By year-end, the short-term rental sector is expected to be worth $903 billion. Remember this when faced with the on-coming challenges of an economic crisis, inflation, labor shortages, and increasing costs. The accommodations industry is in demand, which means your business will continue to be valuable, and most importantly profitable.
Like many, you may wonder – how does a short-term rental business maintain its profitability when the cost of everything, from energy and hardware to employees and vendors, is on the rise?
In short, by adopting property technology designed to reduce operational and energy consumption inefficiencies. But what does that look like? Below we’ve given three examples of how smart home tech devices can benefit short-term rental businesses in the current economic environment.
3 devices that can boost short-term rental profitability
1. Smart thermostats
It may seem counterintuitive to start your cost-saving journey by investing in a new product, but the key here is that it’s a journey. Introducing a heating and cooling monitoring device, such as a smart thermostat, can lead to long-term savings which will not only return the initial investment but continue to benefit your business. Research shows that smart thermostats have the potential to reduce your energy bills by up to 23%!
How so? Smart thermostats work by constantly monitoring the temperature of your short-term rental. This means the tech adjusts to meet your minimum temperature settings – an ideal solution to protect your property from winter frosts or prevent it from overheating in the summertime. Property managers can also set limits, which restrict guests from cranking up the air conditioning or heating too high, and schedules allow for more controlled usage of temperature.
Intelligent thermostats take this one step further. For example, if something drastic changes, such as a door or window being left open for too long, with the help of a contact sensor, the tech can recognize this fluctuation. Instead of trying to combat the drop or rise in temperature, it will automatically adjust to conserve energy. This means your property won’t be pumping out energy that will inevitably be wasted. The same is true if your rental is unoccupied. By using occupancy status, it knows when it’s unnecessary to heat or cool the property – again, saving energy and, ultimately, a lot of money.
Proactive maintenance means you’re able to identify and fix an issue at a lower cost point before the situation escalates. For one customer, this benefit alone led to $8,000 in savings over a year ($250 per property).
2. Access control
Smart locks offer property managers greater control over what is happening in their short-term rentals. You may be wondering how this can save you money. The answer is simple; with an access system that notifies users (property managers and relevant teams) when a guest has checked out and the rental is ready for service, operations can be streamlined. Time = money, so making the most of this is paramount for cutting costs.
Smart locks also allow property managers to grant access to vendors or guests remotely, removing the need for an in-person visit and reducing tasks for your on-site team (a helpful benefit considering current labor shortages). Remote access is especially relevant now as labor costs are on the rise; the last thing you want is a vendor waiting around for you to give them access to your rental (and then billing you for the excess time).
3. Smart water valves
There’s no magic way to prevent the unexpected, such as a water pipe bursting in your short-term rentals. But you can put preventative measures, such as a water management system, in place to help minimize the damage and costs of such disasters.
Smart water valves, for example, are designed to react to leaks, bursts, or frozen pipes automatically and immediately cut off the water supply. This means when something does go wrong, you only face the costs of fixing the problem and not the costs of a rental with significant water damage.
What’s more, tech water solutions enable property managers to gain greater insights into their property’s consumption. This means you can choose to make more sustainable choices going forward to reduce monthly bills.
Short-term rental demand
The demand for short-term rentals continues to be strong, with a predicted increase of over 20% year on year. So, don’t be intimidated out of the game by rising costs. Instead, install smart home tech to help you combat these increases and turn an unprofitable situation into a profitable one.
From preventative maintenance to immediate notifications, these smart home devices provide short-term rental property managers with everything they need to survive the unstable economic environment. Fight labor shortages and inflation with optimized operations, and tackle increased energy costs with tools that reduce usage.
Think these devices are the right fit for your business? Talk to our team here to get started.
