Category: roomonitor

At Roomonior, we are always looking for better ways to serve short-term rental hosts and their communities. That’s why we’re delighted to share the news about our recent partnership with Airbnb: A noise monitoring pilot program in Lisbon.

This pilot will help promote sustainable and responsible short term rental guest experiences. Roomonitor will allow Lisbon hosts to monitor noise levels at all times to ensure their guests are not disturbing neighbors. Our data has shown that this is very effective in reducing neighbor complaints against the short-term rentals community.

We are pleased to share the official press release from Airbnb:

Airbnb Fosters Responsible Travel In Portugal with a New Neighbourhood Support Line and Noise Detector Program in Lisbon

• Tech startup Roomonitor and Airbnb, will pilot a noise measuring program for hosts in Lisbon

• Airbnb will activate in Portugal its Neighbourhood Support Line, a direct line of communication to Airbnb to report urgent concerns about a listing or guest behaviour

Airbnb today launched a programme to promote responsible hosting and, in partnership with Roomonitor will give away noise detectors in Lisbon. Airbnb has  also activated in Portugal its Neighbourhood Support Line, offering neighbours a direct line of communication to Airbnb to report urgent concerns about a listing or guest behaviour in their local community. These initiatives are part of Airbnb’s commitment to promote responsible behaviour between Hosts and guests and to promote healthy co-existence with the neighbourhood.

Through the noise detector  program , a group of entire home Hosts in Lisbon will be able to subscribe for free for 12 months to Roomonitor’s noise monitoring system**. Although the simple presence of these devices can already serve as a dissuasor, if noise levels exceed the limit set by the Host, they can receive a call and an alert on their mobile phone. This way, the devices help to prevent, monitor and solve noise problems, and facilitate an initial mediation with guests, all while respecting privacy as the devices do not record or transmit anything other than noise levels. Though this technology is privacy-oriented, we still require Hosts to disclose the presence of these devices on their listing pages in advance of reservations.

“Roomonitor is the solution to monitor and control noise that can disturb neighbors, helping to improve coexistence. Roomonitor’s collaboration with Airbnb is another commitment to hosts, who have a keen interest in complying with local regulations, being sustainable, and providing quality accommodation.” says Nacho Suarez, CEO of Roomonitor

In addition to the noise control pilot, Airbnb is also launching its  Neighbourhood Support Line in Portuguese, offering neighbours a direct line of communication to Airbnb to report urgent concerns about a listing or guest behaviour in their local community. Neighbours can request a call from a specialised support agent, who will aim to give them a call back within ten minutes.

While the overwhelming majority of stays take place with no issues – and emergencies and safety incidents should be reported to local authorities – the Neighbourhood Support Line aims to address both immediate disturbances, such as an unauthorised party in progress, as well as possible long-term or recurring issues within the community. The service is operated by Airbnb, and builds on the company’s existing Neighbourhood Tool, which allows neighbours to submit complaints about a listing via an online form. Airbnb investigates reports received through these channels. The Neighbourhood Support Line is already live in 30countries and territories globally, including France, Spain, Italy, the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic and the Netherlands, among others.

Airbnb wants to be a good partner to cities and local communities and to support the recovery of responsible tourism in Portugal after the pandemic. With the noise control program and the Neighbourhood Support Line, Airbnb meets all the commitments of the healthy tourism recovery pledge for Portugal – a series of voluntary Airbnb initiatives to support travel recovery and bring more sustainable tourism – announced in November. The pledge included also the launch of the City Portal in Lisbon, an industry-first tool that will support the City’s tourism authorities with neighborhood-level data, and the roll out of High Risk Reservation Technology to help combat disruptive parties and other neighbourhood disturbances.

“Tourism is one of Europe’s greatest natural resources and Airbnb helps local families, communities and authorities keep the economics that generates for themselves. Our collaborations in Europe have already automated the collecting and remitting of over €315 million in EU tourist tax revenues. As the travel revolution on Airbnb helps disperse the benefits of travel to more people than ever before, we are proud of the progress we are making, in collaboration with communities across Europe. While the overwhelming majority of Hosts and guests on Airbnb are respectful neighbours and travellers, this collaboration is another step in our work to promote responsible behaviour and we hope more and more Hosts will join this kind of solutions”, says Mónica Casañas, General Manager of Airbnb Marketing Services, SL.

