Because that stuff creeps me out and is unnecessary. I don’t want to turn on a light by talking out loud to an phantom robot and remember what words I have to say.
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Exactly.
I have no need for light shows etc, a decent WiFi signal and I’m happy. Gadgetry and gimmickry doesn’t impress me, and having worked within the IT industry for many years, including IT related academia, I wouldn’t classify myself as a “luddite”.
My preference is to turn a light on using a switch as the use of voice commands can be confusing, both to the receptor unit and the guest. You highlighted a couple of issues yourself. While being nowhere bilingual, my OH and I often use Spanish about the house; does it recognise anything other than English? My English accent would be alien to you, and your little box, how would that work?
It’s probably horses for courses, our guests (pre March 2020) are a varied bunch; from China and Taiwan to California and Quebec, via most of Europe and the Middle East. While a lot are C1 in English, many are B1/B2, which leaves us sometimes communicating in, what I call, a third party language. Luckily, my OH has decent French and German, we both have Turkish and we both do a good imitation of Portuguese by speaking Spanish with a Donald Duck accent 
Automation works for you, and your target demographic, but would be simply bricks that needed cleaned for us.
JF
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Aw, gee. I liked that stove. I had the same one but in almond from 1990 to 1998.
What makes you think John is a superhost? 
How far are you from Jackson, TN?
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Hey! I’m a SuperDooperHost don’t yah know!
JF
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I completely understand why many people are anti certain kinds of technology. I had an experience in the past two years that sold me on it completely.
A 68 year old friend who lives alone about a half mile from me got sick and over a couple of weeks became weaker and weaker. He eventually ended up unable to move from the neck down. Alexa was a lifesaver for him. It enabled calls, listening to music and news and audio books.
I have Alexa and it is not just nice for asking the temperature or getting it to play music, it has multiple functions that are helping me with my fading memory. Most of them could be done using other devices like the timer on my phone but bottom line I wouldn’t be without it. One of the most important is that if I fall or wake up one morning unable to move I can get help using Alexa.
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I certainly appreciate that there are tech devices that are useful, maybe even lifesaving. I have a friend who was quite ill. He had a device he wore on his wrist called Lifeline. If he was in trouble, all he had to do was press a button on the device, it sent an alert, and an ambulance would be sent to his home.
And while I am dismayed to see so many people with their faces glued to their cell phone, the fact that people now can take photos and videos so easily has exposed criminal behavior that would otherwise be buried under the rug. Would Derek Chauvin be in prison if no one had documented the murder on their cell phones? I highly doubt it.
Same goes for all the footage of the Capitol insurrection. It’s crucial evidence.
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Tech is like almost everything else. It’s a tool. It’s not inherently evil and it depends on how it’s used. I remember when universal credit cards (like Visa and MasterCard) and bar codes were introduced. Both were viewed with suspicion in the conservative Christian circles I grew up in. The “mark of the beast” yada, yada. I know it’s only been 50 years but it looks like they were wrong.
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My own home was fully automated, (shades, lights, HVAC, etc) and I tried out a few different systems (Alexa, Google) in my guest house. I discovered that those who were tech savvy unplugged them.
Privacy becomes a concern for those who actually know that they are being listened in on, and tracked (what questions are being asked, when and how they are using it). I decided it was best to remove.
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Hmmm. Do you suggest to guests they enable VoIP calling on their cell phones?
We all have quirks. Mine is I really dislike voice recognition/command. Even though my southern accent is mild, voice recognition systems don’t like it.
My car has a voice command system and it never recognizes my commands even though I’ve “voice trained” the top 50 and so far whenever I say, “Hi Mxxxx find gas” Response “I do not understand your request”.
Same with ALL phone voice auto triage systems.
Grrrrrrr
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Well of course it doesn’t understand. There are many gases. You should request gasoline or automotive fuel. 
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More later! We blocked two weekend days and are off to go camping. Our mini vacation.
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I’m interested in this topic, I do love the idea of a fully automated home, however having used smart light bulbs/switches I find using a good old fashioned light switch far easier and more convient!
I do however provide Google Speakers in the Lounge, Kitchen and each bedroom and they can all be linked together if you want a full house speaker system, which is great, IMO. I do also have lamps on wifi sockets/switches as I find they are much easier to turn on than having to stick my hand behind the sofa to turn on the lamp, along with a light to illuminate the drive way at night, but not on a sensor. I have now started providing people with one of my old mobile phones (fully locked down) with a link to all the smart sockets, the heating, spotify so they can stream music around the house and a host of useful apps, I also include a copy of the house guide and wifi and password on there, which has been helpful for a few guests, however I have found people who use iPhones over Android struggled to use it, no idea why they did as it’s simple and you can’t do anything but use it inside the house.
