your smartphone app that the water management valve technology in a rental property has spotted a minor water leak. Thanks to this tech, you’re aware of the problem before it causes any damage to your property. Minor water leaks can often go undetected for some time. Despite the issues being easy to fix, they have the potential to waste over 90 gallons of water per day.
10 AM: Set work orders
Thanks to the smart home tech’s notification, you’re able to schedule a maintenance team to assess the issue in between rental bookings.
11 AM: Guests check-out
The current guests check-out. The smart locks automatically engage, triggering a chain reaction of notifications starting with informing the maintenance team that the property is ready for service.
12 PM: Fixing the issue
The maintenance team fixes the issue quickly and leaves the property. You, along with the housekeeping team, are notified, and your smart property continues the turnover process as usual.
Even minor maintenance needs can cause a lot of stress for property managers, and in the worst-case scenario can cause disruption to future bookings. Without prompt communication, teams may be delayed in completing their tasks, pushing back the entire process which threatens the rental’s readiness for check-in.
Alternatively, suppose the minor water leak remained undetected? In that case, you’d see an incline in water bills, and face the risk of significant damage to the property, which would be costly, could negatively affect a guest’s stay, or take the property momentarily off the market. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, up to 10% of properties in the US unknowingly have these inefficiencies.
Make the following year a more profitable one for your business. Smart home tech streamlines employee workflow and team efficiency while adding an extra layer of protection to your assets.
With tariffs on the rise, there’s no better time than now to cut down on property inefficiencies. So, why wait? Talk to our experts in short-term rental smart home tech today.
