I’m looking to find a way to help people work with my smart home appliances during their airbnb stay? Any solutions, what works for you? Also, with your current solution, what frustrates you the most I want the best of the best for my guests.
I’m in the process of setting up Home Assistant for security and controlling lighting, but only in my part of the house, not the B&B upstairs. For the B&B, I believe in the KISS principle, Keep It Simple Stupid. I will not be letting guests have access to smart home functions. I will be putting thermal sensors in all 3 b&b rooms, so that I can monitor how guests use energy (I’m going to install heat pumps and mini-split units in each room that guests can control, but I may be able to override their settings, not sure yet).
I wouldn’t let guests have access to smart home function except maybe for thermostats.
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What kind of smart appliances are you talking about?
Personally, I think the Smart things are best in the background. My smart home devices relate to safety of the property (cameras, lights, door sensors) or comfort (temp sensors, smart thermostat) and don’t need guest interaction.
Like NordlingHouse says, KISS. Giving them an app or screen to fuss with is one more thing to break, cause confusion, or complain about.
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Hi @jkmoore702 Did you end up using smart home appliances for your property? I am a PhD student at the University of Maryland, conducting a study about Airbnb hosts that use smart home devices in their properties. I am interested in talking to hosts like you. Please let me know if you are interested! I compensate my participants. Thanks!
Hi @NordlingHouse @Allison_H I know this post has been a while, but I am interested in talking to Airbnb hosts who use smart home devices. How did your thermal sensors turn out to be? Would you be interested in talking about your experiences for my study? I am a PhD Candidate at the University of Maryland. I’m looking for Airbnb hosts who use smart home devices on their property. The interview will be paid. Please let me know if you are interested! Thanks 
What is the compensation?
The interview takes about 45 minutes to an hour online and we pay USD 30 to our participants (Visa gift card).
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In short, I’m setting up Home Assistant for security and lighting control, but I’ll restrict its use to my part of the house, not the B&B upstairs. Guests won’t have access to smart home features, except for thermostats. I’ll also install thermal sensors in B&B rooms to monitor energy usage.