Good Neighbour Guide

To help guests experience the best that Lisbon has to offer while respecting the local community, Airbnb will provide Hosts in Lisbon with a ‘Good Neighbour Guide’ that Hosts can share with their guests. The Guide , includes helpful tips and guidance on a range of topics, such as being aware of noise and information about rubbish collection days, as well as reminders about individual house rules set by the Hosts.

* The program will provide 100 free devices and twelve months subscription service to Roomonitor in Lisbon (first in, first served basis).

** These devices measure noise levels using algorithms that analyse sound patterns, allowing you to track noise activity and take action if necessary without the need to record audio indoors.

About Roomonitor

Roomonitor is the global solution for noise control. Roomonitor NoiseAlarm monitors noise in real time. It does not record audio, privacy is 100% guaranteed. The device allows you to know the noise levels, thus avoiding any conflict with neighbours and guests. With over 5 years in the market, it is present in 27 countries and 94 cities, with a wide international projection at the moment.

About Airbnb Airbnb was born in 2007 when two Hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to 4 million Hosts who have welcomed more than 900 million guest arrivals across over 220 countries and regions. Travel on Airbnb keeps more of the financial benefits of tourism with the people and places that make it happen. Airbnb has generated billions of dollars in earnings for Hosts, 90 percent of whom are individuals listing their own homes, more than half of whom are women, and one in five employed Hosts are either teachers or healthcare workers. In 2019, Airbnb directly supported 300,000 jobs in just 30 destinations, averaging nine jobs for every 1,000 guest arrivals. Travel on Airbnb also has generated more than $3.4 billion in tax revenue for 29,000 jurisdictions around the world. Airbnb has helped advance more than 1,000 regulatory frameworks for short-term rentals, including in 70% of our top 200 geographies (pre-pandemic). In late 2020, to support our continued expansion and diversification, we launched the City Portal to provide governments with an automated one-stop shop that supports tax collection, data sharing and compliance with local registration rules. We continue to invest in innovations and tools to support our ongoing work with governments around the world to advance travel that best serves communities.

INTRODUCCION:
Roomonitor es la primera solución global al control de ruidos en apartamentos turísticos. Con la instalación en los apartamentos de Roomonitor y el control de las alarmas por
ruido con Roomonitor Alarm Assistant
Roomonitor: Monitoriza el ruido en tiempo real. No graba audio, mantenido la privacidad 100%. El dispositivo permite conocer los niveles de ruido dentro los apartamentos turísticos, emitiendo alarmas por sms y llamadas telefónicas al propietario o gestor del apartamento cuando son sobrepasados los niveles estipulados para poder ponerse en contacto con los turísticas y que bajen los niveles, evitando asi cualquier conflicto de convivencia con vecinos.
Alarm Assitant: El servicio que atiende las alarmas de los dispositivos Roomonitor de forma profesional.
Nuestro equipo de Alarm Assitant se pondrá en contacto con los huéspedes para indicarles las normativas y que los niveles de ruido bajen. En caso de no poder contactar un conserje nocturno de desplaza al apartamento para poder hablar directamente con los huéspedes y bajar los niveles de ruido, asegurando que en máximo 30 minutos la incidencia estará resuelta.
Una solución global para la convivencia de apartamentos turísticos y la comunidad, con la cual los vecinos están tranquilos ya que saben que en caso de una incidencia de ruido en el capartamento turístico, esta será controlada. De esta manera se evitan conflictos, denuncias a
guardia urbana y se eleva la convivencia y la imagen del turismo en la ciudad.
METODOLOGIA: Big Data
Para el estudio, se han utilizado los datos arrojados por los dispositivos instalados en los apartamentos ubicados en cada una de las ciudades analizadas con servicio de Alarm Assistant. Estos dispositivos están conectados a los servidores y analizan en tiempo real los niveles de presión sonora de la vivienda y dejan registrados millones de valores que han permitido realizar este informe, por otro lado recogemos los datos de cada actuación realizada por nuestro servicio de Alarm Assistant.

