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One of the hosts I work with has a high end rental in AZ. She has appliances & a pool requiring special instructions.
Here’s what she shared with my merry band of new hosts.
(I’m sure we’ve had this product discussed before. I have no pony in this race-I’m not trying to sell it)
“Hi Everyone, I was talking with Anne the other day and she thought some of you might be interested in what I am using in my STR instead of a Guest Book. I have been using it now for a couple of months and I love it and my guest have all given it 5 stars. It is a touch screen about the size of framed picture about 18"w x 24"H. I leave a Welcome message when they arrive and they check in by touching the screen. Here I have videos on how to use everything in the house, house rules, Local things nearby. What I use the most is the message system not for direct communication because I make sure I use airbnb for that but for reminders like “Just a reminder that my pool guy will be stopping by tomorrow for the weekly service. It will take about 15 min and sometime they come by early in the morning”. I can look online to see if they have read it or not. It cost $39 a month. Here is a link that you can go and watch a short video. “
In my “smart” guest room I have a small sign on the en suite commode saying, “lift handle to flush” Two guests in short succession texted in a panic that the toilet lever was broken.
I also demonstrate how to raise and lower blinds (the ones less than 50 years old don’t use string pulleys ) and, though there are instructions next to the French Press, still have had to demonstrate how to use it.
I imagine you’ve got the answer now, but I’ve been in similar situations where an appliance locked unexpectedly (usually because my stupid cats were walking on the buttons) and Google has always had an answer for me
We just put all of the manuals in a kitchen drawer. That seems pretty common, I got the idea from staying in other STRs.
@muddy, I think you were just in a unique situation because you were staying with a relative. If it was an Airbnb, you could just reach out to your host. Which is much different than having to interrupt your daughter’s day. It really would just be different.
Guests will have questions and make mistakes, even with things that are absolutely obvious to us. As guests in Scotland my American husband put the electric kettle on the stove, as he’d never seen one before. We appreciated adding Scottish department store to our list of daily things to do, and were able to replace it with the same model.
I did the same thing years ago at my daughter’s house, not because I didn’t know it was electric, but because I have always used a stovetop kettle myself and was momentarily distracted carrying on a conversation with my granddaughter- it was just a rote, unconscious action. The 4 seconds it was on there was, of course, long enough to destroy it and melt the plastic bottom onto the glass stovetop.
We’ve had three different guests do that. It’s always been in the same apartment, it’s never happened in the other ones even though the kettles are all the same. We refer to that unit as Kettle-Curse instead of Apt 1.
People, we are not addressing the real problem. Poor Muddy went WITHOUT COFFEE after a horrid plane trip. My sympathies, Muddy. Glad things are better.
While I’m a huge fan of tech, I believe there’s a time and place for it, and a STR isn’t the place, at least for most people. I have smart locks, but that’s it. The appliances are ordinary, not too high-end because of this very thing. I get all kinds of guests, and they may not want to be introduced to something super complicated, people get frustrated easily and that leads to bad reviews. Plain fridge w/ice maker. Plain gas stove and DW. Keurig, $10 toaster and electric kettle, plus a lower end microwave that I bought my renters last year. When my mother would come stay with me, or I’d buy her a gift, I’d always get just the basic model unless there was a feature I know she wanted.
I wouldn’t put one in because they need proper cleaning of the milk frother, and guests can’t be trusted to do that. I’ve owned one in the past and they would require instructions to be left out.
Nespresso offer a subscription when you sign up to spend $50/month on coffee (for 1 year) and they give you the machine for free. actually for my home i opted to pay extra to have a fancier machine, but in our STR i put the most basic pod machine.
I used to stay at lots of Airbnbs before the pandemic. I think booking Airbnbs is an adventure in itself. I have always received positive and negative surprises compared to hotels.
If you are used to smart appliances, you may find yourself at a place with old appliances that you don’t know how to use. You could have labels in different languages (I have had that experience as well). Many models of microwaves and washer/dryers can be very different to operate.