With guests I have found most dis-like lots of tech. I swapped out my Android TV box for a Roku as its simplier for guests to use and is more universal and point and click than other systems, it also has a remote admin page if there are issues, which is handy.
I do love the idea of having a video playing for guests upon entry, but I can’t help but feel they may find it a bit creepy and most guests don’t want to start watching a video when they enter, they want to explore the house and see what there is by themselves, unload/unpack then look further at the house and the house guide/manual, maybe best to have something like an NFC tag or 2d barcode they can scan to play the welcome video that automatically ports it to the TV?
Annet3176. My wife is from LA (Lower Alabama) and she sometimes has trouble with the echo dot recognizing the wakeup word. If it recognizes the wakeup word, she is usually OK. I have a theory but haven’t tried it out. I have the tools but just haven’t been motivated yet. Lower frequency voices seem to work better. Someday I’ll test it. I don’t think the automakers have the voice activation stuff down yet. My Dodge Ram is OK but it isn’t very “smart”. In part of my distance past, I worked on some projects involving speech intelligibility. The environment we are in makes a huge difference. Add road noise and the radio and it is amazing anything can be picked up in a car.
We recommend that guests use wifi calling. Most of the newer phones work well on that mode.
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We might have followed a similar tech path with a different end point. I have a box full of old hubs. The first one was Vera and I loved it. It was local and didn’t connect to the cloud. Loose internet and the house still works. Then it was a open source system. The final two were Wink and Smarthome. I still have some Z-wave operating. I use that for my IFTTT background control like turning on night safety lights at the cabin and letting me know if they aren’t working (current sensing outlet).
I switched to all voice commands when Alexa opened up the interfaces to the various hubs. I have quite a few apps that are shared with Alexa. The latest plus is that Alexa now has a Zigbee hub onboard. I have used Zigbee in the past and it is pretty solid. I and getting ready to control a series of lights along the long driveway.
I think I am going with the YouTube private video that Annet 3176 suggested. I like her idea because a guest can review it at any time. I haven’t figured out the security aspect yet. I may end up putting it on a password protected part of my website. (Not an Airbnb site)
Over the past couple of years we have not had any comment or review that didn’t like what we have set up. We make it VERY simple. There is a cheat sheet that gives detailed instructions. We even have them operate the system at checkin to make sure they are comfortable. The routines are what is amazing. There is so much power to make some cool things happen but it seems to be a hidden topic. We have one routine that a guest can initiate with “Echo Romance”
I am definitely not wanting to convince people to use voice activation or home automation. That was not my purpose in starting this thread. I am really looking for folks that might already use home automation in their Airbnb or might have ideas how to to use it. I know of four so far that are using voice activation home automation. We have been communicating about the best setup. I was hoping to open the conversation up to foster collaboration with others that have the same interest.
We don’t throw away our old phones either. I find it is sometimes easier to keep an old phone logged into the Amazon account associated with that property rather than switching accounts all the time. (We have four properties and use four Amazon accounts). We wouldn’t have to but Amazon isn’t like Smarthings and other HA apps that can separate locations.
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Because they listen. Because they call home to Google. Not where I live, thank you.
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Anything that emits an electromagnetic signal could be on your list. The power system in your house can be monitored. (Don’t forget that most of the IOT devices at some point are powered by supply electricity. The EM emissions of the IOT can theoretically interact with power grid feed.) Some IOT units send data feeds over those same lines. Standard music speakers can act as both a sending unit of audio or also act as a microphone. The internet feed to a house can be sensed and analyzed. (OK fiber is more difficult!) Even the drone or aircraft flying over your house can capture data.
I do get a kick out of folks that use a cell phone but are concerned about Google or Alexa. A cell phone is directly tied to an individual with multiple levels of validation. Each cell call has metadata associated with it. Each cell call is a purposeful communication and therefore can be linked to other communication.
SO true. And anyway, the outsized importance people feel about their ‘data’ like where they went for coffee that morning - thinking that some sinister ‘gov’ ment’ needs to know where Billy Bob or Mary Jo are - speaks volumes about the arrogance of the American mindset.
My objection to a lot of tech automation in a rental isn’t that I would be concerned that the devices and host is spying on me or gathering my data.
It’s that when I travel and arrive somewhere, what I want to do is put my luggage down, have a shower, something to eat, unpack and relax.
The last thing I would want to do is sit through the host’s explanation or watch a video or read a manual about how to turn on the lights.
I’m interested in learning about tech stuff that is useful to me in my own life- I’m not a Luddite. But I’m not interested in having to do that when I’m on holiday.
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Siri on my cell is off unless I push a button. Alexa and Google listen to you all the time.