Datos analizados en el periodo 1/9/2021 a 30/11/2021

MADRID – Viviendas turísticas analizadas 1038 (viviendas que cuentan con Roomonitor + Servicio de Alarm Assistant)

76812 Noches monitorizadas en un total de 1038 Viviendas turísticas

1548 Actuaciones de Servicio Alarm Assistant, lo que equivale a un promedio de 0.49 actuaciones por apartamento y mes

Las tipologias de intervenciones atendidas por las actuaciones de nuestro servicio de Alarm Assistant en Madrid se dividen de la siguiente manera:

• 83% por ruidos altos comunes (televisión, gente hablando) 
• 14% por ruidos altos música fiestas 
• 3% otros ruidos 

BARCELONA – Viviendas turísticas analizadas 2387 Huts (viviendas que cuentan con Roomonitor + Servicio de Alarm Assistant)

183837 Noches monitorizadas en un total de 2387 Viviendas turísticas

5702 Actuaciones de Servicio Alarm Assistant, lo que equivale a un promedio de 0.67 actuaciones por apartamento y mes

Las tipologias de intervenciones atendidas por las actuaciones de nuestro servicio de Alarm Assistant en Madrid se dividen de la siguiente manera:

• 79% por ruidos altos comunes (televisión, gente hablando) 
• 17% por ruidos altos música fiestas 
• 4% otros ruidos 

“Finally, my schedule is clear!”

You rejoice as you decide to plan your weekend. The week happened to be absolutely amazing, and besides a few trivial matters here and there, it seems as though everything has been working seamlessly at your short-term rental property. 

Before wrapping things up for the evening, you check your email one last time only to be greeted by a last minute booking. Instantly, you begin to question yourself.

“Should I try to accommodate these guests? I wasn’t anticipating this! Can I prepare in time?”

Of course, you are well aware that the quality of your service cannot go lacking simply because your potential guest decided to book at the last minute. Here is a brief guide on how to prepare your short-term rental for last minute bookings. 

Intro to Last Minute Bookings

1.   What Do Last Minute Bookers Typically Want?

The first step to preparing your short-term rental for last minute bookings is to think similarly as your potential guest. What do you think they will expect from their stay at your property?

People who opt to book their stay at the last minute have usually either waited until they can receive the best deal for their flight, or they are simply impulsive. People who enjoy planning their vacation at the spur of the moment will need a means to do so. Because of this, you will want to make sure that you offer a strong WiFi signal.

Last minute bookers usually don’t have a feel for the local flora and fauna. They can be unsure of the activities they wish to participate in or the places they want to dine. Make sure your potential guests know that you are well-versed on local happenings and can assist them with planning the best experience possible. 

Keep in mind that because of the fact that the booking occurred at the last minute, your guests may arrive super late at night or early in the morning. Make sure that your check-in/check-out times can accommodate their particular stay. You may even decide to have them check in using an automated process. 

2.    Make Sure Your Short-Term Rental Property Website is Navigable  

In most cases, last minute bookers use their mobile phones for booking accommodations. Because of this, you want to be sure that the website for your short-term rental property is designed for ease of use on mobile gadgets, such as smartphones and tablets. 

If it takes a potential guest too long to load your homepage, or it is too much of a hassle to get to the end result, chances are they will leave your site and attempt to find another site that saves them the time and the headache. 

Be One Step Ahead to Prepare for Last Minute Bookings

3.    Make Sure Your Short-Term Rental Property is Prepared Daily

By keeping your short-term rental property neat and tidy, you can ensure that you are operating ahead of schedule. Instead of procrastinating and waiting to clean your property before new guests check-in, get into the habit of cleaning right when guests check-out. 

Because you are responsible for changing bedsheets, replacing old towels with fresh ones, and other typical decluttering duties, on top of deep cleaning the bedrooms, kitchen, and bathrooms, giving yourself ample time to do so reduces stress and difficulty. This also gives you time to do a simple touch-up before new guests arrive rather than scrambling to clean the entire property. 

4. Keep Availability and Rates Up-to-Date

Seasons are important when using dynamic rates. To ensure that last minute bookers pay the correct price, you are responsible for making sure that your rates are current.

Also, remember that your availability calendar must be updated across all listing platforms. The last issue you need is a double booking! 

5. Keep Extra Copies of Your Handouts Available

Many short-term rental property owners provide their guests with informative pamphlets or other similar pieces of material. Be sure to have extras available ahead of time so that you are not frantically trying to do so before your guests arrive.  

You may also leave instructions or rules for guests in your property. Be sure that each set of guests is greeted by fresh copies. After all, if your guests are subjected to dirty paperwork with crumpled edges, you may leave them with the wrong impression. 

