The trend toward owning a vacation rental is here to stay—whether to use it yourself or to rent it out to guests. Renting out vacation rentals on an ongoing basis also involves expenses if the landlords handle these tasks themselves rather than hiring a property management company. For example, a thorough cleaning is required whenever there’s a change in guests. Vacationers must return the physical apartment keys so they can be handed over to the next guests; the room temperature should be adjusted; and the appliances should be checked to ensure they’re in working order. This means landlords must always keep an eye on their property. Transforming a vacation rental equipped with analog systems into a digitized, connected smart home can be particularly beneficial and helpful when renting out a vacation apartment.
Smart – Vacation – Home
A smart home can be understood as a home that is connected both internally and externally. This connectivity makes it possible to control heating, ventilation, doors and gates, windows, awnings, and many other home and kitchen appliances via mobile devices—such as a voice assistant or an app—and to operate them remotely. For vacation rental owners, this would mean replacing the traditional, hands-on approach to managing their property with a digital one—for example, by renting out the property digitally. This offers vacationers a great deal of convenience and speed. There are various systems with compatible gadgets available for converting a vacation rental into a smart home.
"Is there Wi-Fi?"—just a rhetorical question!
Many parents are familiar with this question, mostly from their children, who are allowed to watch one more movie on their tablet in the evening, while teenagers share their vacation experiences via Snapchat and other apps. But even adults don’t want to lose touch with the digital world while on vacation. Since the pandemic has had a lasting impact on the workplace and has established working from home as the norm for the future, some workers now have the option of working from their second home by the sea or in the mountains. Wi-Fi is therefore an indispensable standard feature in a vacation rental today, while a landline or a television set is likely negligible in this age of mobile communication. Wi-Fi is also essential if the vacation rental is to be a “smart” destination that can be monitored remotely.
Smart locks turn your smartphone into a house key
A smart door lock, known as a “smart lock,” allows vacation guests to gain access without a mechanical key. Smart products are now widely available and easy to use. The Nuki Smart Lock, to name one example, turns your smartphone into the key to your home. The device can be retrofitted at any time, controlled remotely via an app, and grants specific access permissions.
Smart Lightning with Smart Bulbs
Smart lights—lighting systems for both indoor and outdoor use—can also be controlled wirelessly via an app. In addition, you can set a schedule for the lights to turn on and off when the home is unoccupied but needs to appear occupied to deter burglars. This requires transmission standards such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and smart light bulbs. At home, these smart lights can also be controlled via a voice assistant like Alexa or Cortana. The brightness and the on/off settings for all integrated lights can then be adjusted to match your mood.
Smart Heating System for Intelligent Heating Control
A smart heating system provides added comfort and also saves energy. App-controlled or automated thermostats monitor the temperature in living spaces, prevent heat loss, and help conserve energy. There are smart heating thermostats that can be controlled locally via a voice assistant, regulated remotely when you’re away when connected to a smart home system, and linked to other devices. Often, a smart heating system can also detect whether a window is open. Homeowners are then notified via the app; window sensors installed and connected to the heating system relay this information to the heating thermostat.
The decision to purchase a smart home system depends on each individual’s vision for their own smart home. Whether a smart installation—such as the heating system—is a self-contained system or one that is intended to be connected to other devices or expanded, for example, with intelligently networked smoke detectors or a robot vacuum cleaner. Expert advisors provide information on the possibilities, offerings, and expansions for a networked vacation home, which can save a great deal of time, especially when the property is being rented out.
