The trend toward owning a vacation home is here to stay, whether for personal use or for renting out to guests. However, managing a vacation rental involves a certain amount of effort, especially when owners handle the rental process themselves rather than hiring a property management company. Between guest stays, for example, the property needs to be thoroughly cleaned. Guests must return physical keys so they can be handed over to the next visitors, the indoor temperature should be adjusted, and household appliances may need to be checked to ensure they are working properly. In other words, landlords need to keep a close eye on their property.
Turning a traditionally equipped vacation home into a digital, connected smart home can therefore offer significant advantages, particularly when the property is rented out.
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 household and kitchen appliances via mobile devices, voice assistants or apps, even from a distance.
For vacation-home owners, this means replacing the need to physically check on the property with digital monitoring and control. Certain aspects of the rental process can also be managed digitally. This offers guests greater convenience and makes many processes faster and easier. Various smart-home systems and compatible devices are available for upgrading a vacation property.
“Is There Wi-Fi?” – Almost a Rhetorical Question
Many parents will be familiar with this question, especially from children who want to watch a movie on their tablet in the evening or teenagers who want to share their vacation experiences via Snapchat and other social media platforms. But adults, too, do not want to lose access to the digital world while on holiday.
The coronavirus pandemic has also had a lasting impact on the world of work and firmly established remote working as part of many people’s professional lives. As a result, some employees now have the opportunity to work from a second home by the sea or in the mountains.
Wi-Fi has therefore become an essential standard feature in vacation homes, while a landline connection or even a traditional television may be less important in an age of mobile communication. Wi-Fi is also essential if the vacation home is to function as a smart property that can be monitored and controlled remotely.
Smart Locks Turn the Smartphone into a Door Key
A smart door lock, also known as a smart lock, allows vacation guests to access the property without using a physical key. Smart products are now widely available and generally easy to use.
The Nuki Smart Lock, to name one example, turns a smartphone into the key to the property. The device can be retrofitted at any time, controlled remotely via an app and used to assign individual access permissions to guests.
Smart Lighting with Smart Bulbs
Intelligent lighting systems for both indoor and outdoor areas can also be controlled wirelessly via an app. Owners can even set schedules for the lighting when the property is unoccupied so that it appears to be inhabited, which may help deter burglars.
This requires wireless transmission standards such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth as well as smart light bulbs, also known as smart bulbs. When guests are at the property, smart lighting can also be controlled via voice assistants such as Alexa. Brightness levels and the switching on and off of connected lights can then be adjusted according to personal preferences and mood.
Smart Heating Systems for Intelligent Temperature Control
A smart heating system offers additional convenience while also helping to save energy. App-controlled or automated thermostats monitor temperatures in living spaces, help reduce unnecessary heat loss and can contribute to lower energy consumption.
Smart thermostats can often be controlled locally using a voice assistant and, when connected to a smart-home system, can also be adjusted remotely and linked to other devices. Many intelligent heating systems are even able to detect whether a window is open. Property owners can then receive a notification via an app, while connected window sensors transmit the information directly to the heating thermostat.
The decision to purchase a particular smart-home system ultimately depends on the individual requirements and expectations for the property. Owners need to consider whether a smart installation such as the heating system should operate as a standalone solution or be connected to other devices and potentially expanded with features such as smart smoke detectors or a robotic vacuum cleaner.
Specialist advisers can provide information about the different options, products and expansion possibilities available for a connected vacation home. Particularly for owners who rent out their property, these technologies can save a considerable amount of time and simplify everyday property management.
