5 Ways We Keep Our Airbnb Running Smoothly From Afar

Today we’re talking through 5 ways we’ve learned to manage our ‘Tree House’ Airbnb while living 90 miles away.

This resource was originally published in February of 2022. It’s been completely refreshed and updated for today.

We’ve been operating our Southwest Michigan ‘Tree House’ AirBNB property since 2020. We’re now well into our seventh rental season and things are still operating smoothly. We take so much pride in the space and it absolutely means the world to us that many of you have come to think if it as your own ‘home away from home’. A large percentage of our guests have returned multiple times. Some even stay with us twice a year in different seasons. We’re proud of our ‘Superhost’ and ‘Guest Favorite’ status and we’ve maintained a 4.99 overall rating for years. We take our job as hosts very seriously. We want all of our guests to enjoy the home as much as we do.

Our contractor acts as local assistance a few minutes away, but we live full-time about 90 minutes away in Chicago. To monitor the home when we’re away, we’ve integrated some clever devices to keep tabs on things. Most of these systems rely on a strong internet connection (more on that later), but staying connected means staying informed and protected.

1| Smart Thermostat

We absolutely love nest thermostats. We use them in our own home and in our short and long-term rental properties. As in the rest of the upper Midwest, temperatures fluctuate wildly between seasons in Michigan. Swings of well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit over the course of the year are a given. Given these variations, the nest thermostat offers a few features that we couldn’t live without!

• ECO mode allows us to set a high and low temperature limit inside the house. We generally set the low temperature around 60 and the high temperature around 80 when we’re not around. This keeps things relatively consistent in the home and keeps our houseplants happy. We’ll also be alerted if temps drop below the low limit in the case of a power failure. Handy!
• The secondary temperature sensor allows us to select one of two points of control for the thermostat. For example, if the main thermostat is in direct sunlight, we can shift to the secondary sensor for a more accurate representation of how the house actually feels.
• Wifi control allows us to disable ECO mode and warm or cool the house to our desired temperature when we leave Chicago. The house is then at the perfect temperature when we arrive.

Smart thermostats are also able to learn behavior and sense occupancy. This allows for a higher level energy efficiency than a standard thermostat. We’ve written about this extensively in the past if you’d like more info!

2| Smart Water Shutoff in a Sealed Crawlspace

The Flo by Moen smart water monitor/shutoff and the related improvements have been an absolute game changer for us. We’ve had issues with frozen pipes in the past. To help mitigate, we invested in a crawlspace sealing program and some plumbing upgrades last year. The crawlspace project included the installation of a small inline fan that draws conditioned air from the home down into the crawlspace to keep things warm and dry. We’ve put the fan on a smart plug located so we can control it via our smart lighting as well!

In addition to ambient temperature improvements, we also had the main plumbing supply line professionally wrapped in insulation and thermostatic heat tape (similar). On top of all of those improvements, the Flo by Moen device monitors water usage and acts as a smart water shutoff. We use it to monitor usage and stay ahead of leaks. We can also shut the water on at our arrival and off at our departure with a quick tap on our phones. The device can also be set to call or text us in the case of abnormal water usage, which has saved us on a couple of occasions!

We’re now the majority of the way through our first winter with these improvements in place and are happy to report that the pipes have stayed warm and have performed flawlessly even on the coldest days. The peace of mind that comes with arriving to properly functioning systems simply can’t be measured! Using the home year round is now seamless and enjoyable with minimal surprises.

3| Wifi Camera

The nest camera that keeps an eye on the homes’ front door and porch provides us with peace of mind.

• Package deliveries can be tracked from afar. We often have deliveries sent directly to the house a day or two before our arrival and we can ensure that everything arrives on time.
• We can check in on real-time weather conditions to see if snow shoveling will be in order when we arrive. Better pack those boots!
• We can keep an eye out for uninvited guests of the human and non-human variety. Tree house is surrounded by woods, so the occasional critter visits the property. Our friendly neighborhood groundhog(s) make frequent appearances!

If you’re considering a wifi camera for your own home, we wrote a thorough post about the process awhile back! It includes some handy installation tips and tricks.

4| Mesh Wifi Network

The installation of the eero mesh wifi system in the home has also been hugely helpful! Our Michigan system is based around one ‘cupcake’ that acts as the main router and one beacon that’s a simple cordless plug-in unit. The benefits of the eero system are huge:

• Working from home is now a part of the new ‘normal’ (whatever that means) for a lot of folks. A strong wifi system has been a major selling point for folks looking for a ‘working vacation’ in a home away from home. We’re confident that the investment in the system has more than paid for itself in rental income.
• The system can be monitored and restarted from afar. Storms in the spring and summer are relatively common around here and the abundance of trees means power and internet lines are occasionally knocked out. If a guest lets us know the system is down, I can restart it remotely or check the status of the connection from the cable company and provide updates. While the situation is often out of our control, answers and expectation management are key.
• The strong signal allows for streaming of music and movies outside on the front porch or by the fire pit! We can promise that live concerts streamed from halfway across the country in real time next to a roaring bonfire is the next best thing to being there in person.

We’ve previously written an entire post about our experience installing and using the eero system and are huge fans. You can find that post here.

5| Wifi Deadbolt Lock

Potentially the simplest and most impactful investment we made was the addition of a smart keypad deadbolt to the main entry door. We no longer need to worry about bringing keys with us when we arrive and our airbnb guests no longer need to keep track of keys while they stay in the home.

We can easily add and remove entry codes using the Schlage app and they can be assigned on a temporary basis. When a stay is booked, we assign each guest a unique code that goes live the day they arrive and expires the day they check out. The lockset can also be set to send us a text if forced entry is detected. Bonus!

We can also give temporary or permanent codes to our cleaning team, friends, family members and tradespeople that need access to the home when we’re not around. Its a true game changer and we’ve been inspired to slowly change the locks on our rental properties to eliminate keys for ourselves and our tenants all together.

One bonus tip around smart locks in general. Hold on to the keys that are included and stash them in a safe place! We had a situation last season where the batteries died between guests and we had no access to the home. We ended up having to hire a locksmith to break into the home and change the batteries from the inside. Lesson learned.

We hope these tips are helpful for either a primary or secondary home and would love to know what we’re missing. Have you integrated any smart home items that we could consider? We’re always searching for ways to make our lives easier and our guests’ stays more pleasant!

PS: Here’s a fun before and after of Tree House, if you’d like to see! (The bathroom and outdoor spaces are some of my all-time favorite reveals.)