Hello, does anyone suggest what guests should keep the airconditioner at and same with heat? I want them to be comfortable but reasonable… so wondering what others might suggest. Since it’s a simple cottage- I thought I’d mention here is the temps that work well with this unit to keep the place cool. (and perhaps mention anything too cold could damage the unit)- so they won’t go crazy on it -for fear of a bill sent to them…for breaking it.
Well, for heating in winter we never expressed a preference as our impression was that the cost difference was not all that substantial.
We used to think that 75F was a reasonable temperature for summer, though sometimes it really is cooler than it needs to be.
We’ve recently let people do what they want as we now have solar, though that doesn’t mean that there is not a cost difference. We just decided to let this go so we can focus on not walking on our landscaping. [Ha ha]
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People differ about what’s cool enough or warm enough.
I need the bedroom to be in the low- to mid-60s all year at night. Otherwise I can’t sleep.
I know people who want the heat to reach 78 or 80 at night. (I’d be miserable.) But people are different.
I don’t see any benefit to suggesting temperatures. And I certainly don’t see any benefit to having uncomfortable guests.
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That would be me. More like 75. I don’t actually need it that warm at night, I can always put on more covers. But getting out of bed in the morning in a 60 degree room is something I find really unpleasant.
One of my daughters runs hot- when she was a child, I’d find her sweating an hour after I put her to bed and always had to keep her room cooler than the rest of the house. Now when I go to visit her in the summer, she keeps the AC so low I have to wear a sweater. And keep the door closed to the guest room, close the AC vent, and open the windows.
this is one of those “you’ll never please everyone” conversations.
had a guest recently tell me i should supply electric blankets, and actually we have because they aren’t expensive (electricity prices are certainly v expensive!!) but really, with a polar fleece blanket and 2 people in a bed, you should be fine, IF you managed to keep the fire going.
We recently switched to flannelette sheets for winter, but because i know not everyone likes them, I’ve opted for 1 flannel, 1 cotton sheet. This was a good compromise in my marriage, cos i love flannelette sheets and hubby doesn’t (cos he runs hot). So far, no comments, no complaints from guests.
To conserve energy heating to 68 and cooling to 72 are often cited in articles. However, I am cold at 68 and some people are roasting at 72. I have a central thermostat, optional space heaters, ceiling fans, and window AC units. I control the thermostat, guests control the rest. Occasionally I am peeved when AC or space heaters are left on when guests are not here, but I don’t get into it unless they are booked for more than a day or two.
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My window AC is on a separate circuit and I can turn it off if the guest leaves it on when they leave. If I didn’t have that I’d get a smart AC next time I replaced it. Right now it’s not an issue because I have a one night max.
Electric blankets- that seems to be a great idea…
I have baseboards in my house but they are such a huge electricity
draw that I am telling them to use the heat pump only and I guess I
may supply a infrared heater for a room but since I am only going to
fall this year, it shouldn’t be a problem.
I like 72 degrees but some guests prefer it at 70 in the summer and 74 in the winter.
In the summer I make sure it’s nice and cool for their arrival and in the winter I make sure it’s nice and warm for their arrival. Other than obviously trying to make for a nice arrival, it also keeps them from blasting one or the other in an attempt to get cool or warm quckly. And then I mention where the thermostat is and tell them to make themselves comfortable.
Because there is so much variation in temperature comfort, it doesn’t matter if someone uses what I might deem to be “too much” because someone else will inevitably use what I would think is “too little” so it all averages out. Besides, I don’t doubt that I’d ultimately lose more money by poking guests about how much a/c or heat they use than I do by just letting them be comfortable.
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That’s sounds like all good reasonable points…
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True. Cold for me is anything below 77. I’m not quite sure that I do have an upper limit.
I wouldn’t book a place that didn’t allow me to control the temperature (it has to be a separate place for me) and really the point here is guest comfort.
You’ll find that some guests like temps in the 90s and other who prefer to freeze in the 60s. You can’t please everyone if they have no control.
But it all balances out after a year. Juist add whatever your annual HVAC costs are to your annual expenses and make sure that your nightly prices are set accordingly.
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yes, that makes all good sense. Will just give up all control- and
hope it balances out.
The great thing I found that I wasn’t thinking about when buying this
cottage is that my accountant can write off a ton of expenses- and a
percentage of regular expenses too- which is a great bonus, which
wouldn’t happen if this wasn’t a small business.
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I love an electric blanket for myself, but with rigorous cleaning expectations, they are a problem for hosting. Electric blankets don’t usually hold up to washing for every turnover.
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Yes on second thought that makes sense. I just bought 2 duvets so I
can put the blankets in each and wash the duvets each time- so no
guest has to touch the same blanket…
Always been nervous about them catching fire while i’m asleep!!!
lol… but i have friends that use little electric mats for their pets
and leave on 24/7 and are never worried…so perhaps they’re safer
then i think.
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I’m happy with people setting the thermostat to whatever makes them comfortable. My two houses have Nest thermostats. Today one of our guests contacted me because despite trying to set the thermostat lower, it would eventually reset itself to 75 or so. I’m sure I didn’t notice this on turnovers as 75 is a reasonable temp for me.
Turns out someone at sometime, set the schedules to set the temperature to 75 every two hours for weekdays. The guest ran into it on Monday, when they woke up to 75 degrees after going to sleep at 70.
So for those with Nest thermostats, is there a way to clear the whole schedule without going in and deleting each time it changes? (And yes autoschedule is off.)
Yikes… that sounds like a nightmare… My remote has programming on
it… Hopefully no guest will go near that… portion… it would take
me a million years to figure that out.
You could always contact your guest in advance, and ask their preferred temperature. Then set the A/C or Heat so it is ready for their arrival. My ground floor STR in Vermont doesn’t even have A/C (but it does have a dehumidifier).
I have an electronic Wi-fi thermostat in my (now) 2 AirBnB units as well as in my house, almost the best money I’ve spent. (The best is on my Schlage Encode locks) I have in my ‘day before’ email that if I forget to adjust the heat/air before they get there, to adjust to their liking.
That has only failed the weekend I had these prissy women staying when the AC went out and the entire furnace/AC needed to be replaced. We apologized for the scorching 80 degrees, bought fans and refunded half of their 2 day stay, so they had zero room to complain. That was an expensive weekend.
I use the Honeywell app on my phone to monitor and control the temp and it’s worked very, very well. If guests are there over the weekend, they set it to whatever they want. During the week when no one is there or it’s just us puttering, it stays around 85 in the summer.