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People leaving the heat set really high or the AC really low when they are out all day is quite entitled and wasteful. But no one sets the temp when they are actually in the house to what, for them, is uncomfortable.
I am comfortable at temps that are about 8-10 degrees higher than what the average person likes. So I’d probably set the heating higher than what you’d find comfy, but in the summer I would likely never turn on the AC.
We learned this lesson on with our second set of guests when we discovered they ran the house at 80 degrees for an entire weekend and used nearly a 1/2 tank of oil.
After that, we implemented Nest 3rd Gen thermostats in all of our rentals and set the upper limit to 70 degrees for the winter and the lower limit to 72 degrees in the summer (AC).
About 95% of the time the very first thing guests do on arrival is to run for the thermostat (you can tell that with the Nest app) and their immediate calls/messages. So what we do is preheat the house to about 67 degrees or precool to 75 degrees. This gives them the ability to adjust it (by 3 degrees) and they feel like they’ve accomplished something and they rarely call. BUT when it is preset to the highest limits 70 (winter) or 72 (summer) on arrival we will typically get a complaint call/message within 15 mins of arrival.
When we do get complaints we tell them that energy is expensive and these are very generous temperatures for New England but for $xxx more we will remove the upper limit for their entire stay. Most people say, na we are good but quite a few have paid us for the extra level of comfort.
Another great bonus on the Nest T-stats is the Home/Away feature. It has saved us tons of money while giving returning guests the illusion that the home is still at the same temperature where they set it.
Wow … so how do you notify prospective and booked guests on listing/house rules - and booking and check-in about this “comfort upcharge”?
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For many, 70 in the winter is not particularly comfortable, without good humidity. Perhaps you are doing that also?
Heating and AC operations are described in the House Manual, which they get when they book and there is a copy at the house. We actually only promise 68/74 in those documents but we deliver 70/72.
For most people used to New England, this is totally comfortable. For people from warmer climates not as much. If need be we will change the upper limit by another 2 degrees upon request but we won’t go past that without comp,
I hope you mean 68 A/C and 74 heat (and not the other way around)?
Yankee “ingenuity” 
I’m with @Jefferson and @Vermontbuilder on this. It just makes sense to have happy guests. Raise prices to account for the folks who need it to be too cold or too hot…and limit the length of stays. Because even if they leave doors or windows open, it’s not that bad for a few days.
I find the Nest to be a great solution as well — and, you can turn it down from anywhere so if I have guests leave on afternoon and I have some time between, I can turn the thermostat down.
That just sounds so miserly…
JF
Do what works for you.
This model for works for us by keeping our utils costs in the range $500 - $750/ month for a 4 - 5 bedroom house, otherwise it isn’t worth hosting if the costs go much higher than that given all of the other operational costs involved & the competitive limits of the nightly rate that we can charge. Our guests get a 4 bedroom house for about $200/night, a 5 bedroom house for about $250/night.
“if you run your heater one degree warmer over the course of a month, it will raise your heating bill by 3% for that month. So, if your average bill is $50 per month, if you raise it by two degrees, your bill will be about $53.”
I’ve done my best to keep our 230 year old house as energy efficient as possible. Our small 2 bedroom house (1200 sq feet ) has 5 separate heat pump split units each individually controlled. This allows guests to fine tune heating needs. This type of heating is very costly to install and along with my solar panels, it was a steep investment. The payback is that my monthly heating/hot water/ electric bill is only $35. Guest pay $250/night with average stay 3 nights. Not a cheap place to stay but people seem willing to pay a premium for a high quality visit. We are currently shutting down for upcoming Mud season, which lasts around 4 weeks.
Not in Connecticut, utils are very expensive here.
As a comparison: When we rent the same 4 bedroom house to travel nurses, they rarely spend more than $250/mo on utils (usually averages $200 though) as they are required to pay the overage BUT when we rent the same house on AirBnB or Vrbo the guests burn through $500 - $750 in utils with an average occupancy of 80% with us managing the consumption.
We can’t just charge more for our nightly rates as there are many lower costs hosts to choose from.
I have a 5 bedroom house, I live in CT, my heating bill is much much less, and I am here 24/7. Perhaps some of your problem is a combination of insulation /construction and heating fuel/type or age of heating system?
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Lol, I was waiting for Rolf.
Infuriating. I feel your pain and experience similar.
Rolf, my intentions in posting to this board are to share the experiences that have worked for us in hosting over 200 guest groups (194 with 5-stars), in case someone else here finds them helpful. I am not looking for debates or advice on how to change things, we are good.
Lol, the upper limit for heat at my places is 73. I have never been asked to adjust it up or had complaints it was too cold. Some leave it at 68, some turn it down and some up. I do have window AC’s which do not allow me to set limits, although I can adjust through the app, and I do. If I know they are gone and hear the AC on I will look and adjust. No you cannot leave it at 68 while hiking all day.
No complaints or mentions in the reviews
I am a bit miserly when it comes to WASTING my resources.
RR
Frankly, I’m surprised that Guests are not pretty offended by the bait and switch “oh you want to be comfortable? that is X more per night”. People from the South should expect to be able to have 72/74 heat if they like - without any upcharge.
The house is plenty comfortable, there is no bait & switch. If they want us to turn off the caps (unlimited heat or ac) then they have to pay what it costs us. Do you allow your guests to set the heat at 90 degrees or the AC at 60 degrees? Probably not
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It is a bait and switch unless the upcharge is in your listing. It won’t be “plenty comfortable” for people from a much warmer climate.
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Our guests can set the mini split to whatever they want, thank you very much. We would only care if the guests left the doors/windows open.
So you are basically discriminating against anyone whose internal thermostat is different from yours.