Organization is Essential for Successful Last Minute Bookings

6. Be Mindful of Your First Impression

When preparing your short-term rental property for last minute bookings, think of the image you are projecting to your guests. Upon arrival, will your guests be satisfied with cleanliness? Will they feel comfortable and welcomed? Ask yourself these questions before each arrival to ensure readiness.

7.     Clean Most Frequently Used Items & Areas First

Master bedroom. Living room. Kitchen. 

These are the areas that your potential guests will spend most of their time. Pay extra attention to detail in these areas. Be sure that dishes and utensils are prepared and the fridge is empty and clean. Extra touches, such as fresh flowers or welcoming, calming scents, are encouraged.

Take extra care of bedwear, and if it has been stored for quite some time, be sure that it smells fresh. After you have thoroughly cleaned your entire property, be sure to open the doors and windows to let a little fresh air in. 

8. Restock Your Extras

Not only should you be focused on restocking your essential items for new guests, such as toilet paper and extra towels, remember to consider everything your guests use. 

For example – do you have a coffee pot? Be sure to provide coffee and the necessary condiments. The best method for ensuring that you remember everything is to picture yourself as a guest. 

Try recreating the scenarios your guests will be in. Consider toiletry and other similarly useful items. Restocking your extras ahead of time will keep you from forgetting items, and if you do, you will have ample time to retrieve them. 

Summary

Preparing your short-term rental property for last minute bookings will eliminate stressful situations and ensure that you no longer have to miss lucrative opportunities due to unpreparedness. 

By keeping your property clean and welcoming at all times, your last minute bookers will undoubtedly share the same positive sentiments as guests who book in advance. Begin implementing these steps so that you will never have to turn down a last minute booking again.

Heart-warming, engaging hospitality served with a charming, personal touch accompanied by a genuine smile…

Chances are, if you are familiar with the term bed and breakfast, a picture similar to the aforementioned one comes to mind. If you are a conversationalist with flexible availability, who happens to have a taste for entertaining and making complete strangers feel comfortable, you may be perfect for venturing into the realm of bed and breakfast, or B&B, hosting. 

Of course, starting your own B&B requires perseverance and a true interest. If you are considering a new source of income by making your property work for you, here is a deeper look at what a B&B really is, what owning one entails, and how to open a successful bed and breakfast.

What Exactly is a bed and breakfast?

A bed and breakfast is a relatively intimate establishment, usually small with owner occupancy, that is known for providing accommodations for the evening and a fresh homemade breakfast in the morning. Of course, meals, rooms, and amenities differ between properties, but all bed and breakfasts are known for their unmatched hospitality and memorable personality.

Bed and Breakfast VS Hotel

Now, you may be wondering what makes a bed and breakfast different from a hotel. 

Obviously, many hotel chains, such as the Hilton or Marriott, feature the same appearance and room layout no matter the location. bed and breakfasts have a personality all their own. Whether showcasing a modern flair, equipped with brand new stainless steel appliances and trendy lighting, or an elegantly classic ambiance, surrounded by vintage furniture and timeless photography, each bed and breakfast is sure to display unforgettable qualities. 

Also, the rules and regulations for most hotels are typically similar. The policies for each bed and breakfast vary in terms of checking in, cancellations, smoking, and check out times. 

Notably, bed and breakfasts place impeccable hospitality at the forefront of service. Whereas hotels focus on dozens of guests at once, bed and breakfasts are designed to cater to the individual. 

What Are Typical bed and breakfast Owner Qualities?

1.   Personable 

Contrary to hosting a rental home where there is minimal interaction, besides checking in and if any issues arise, bed and breakfasts require much more interaction. The owner must be personable and approachable, willing to treat strangers like lifelong friends. A true “people person.”

2.    Clean & Organized

Preparing breakfasts and maintaining the visual appeal of the bed and breakfast is up to the owner. You must also be readily available throughout the day to directly assist guests. 

3.    Entertaining & Helpful

Ensuring that guests are comfortable and aware of happenings around town are both aspects of bed and breakfast hosting. 

4. Professional

Remaining professional with unreasonable guests that may not be so pleasant is also an important component of running a bed and breakfast. 

5. Available 

Being “on call” for guests 24 hours a day, 7 days is week is anything but typical. Be sure that your family and social life does not suffer. 

How to Start a Successful bed and breakfast

Here are a few of the aspects you will need to keep in mind to start a successful bed and breakfast:

Location

Because demand is the ultimate key to starting a successful bed and breakfast, note that location means everything. Ensuring that your bed and breakfast is in the right location will keep a steady flow of guests at your door.

