This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
My current guests just asked me if I could turn off WiFi at night so they could sleep better. They said they have theirs on a timer at home.
Is this a thing? Is it to minimize screen-time or the 21st century version of a fear of microwaves? I don’t understand the logic because we live in a dense urban neighborhood with wifi signals coming from all the neighbors.
I haven’t replied yet but I am thinking of telling them I need it for my baby monitor (not true but how do they know?). Wifi would be a pain to turn off… No tv (smart TV), no laptops (I work from home), no smart devices. It’d be like going back to the 1990s!
This is my guess: Each time my wife receives e-mails (including junk e-mail), Facebook postings from friends and text messages throughout the night, it makes her cell phone “ding.” It also drives me crazy, as the “ding” sounds wake me up.
Of course, your Airbnb guests could power-off their cell phones at bedtime. I wish my wife would, too.
yup, I’ve had that request also, they fear electromagnetic radiation, my reply was; “regrettably this is not possible as it is connected to out security system & fire alarms” they chose to stay regardless.
Like you’re probably struggling with, there’s what I want to say about this topic and then there’s what I need to say to not belittle my guests. Obviously this is some tinfoil hat delusion but you can’t say that.
You said you live in a dense urban neighborhood with a lot of neighbors wifi networks. Say “Ok no problem!” Then rename yours for the night. They won’t know where its coming from.
You should be using the guest network for your guests however. Your smart devices in your home should connect to the main network and then be able to communicate with each other. You could setup this network to be hidden and not broadcast its SSID. Guests may see the connection when they look at the settings in the smart TV etc but they won’t see the password.
It’s not about messages or emails like some are suggesting, some people claim that the radiation doesn’t permit them to sleep .
A few years ago, due to circumstances, my mother allowed one of my aunts to stay in our home for a year . Our modem is on one side of the house, but on the other side of the house I have an Apple Airport Time Capsule to serve as my backup and to extend our wifi. The Time Capsule was in a closet in the room where my aunt was staying.
After staying for one week, my aunt came up to “I can’t sleep because of the Wifi-signal. Can you turn it off?” I needed my backups and generally my aunt is a nutcase so I told her “No! Sorry that won’t be possible.” A big argument and lots of shouting and drama followed, but I didn’t give in. What I did do was secretly turn off the Wifi-function of the device, while maintaining the backup function .
One week later she came up to me again, now totally desperate “I understand you need your backup, but the Wifi really doesn’t allow me to sleep. I have been sleeping terribly for already 2 weeks. Can you please turn it off?” - Me: “Dear aunt , the wifi has been turned off for 1 week already . The device is only making backups. It’s all in your head, your should go to a psychologist.” - She: “Then it must be the backup function… Or you are lying to me.” - Me: “That could very well be the case, but the backup function is staying ON and if it doesn’t suit you, you are free to move out.” Discussion closed.
So YES, some people think that Wifi doesn’t allow them a healthy sleep. They think that if you shut off your Wifi everything will be fine, not taking into account all the other Wifi’s that reach their room. "Dear guest, unfortunately we can’t ask all our close neighbors to turn off their Wifi. Ciao!
This is a great idea! I do have a separate guest network and I could have asked my husband to disable it. I don’t know how so I would have just been unplugging the router.
Unfortunately I already replied saying I needed the network for the baby monitor and suggested they put their phones on airplane mode. I don’t think I’m getting a good review from these guests either way.
Fear of radiation was what I suspected (thanks for the visual, @JohnF). Maybe I should have just pretended to pander to their unreasonable request!
This sounds like another “psychological” rather than physiological condition… like the guests I had last year who checked in and walked right out because they were expecting a scent-free rental.
Either way, I expect a nitpicky review is coming. These guests also insisted on an early check-in, then ghosted me and arrived in the evening without having read the message where I told them how to get in. I came home to find them standing on my stoop, ringing the doorbell.
There is a town in West Virginia, USA called Green Bank that bans WiFi because of a sensitive telescope, and as an adjunct, attracts lots of technophobes:
So glad you suggested that. I imagine they wanted to leave their phones on for the alarm which will work with airplane mode. You are correct most phones will use cell phone data when no wifi is available. There is a setting on my iPhone to stop using cell data but it is a pain to use so I doubt your guests use that setting.
Also the moon icon means “Do Not Disturb is enabled. Do Not Disturb lets you silence calls, notifications, and alerts”. If they are concerned about emergency phone calls it can be modified to all calls to come through.
I had never heard of this. A little bit of searching revealed an article on Electromagnetic Hyper-Sensitivity (EHS) on the World Health Organization website. Double-blind studies have proven that symptoms are not attributable to exposure.
From the article: EHS “resembles multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS), another disorder associated with low-level environmental exposures to chemicals.”
I called it above! I’m not sure why I attract the guests with psychosomatic conditions.
You can do it. Just buy them a jar of iodine tablets or something and tell them it’ll help them in case of radiation poisoning. They’ll really appreciate it. Or buy them a pack of (live) sunflower seeds for $0.10 and explain they the sunflowers absorb radiation. They’ll think “Finally someone gets it!”
they are being daft.
.
. Our modem is on one side of the house, but on the other side of the house I have an Apple Airport Time Capsule to serve as my backup and to extend our wifi. The Time Capsule was in a closet in the room where my aunt was staying.
Sorry that won’t be possible.
, the wifi has been turned off for 1 week already 
. The device is only making backups. It’s all in your head, your should go to a psychologist.
” Discussion closed.