It’s sometimes nice to be in a hotel as it is so standardized. I could wake up in a hotel room on any continent and not know where I am. It works perfectly when I just need a clean place to sleep and shower.
I guess I just prefer vintage stuff to new, and not to be reliant on the net, QR codes or screens for making coffee, getting inside my house or turning the lights or music on. Wondering if my guests can figure anything out is non existent as we have a non smart home and a vintage trailer rental, which is, by its nature, well, old and not “smart”. Although we do supply a smart TV…
Persons that have never used a combination lock can’t do that, and I choose to not have to learn how to do the other tech stuff that is not attractive or meaningless to me.
Surely, eventually, a time will come when electronic interconnectedness will be mandatory, but not here on my property.
Me too. I feel the same. And I definitely want to see flames when I cook. I had an electric stove once, as a tenant, it had the glass top too. I couldn’t stand it.
A friend bought a condo in an eco/green building. Induction tops are required (they’re more efficient or something) and hers has a lock. It’s kind of like a combination lock but maybe more like a kill switch on a car. You turn a knob then push a button on the clock and then turn another knob or something. I always expect for the bookcase to slide over and reveal a secret room, lol.
It’s not “smart” or connected, just a safety feature (though I guess there’s nothing more modern than having so many safety features). Fortunately, she has a note on the wall with the steps to unlock it. Only a relative would be cruel enough not to leave instructions. At least the only person who’s ever left me high and dry without coffee was a relative. It was actually the same one that once lent me a car and didn’t explain the kill switch.
Get a Canadian Google Voice number. Download the Google app to your phone. Login to your gmail account. Search for Google Voice number. Pick one that looks pretty (seriously).
Now you can order anything you want anywhere. And if you have CashApp or Venmo, get their debit cards and link them to your delivery accounts.
Thanks for the tip. I’m clueless about stuff like that. I probably won’t have any more need for it on this trip, but good to be aware of in the future. I do have Canadian debit and credit cards, so no payment issues.
It’s fast and easy and since you’re in Canada, Google will see Canadian IP addresses and won’t give you a hard time security-wise.
Also, if you sign up for DoorDash or other delivery services, you can link all your Canadian info and hopefully your daughter will allow you to use her address as your main one and you can add addresses at-will.
Do it now and you’ll have time to play with it in Canada. Good luck.
Yes, I wanted to mention that too. @muddy For both Doordash and Ubereats (maybe others too) you can use your account in other countries, I’m just not sure that you could set up a new account when you’re out of the country. I tried to find out but never got an answer.
Once you have the account you can send food, coffee etc to any address you want if the service is available in that location. For instance, if you had posted about it while you were still waiting to get coffee, I could’ve had coffee delivered to you at your daughter’s address in Canada from the US with my account (and would’ve).
I don’t how you survived. I would’ve resorted to making it with the hot tap water, it’s gross but better than nothing.
Re the coffee- because they have the Jura that grinds the coffee, they don’t even have a separate coffee grinder anymore and only have beans. So even hot tap water wouldn’t have been an option. I would have had to go outside and pound them with a rock
Interesting info re the delivery apps. That would have been quite funny- contacting someone I only know from an online forum who lives in a different country to get a cup of coffee delivered to me.
Last year when I came to Canada, I wasn’t yet vaxed, so had to stay at a quarantine hotel until I got the results of the Covid test I was given on arrival at the airport. Meals were included in the hotel booking, but the food left outside my door was disgusting. We could order out for food, which is when I discovered that the food delivery apps wouldn’t accept out-of-country phone numbers for account set-up.
Otherwise, my Mexican phone plan works great. For the equivalent of $10US/ mo. I get unlimited calling and texting to and from anywhere in Mexico, the US and Canada.
On another positive note, my Costco card from Mexico works at any Costco worldwide and a Costco membership is cheaper in Mexico than in Canada or the US.
) and, though there are instructions next to the French Press, still have had to demonstrate how to use it.