Living Arrangements

Will you sleep in the same building with your guests or in separate quarters? This is completely and entirely up to you, so figure out which decision best suits your needs. 

Laws

Similarly to any other business, bed and breakfasts have their own set of laws and regulations to be followed. It is your responsibility to take care of business licensing and adhere to property and service regulations. Zoning laws, which are as equally pertinent, may require a conditional use permit or variance. National and local safety ordinances, as well as business insurance, are also extremely important. Gathering all required licenses and permits may take up to 3 years, so plan accordingly.

Customization

Developing specifics for your particular bed and breakfast requires much thought and consideration. For example, will you opt for year-round availability or seasonal opening? Is there a swimming pool available? Will you utilize various fun themes? How many meals will you serve daily? Of course breakfast is a no-brainer, but will you offer dinner once a week or nightly? Again, all of these options are entirely up to you. 

Brand Development and Marketing 

Identifying your bed and breakfast’s ideal target audience can make or break your business venture. Will your bed and breakfast be more of a romantic getaway for couples or a family-oriented fun space? (If you have no specific guest in mind, focus on generalization.) After you have identified your target audience, you can focus on marketing using a variety of methods, such as starting your own website, partnering with local service providers, or listing on B&B websites.

Finances & Room Rates

Before you can focus on profits, you must manage your bed and breakfast’s finances, such as mortgage, running and decoration costs, taxes, and annual expenses. Next, using determining factors such as location, amenities, and competitor pricing, you can come up with fair, but lucrative room rates. If you need further assistance with finances, you can use a revenue management system to make the job much easier. 

Summary

Starting a successful bed and breakfast requires hard work, dedication, and perseverance. You must keep in mind that running a bed and breakfast is much more intimate and demanding than running a typical short-term rental property. 

Bed and breakfast hosts must be entertaining, personable, patient and possess flexibility. You must also be mindful of location, laws, specifics, marketing, and finances when starting your bed and breakfast. 

By paying close attention to requirements, and incorporating a lot of personality with a sprinkle of positivity, you too can successfully start your own bed and breakfast. 

I spend a lot of time working with Prohosts and Short Term Rental Managers and owners, and one thing keeps coming up time and time again in our discussions. There are a ton of sleepless nights, especially when you’re struggling to fill their apartments. Sometimes it seems like they can only get a good night’s sleep if their apartments and villas are sold out days or weeks in advance.

To me, this is backwards. When your hostel is sold out in advance, you should be lying awake and wondering why that’s happening and whether you could be making more money by upping your prices.

This is opposite the conventional wisdom, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. When your hostel is constantly fully booked more than a day or two in advance, you’re making an expensive mistake. 

The chances are that you’ve filled your short term rentals with the wrong customers – or the right customers paying the wrong rates. In many ways, the ideal customer is someone who shows up at 11 PM having just arrived in the city, because they’ll be willing to pay whatever rate you charge as long as they can get a good night’s sleep.

This might seem extreme, but it’s a pretty good example of the general premise that we’re talking about. We just need to change our thinking. The best manager isn’t the one who fills up all of the vacancies weeks in advance; it’s the one who sells his last apartment the closest to the day of arrival.

It’s a concept that’s already being used by the airlines. Most people who are travelling for leisure book their holidays as far in advance as they can so that they can score the best deals. But there are some leisure travellers, and indeed a sizable proportion of business travellers, who aren’t able to or who don’t want to book until last minute.

These last-minute travellers are much less price-sensitive, and indeed they expect to pay a higher rate than you’d charge people for booking six months in advance. This is well-known by the airlines, but the short term rental industry is lagging behind.

To be fair, it’s only human to minimise risk, in this case by trying to sell all of your inventory as soon as you can. But there are plenty of compelling reasons as to why you shouldn’t. 

Ask yourself when your apartments last sold out. If it was a day or two before, you did good. If it stretches into weeks, it means that you’ve left money on the table and that you’re not running as efficiently as you could be. 

That’s because you’re effectively closing your doors to the customers who would have been up for paying much more over those last couple of days. If there’s that much demand for your apartments or villas, you should be increasing your prices way before you’re down to your last half a dozen beds. 

This is the beauty of revenue strategy (RS) software, which essentially helps you to spot booking trends way faster than any human could hope to do. Armed with this type of dynamic software, short term rental managers can set up automated alerts to tell them when to boost their rates to maximise income. It can also help them to overcome that problem with human nature by giving them the data that allows them to be more confident in the decisions that they’re making.

