The rise of short-term rentals has revolutionized travel internationally. Gone are the days when your only options are hotels, motels, and hostels. Enter the days of renting a home, apartment, or condo for your travel. Companies like Airbnb and VRBO have seen impressive growth since their inception and rental options are now available in the largest metropolitan areas and in rural towns. The rise in short-term rentals has truly changed the way that travel.

However, don’t be mistaken - this does not mean that the short-term rental market has not seen its fair share of difficulties. Some localities have tried to raise taxes on properties that are used as short-term rentals, while certain homeowner associations or similar organizations have moved to ban rentals from their community completely. 

Worst of all you, as a rental owner, may find yourself as a victim of disruptive renters who take advantage of your property. While there are strict rules and policies for renting through companies like Airbnb, oftentimes renters do not follow them. 

Quick Tips to Mitigate Risks

In short, there are several ways to deter guests from breaking your policies:

1. Make your rules clear in your listing
2. Remind guests of house rules before their stay
3. Have a visible device that detects unwanted smoke and loud noise
4. Disclose that you have detection devices to deter unwanted behaviors before they occur

Example Airbnb House Rules:

Guests may show blatant disregard for corporate policies and house rules, smoking, partying, and making unwelcome noise at your property. Not only is this disrespectful to you, the landlord, but it can also permanently damage your real estate and upset your neighbors. It puts short-term rental owners in a very difficult spot. You may have to file an insurance claim, fix relationships with neighbors, repair damages, and provide evidence that renters were responsible.

With these new challenges, companies are creating innovative solutions to help you better protect your short-term rental property from bad renters. WYND's Sentry is the only monitor that can reliably detect and identify cigarette smoke and excessive noise. Sentry’s sensor technology affords vacation rental owners the ability to remotely monitor their property, be proactively alerted to any unwanted disturbances, mitigate damages, and/or use the reporting as evidence for incident claims – all straight from their smartphone. 

Smoking in Your Short-Term Rental

As a host, you will be asked by Airbnb or VRBO whether you would like to permit smoking on your property. This is not a preference, but a requirement when renting your property, and rental groups are required to follow the directions you set as an owner which can include additional, customizable rules. Properly setting up these guidelines is essential to protecting your property and establishing evidence in the event of guests not breaking your rental property rules.

This is where the WYND Sentry becomes such an asset to a short-term rental owner. Sentry can detect cigarette smoke, vape smoke, or marijuana smoke and will report it directly to you through its easy-to-manage application. Sentry will let you know in real-time if there is smoke detected in your short-term rental property. 

Sentry technology empowers you to either deal with the issue directly by contacting renters or collect evidence when making an insurance claim for damages. 

Parties in Your Short-Term Rental

Another rule that is often broken by short-term renters is “no parties” policies. As a host, you can only do so much due diligence on renters based on their profiles and negligent renters will sometimes slip through the cracks. 

Disruptive renters hosting parties are in clear violation of the rules of Airbnb and VRBO. Worse than just the rule-breaking, though, is the property damage that can occur. Unsalvageable stains, broken furniture, and lost personal property are the last thing you want to face as a host. While you can put in a property damage claim for these, it is often a headache dealing with insurance companies and corporations. 

Fortunately, Sentry also detects noise and will alert you if it sounds like more than the registered number of guests is at the property. This immediate reporting can be the all-important evidence you need to receive a payout from insurance and ensure that the renter gets booted from the platform for violating rules.

The noise detecting feature on Sentry also allows you to notify neighbors that you are aware of what is going on at your property. It is not easy to navigate the relationship with the neighbor of your short-term rental, as they probably have some skepticism about who will be staying in it. If you can reach out promptly when someone is misbehaving, it may be easier to preempt any complaints or further escalations. With the Sentry, you can promptly alert renters or report violations to your short-term rental platform you use, and document it for the ensuing property damage process.

Value of Sentry - Stop Noise Complaints and Smoking Damages

This first-of-its-kind device will change the game for short-term rental owners. Gone are the days of being taken advantage of by nuisance renters and gone are the days of receiving angry phone calls from neighbors who cannot fall asleep due to parties happening on your property. 

Sentry gives you immediate, accurate results about noise and smoking to stop problems before they happen. It provides the required evidence needed to get paid by the insurance company and proves to the corporate platform that rules have been broken. Most importantly, it will make you a better and more profitable short-term rental owner. Sentry is available to you at a limited time pre-order promo, and may become one of the best investments of your life.