Can I ask guests to conserve energy?

We have an air conditioner/heater which I can log in remotely to and see what the guests are setting their settings to. While we are in VERY HOT climate in summer, I personally think the temerature they set the thermostat to is excessivel.

Would it be too much to put a note saying something to the effect of “conserving energy would be appreciated in the following ways???”

Just a thought. Not doing it yet, just wondering what you would think if you came into a house with that?

I have had no success in asking guests not to abuse the air con… they figure they have paid and the bill is your problem!

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I would be offended and I would leave. I believe that hosts who boundaries on how low the air conditioning can be set and how high the heat can be set should state this in the listing. If you have these boundaries, I would just state them as opposed to lecturing about conserving energy. I can’t tell you how irritating it is to be lectured about conservation as usually the lecturer has a much higher carbon footprint than I do.

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Shared space, private room: I don’t mind if they turn the AC to whatever, as long as they are in the room. In our house rules I say that the only time we will enter their room after check in is if they leave the A.C. on after they leave the house.
I also ask that if they use the washing machine, limit it to one full (The single pair of knickers. Argh.) load per day, during off peak hours. “The environment and our electricity bill thank you”

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I find that the most considerate guests, energy-wise, are teenagers and the over sixties, But it all balances out in the end. I’ve had guests who have set the AC to sixty degrees during their stay (freezing!) and then those who have not used the AC at all.

You can certainly add it to your house rules - playing the ‘eco card’ usually works. :slight_smile:

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I feel your pain, but I wouldn’t say anything to my guests. I had a couple turn the heat up to 87 in the house! They must have been running around without many clothes on because the upstairs was surely roasting hot. I had another guest heat the house to 74 during the day, but turn on the AC to 53 at night. It was in the 50’s outside and he could have just opened the windows to cool off the house. I was just shaking my head, and resisting the urge to remotely change the thermostat setting :joy:

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very glad I didn’t do it without asking first. I will just sit back and hope for the best!!!

Of course you can ask guests to conserve energy. If nothing else, the request sends a signal about your values. Almost every hotel or bnb I’ve been in asks guests to conserve. At a hotel in FL the AC turned off when I opened the glass door to the balcony. You can’t make them do so however and being threatening or punitive is problematic.

You can ask guests, but there is little chance they will do it.

You could look technical solutions, look for a thermostat that can be limited to an upper and a lower limit.

In my staircase and corridors I have thermostatic knobs on my radiators that can not be altered without a key.
In the rooms I have knobs that have an upper limit of 21C.

I don’t see any harm in your asking and am sure your note would be polite and friendly. The trouble is that we see so many admonitions to recycle, save energy, conserve water etc that unless guests are the sort of people who would do that anyway, I really can’t see that it would make a blind bit of difference! Chris’s solution seems the best, but I’m not technically knowledgeable enough to see how it could be done!

I did a quick search.

Use google and the words: “tamper proof thermostat”, and you will find a lot of solutions.

Any hosts who are going to set upper and lower thermostat limits should put the details in their listing. People’s view of a comfortable temperature varies greatly. If I weren’t allowed to be cool enough it would ruin my vacation.

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Re: the guest who could have cooled off by opening the window, I don’t know his situation, but I run either air or heat all year long because of severe allergies. “Fresh” air is harmful to me.

We presume higher energy bills and try to factor it into the price.
It’s just impossible to regulate guests energy usage in our entire place rental. Would rather just price the cost in.
Some guests use a lot more enery than others.
For one group, the electricity bills seemed extremely high, and I later realized guest was sleeping with some sort of Cpap machine on every night!
Another solution could be to have timers switch off appliances after a set period if left running, and the guests always have the option to switch them back on if they are there.
That way of they leave them on as they leave he house, they don’t have to remain on throughout!

Hmm. if they are already in a house and you said nothing to begin with i think now its kind of questionable you telling them that you can see what temperature they are using. I only ask my guests in a separate house to not put it on ON or FAN position, the rest i really would not be able to control . I tell them that i can not stress it enough how important it is to not have it on ON position. Also, talking about common sense again, i ask them to not open windows at all if AC is on. Thats in separate unit.

Just to give you an example how they listen to me:
In my house where we live and i rent out 3 rooms, my monthly budget for electricity is 167$.The house is 2100 sq.feet
In a separate house with brand new AC unit, 1600 sq.feet, the same amount of rooms, the same amount of people, monthly budget payment is 302$.

In my house i watch very carefully over my guests and do not let them alter my AC. I had guests who put termostate on 67F, wore long sleeves and covered themselves with sick comforters at night. Some opened windows “to air the room” with AC blasting.
I am on their case every single time it happens. With separate unit like you have its really impossible to control that much and my numbers show it.

Its definitely ok to say something about conserving energy but BEFORE they move in, or even put it in your rules, but not after the fact tell them that you are watching them through a device while you are not on a property

I have a thermostat that I can remotely log in also. I set it up 9 am everyday, 78 on cooling and 64 on heating. I put in the house guidebook that how the thermostat is set up. If they are in the house they can adjust the setting but it will always go back where I set it. I figured most time they are out about after 9 am. This has been working out pretty well.

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Really? This is so cool, I never heard of anything like that.

Forgot to say, these thermostats are provided and installed free by our local energy company. I have all my rentals and home installed for free. So in the guidebook I state that is we participate our local Energy Saving Program. Just give them some ideas. Some guests care, some don’t as always.

I am calling FPL tomorrow to see if they offer it also

Please let me know how it goes with FPL!

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