This isn’t just an intellectual exercise. I’ve seen first-hand what happens when managers follow my advice and adhere to revenue management theory. Sure, there’ll be days here and there where you don’t sell out, but it’s better to have a couple of apartments unfulfilled if it means that you’re generating more revenue on all of the other days.

“Selling out too early costs you money.”

Selling out too early costs you money, it’s that simple. And it’s not just when it comes to stays of a single night. If you sell out on Sunday 20^th July, for example, then you risk freezing out the people who were planning on booking from Friday to Monday. This is particularly true when it comes to online travel agents (OTAs), which will remove you from their searches if you don’t meet searchers’ full criteria.

You also need to bear in mind that building that’s at 70-90% occupancy but which charges a higher daily rate can be much more profitable than a building that’s fully booked but at lower rates. In fact, you can even cut operational costs by having fewer employees on duty during quieter periods.

I wish there was a magic formula that we could rely on that states how many apartments or villas you should have left at any given point, but unfortunately that’s just not the case. Instead, it’s a mixture of art and science, based on the laws of supply and demand. In fact, that’s why RS software can be so powerful.

Some of the managers that I work with are afraid of increasing their rates, especially if it means increasing them to figures that are larger than ever before. Still, I want you to give it a go, so take a deep breath and slowly ease yourself into it. Increase your fees slowly but surely, measuring the impact that they have. 

That way, you can test the waters and only commit when you see it working in practice. Remember that today’s travellers expect to pay lower rates when they book in advance (well, when we go back to normality again), and they also know that the opposite is true. When someone books an apartment or villa last minute, you’re doing them a favour – and you get to charge them for the pleasure of it.

In some other post, I will talk about the best Revenue Management Softwares (RMS).

Meanwhile, stay safe.

Ignacio Suárez, CEO Roomonitor

The pandemic has caught the industry off guard. Everything has happened so  quickly, there have been many huge changes in the industry, and there will be many more to come.

The industry is undergoing a major revolution, towards higher standards, both financially and technologically. This revolution is creating different trends in the sector from cleaning, to security and the automation of operations.

Given all these changes, we are seeking to group together different opinions from experts in the STRs sector, and we are counting on your opinion as a valued player in the STR sector. In this case, we have the opinion of Carlos Villaro Lassen – CEO Feriehusudlejernes Brancheforening and Secretary General of EHHA European Holiday Home Association.

Carlos In your case, what measures regarding operations do you think are the most important to take at this time? Bearing in mind that the current trend is to maintain more contained operations in the near future.

I think property managers stand in front of a downturn in the economy and in tourism that we never have seen before. First job was to find out what to do with all cancelations and zero incoming bookings. Second will be how to get tourism restarted and create trust in the product. Wich boarders open up – does Short-term rental open up before hotels? Cars versus flights? Etc. Etc.

Where do you think the sector is heading at the moment and how do you think it will evolve in the coming months? Do you think that the supply of STRs will be reduced by moving to long-term rentals, or will it continue working in the short and medium-term?

Some STRs’ will move to long-term rentals but no doubt the short-term rental will be a motor in the rebuild of the economy and will segment itself as an industry. Short-term rental in coastal and rural areas will begin first because private villas on the countryside is low risk holidays. Then short-term rentals in cities will begin because private breakfast and private rooms are low risk.

There is a market opportunity at this time for property managers, taking into account that they can acquire inventory in the case that smaller competitors are forced to close doors. Do you think there will be mergers of companies? As you see the growth of the sector at the moment.

The big lockdown will push development 10 years ahead. We will see increasing professionalization, mergers and mayor changes. But in all directions. Bigger players will come, but also smaller players becoming more professional. More standardization but more differentiation as well. More digitalization but more personalization. We must rebuild trust and we need to know more about what is going on in the units we rent to guests. Also, we will see increasing horizontal and vertical collaboration.

In general, reliable technology will be used to offset the reduction in operations and automate as much as possible. What automations do you think are essential?

Indeed technology will become key – and gust are much more tech prepared today than 3 months ago. The whole value chain will be automatized from the booking to the checkin to the ratings and not the least the communication and the service during the stay.

The need for a combination of short, medium and long term rentals, and the lack of physical interactions with guests, give greater importance to the knowledge of the property in real time that Roomonitor provides. In your experience, how do you value the help of our devices at this time?

