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So many people just have no idea how things they use on a daily basis work. I guess they think the heat is hotter if it’s turned way up, instead of knowing that the amount of heat coming out is the same no matter what temp it’s set on, it just stays on longer at higher temps.
There should be some required course in high school where students are taught a basic “How everyday things around the house work”. Such as there isn’t anything yucky about the water in a toilet tank, it’s the same water that comes out of the sink faucets.
My rental (Holiday, stand-alone, 150 kilometers from my home) has A/C for heating and cooling.
The area doesn’t get very cold, and the house is well insulated so heating bills in winter are not noticable.
In Summer, the A/C is used regularly but my solar system is usually providing maximum outputy during the hottest part of the day, so it nicely offsets the A/C.
If I find that still an issue, I wil install a similar A/C unit to the one I have at home. It’s internet connected, so temperature can be controlled remotely, plus I can set minimum and maximum temperatures and lock them so they cannot be tampered with.
The A/C also has a sense mode where it will turn off if it doesn’t sense a human in the room for a pre-determined period of time.
But really its not that much of an issue.
If you are concerned about lights being left on, you can install LED light bulbs. These will produce similar light output at about 10% of the power.
When setting up my house for renting, I wanted to avoid drowning the arriving guesses with instructions, limits, directives, rules, do’s and don’t’s, etc. I say nothing about heating and cooling, cleaning, trash, and so on. I’ve found that common sense is more widespread than we think. A majority of guests use the heating in a responsible way. The occasional person will waste energy but it’s part of our package to provide a comfortable stay. I think some people find my handheld heater controls just another remote to play with. Although my security alarm system is deactivated during stays, I was warned by my Alarm company that they’ve experienced guests at other properties randomly pushing buttons on the alarm panel by the door. When the right buttons are pushed, “ the big red trucks will arrive “ . Our Fire Department charges for “ accidental calls “. Fortunately this hasn’t happened ( yet ) .
After reading on this forum over 5 years I’ve found that hosts can be divided into two categories.
One group is host centric. They have certain needs that must be met and if the guest doesn’t like it they can choose a different Airbnb. They tend to have long descriptions and lists of rules. They feel that staying in their rental is a privilege and treat guests as if they were invitees.
The other group is guest centric. They try to meet the guest needs and hope the guest chooses their Airbnb. They tend to just have the standard rules but despite this they don’t have a lot of problems with guests. They feel privileged that someone is willing to pay them to stay and treat guests as clients.
That doesn’t mean the first group is rigid or don’t like their guests. It doesn’t mean the second group are easily taken advantage of. One isn’t superior to the other either.
I’m always amused at members who post that they wouldn’t stay at someone’s Airbnb because of some policy or aspect of the rental. As long as a host has all the business they want, it doesn’t matter what their policy is.
Don’t know how it works in HI but here the kWh rate is just the beginning process of the electric bill, it is matched by transmission charges, taxes, fees, and all kinds of crazy stuff. The electric bill add-ons (some of which correlate to usage) is usually 2 to 3 times higher than whatever the kWh usage is (like a cable TV bill). Also, in the winter most homes up here heat with oil or natural gas so we have that bill on top of the electric bill. The electric bill tends to drop in the winter but increase in the summer with ac usage, the oill & gas heating bills tend to be high in the winter and little or nothing in the summer (depending upon how hot water is being heated).
FYI your local town or county has regulations on minimum heat requirements for rental units - temps and dates - so you can legally offer the minimum and also show your tenants that you are within the law.
@JJD What I would do in your situation is offer long-termers an option. You install the thermostat you can control, but if they want to be able to turn the heat up to whatever they choose, you take an upfront deposit for excessive usage above a base amount, then apply the deposit to whatever is above that amount when you get the bill.
After the first bill, those tenants might opt for you controlling the heat going forward and not being charged any extra, or might feel it’s worth paying the extra because they like it nice and toasty in the winter and frigid in the summer.
@JJD . one thing that could come up is they take a third wire, called the C wire which may or not be hooked up on the other side (the heater itself) I have 3 of these, and the one that went to the oldest heater I had to run a wire from the thermostat to a 24V adapter that plugged into the wall (like what powers a doorbell) . But 2 of the 3 just hooked up to what was there. Either way it can be done
Hi, install the box on thermostat, airbnb don’t care about you, they care about commission. They sending the shit and don’t want take consequences after that. We have to change it and as a stock holder more control this business.