The need to know what is going on in a rented property will increase. We cannot allow uncontrolled partying and we will need to guarantee authorities that we are responsible. Roomonitor plays a key role to the professionalization and to the trust of the STR product.

Do you think a new collaborative economy can be born between property managers? Sharing eg check-in staff, cleaning etc

Very interesting question. The value chain will definitely evolve and we will see new collaborations in the whole chain. Not only though big companies running the whole chain but also partnerships between platforms, property managers, service providers, IT providers, data providers etc.

Recommendations that you can give us regarding technology: PMS, Channel Manager, Smart locks, check ins online, house keeping, online reputation?

Collaboration collaboration collaboration

A new market will soon begin to emerge. How do you think it will evolve?

We will see stronger governments with more restrictions and demands, more consumer protection and more taxation. But we will also see new types of guests – more professional supply and in 10 years time…the STR market can double!

We all know that bad guests are bad news for anyone with STR’s. However, sometimes the impact they have can be more or less visible and / or complex. Either way, their behaviour can harm your STR business.

We leave you a list with possible situations that may occur due to a bad guest:

MORE TIME BETWEEN BOOKINGS

We can all, more or less, guess the most obvious ways in which a guest can impact negatively ( We detailed them below) but there is one hardly anyone realises.

Bad guests can increase the time between reservations, that is, between checkout and checkin, since you will have to spend more time cleaning. This would not be necessary if they had been respectful. This on the other hand carries the following point.

HIGHER CLEANING EXPENSES

This takes time and money. The hours for cleaning can increase the list of expenses quite quickly, and more at these times when we will have to take greater care in cleaning and disinfection.

To clean up the mess left behind by guests, you’ll need to invest in cleaning supplies or more cleaning hours.

Surely you have the best cleaning products and the best personnel to carry out this work, but the bottle of bleach will not be able to do anything against the damages in the property that can be.

IRREPARABLE DAMAGES

One of the biggest concerns is the damage that bad guests can cause in your STR’s.

By this we mean damages that may be caused, such as a burned sofa with a cigarette end, broken chairs, a broken table or burned by cigarettes, broken dishes, etc. All these situations in addition to money to repair or change these stuff, will lead to disappointments and can also lead to loss of reservations for not having the apartment in condition for the next checkin and it can also bring you a bad reputation.

BAD REPUTATION

Reputation is of great importance at this time, since in STR´s it can bring significant higher profits.

All of the above situations can make you not do the best job before the next checkin due to lack of time and perhaps this will make your new guests not as satisfied as you are used to.

This can prevent them from leaving a good opinion of their experience. A bad opinion may not affect you as much, but an accumulation of bad opinions can seriously harm your business.

COEXISTENCE WITH NEIGHBOURS AND CLOSING YOUR BUSINESS

Your first customers should always be the neighbours. They have to feel that your activity will not disturb their normal life.

Bad guests can bring a problem of living with the STR. If the neighbours starts noticing that they usually have problems with living with your guests, they will begin with complaints to cause the closure of your business, as they can´t endure it any longer.

Have you ever heard of those STR´s where a party was held that angered the entire neighbourhood? What about neighbourhood associations and homeowners against STR´s? Yes, no one thinks it could happen to them. But in reality, it can happen to anyone. Even you. If a party full of rude people takes place in your STR, you can become the focus of these associations. This could mean the loss of your permission to rent, the loss of your benefits and even the closing of the business. All this because of some bad guests that you could have avoided.

THE SOLUTION

At this moment you will be thinking about all the things we can do to prevent this from happening…

You can check and filter the guests info to know if he is who he says he is, and perhaps find out what other hosts think of him.

You may think you have a security deposit for expenses or insurance.

But the best thing is always to prevent all this from happening and you have got a very easy solution for that:

Roomonitor Noise Alarm

The first and only real-time noise monitoring solution to protect your property from bad guests causing problems on your property or to your neighbours.

NoiseAlarm monitors in real time the noise in your STR and sends you an alarm when noise patterns detect that a noise problem begins to exist to prevent a party, that could harm your business,  from happening.

The main objective of Roomonitor NoiseAlarm is to detect any noise pattern and pre-empt any problem. The idea is that it does not send you an alarm when the problem already exists, but rather we send it before so you can prevent anything from happening.

And if the problem persists even if the noise has decreased a little, its noise patterns will detect it and send you a new alarm.

Remember to insure your business against bad guests with Roomonitor NoiseAlarm monitoring.

The pandemic has caught the industry off guard. Events have been happening very quickly and there have been great changes in the industry, and they will keep coming from now on.

The industry is having a deeper revolution and towards higher standards, both financial and technological.

All this revolution is creating different trends in the sector from cleaning, to security and automation of operations.

Changes have also been created in the way the homes are sold. Medium-term rentals (30-90 days) are registering an increase in marketing

Given all these changes, we seek different opinions from experts in the STRs sector. In this case we have the opinion of ANGELA WATSON – COO OF Friendly Rentals

¿Angela In your case, as a PM, what measures regarding operations do you think are the most important to take at this time? bearing in mind that the current trend is to maintain more contained operations in the near future.

• It is extremely important to ensure that our clients feel safe when they travel.  This means that operations where you would normally have direct contact with the client have to be removed completely; contract signing, payments, keys – these can all be made contactless through smartlocks, on-line payments, on-line contract signing, etc. Everything that can be digitalized should be!
• Where there is no other alternative but to have someone physically attend to a task like cleaning and maintenance, then new protocols, which are supported by research, government guidelines and common sense,  have to be put in place. This means educating and training staff in the correct use of safety equipment and cleaning products.  Ensuring clear and concise communication with clients.  Attending to incidents when clients are out of the apartment and maintaining the highest hygiene standards.  We need to get the message across to our clients that our properties are safe environments for them and their families and that we will do everything within our control to guarantee that they will feel just as safe and secure in their rental apartment as they would in their own home.

Regarding marketing, where is the sector aiming at the moment and how do you think it will evolve in the coming months? Do you think that the supply of STRs will be reduced by moving to long-term rentals, or will it continue working in the short and medium term?

• There has been a rush to convert a lot of STR properties to medium or long-term rentals.  I personally don’t think that this is the answer to the problem.  Clients have always been able to rent properties for 2, 3, 4 months and there has always been a market for this type of client, mainly corporate or students.  Unfortunately, I don’t see a huge upturn in the number of clients looking for medium to long-term reservations in the near future.  These clients have the same mobility, safety and transport problems as clients looking for a short term rental.  With regards to the corporate clients, they will also be hit badly through furlough schemes and businesses closing, so I don’t see this market increasing over the summer months.  Also, having an excess of availability of this product on the market will probably lead to a price war which is not healthy for anyone. 

• I know that it is difficult, but if owners can hold on for another few months, then I believe that we will start to see an upturn in the market.  Initially, we will be aiming at the local and national markets as soon as there is permission to move.  Staycations will be popular this year.  There is increasing pressure from other countries to agree to opening some mutually agreeable flights between countries, so I think that we will start to see some light international travel, probably only European to begin with, by early-mid July. We have come through a very difficult 2 months, if we can hold on just a little bit longer, then things will start to improve.  This situation hasn’t taken away the desire to travel, but it has put some obstacles in the way they will travel this year. Barcelona has the advantage of being a city with a beach, that will make it more attractive than other cities.

There is a market opportunity at this time for property managers, taking into account that they can acquire inventory in case smaller competition is forced to close doors. Do you see growth possibilities as a company?

• The STR industry is actually a very small community and with the assistance of APARTUR I feel that we have always had an unspoken agreement to try not to harm our colleagues in the field by aggressively going after their owners. I would like to feel that we will continue to behave in a professional manner and try to help keep this community alive and supportive.  That being said, it is a sad fact that some agencies may not be in a position to make it through this extremely trying time.  This leaves owners looking for someone to manage their properties in the future. Those of us lucky enough to be in a stronger position will therefore be looking at the opportunity to grow our portfolio and provide a helping hand to these owners who have also had to struggle through these last months.  

In general, reliable technology will be used to offset the reduction in operations and automate the largest amount of resources. What automations do you think are essential?

• As I touched on in question 1, completion of payment transactions, verification of documentation, contract signing and key handling, all need to be made contactless.  Customer Service communication and assistance can, in the most part, be done on-line also, through whatsapp, email etc. 

The need for a combination of short, medium and long term rentals, and the lack of physical interactions with guests, give greater importance to the knowledge of the property in real time that Roomonitor provides. In your experience, how do you value the help of our devices at this time?

• The Roomonitor service has been invaluable during this time of extremely low occupation.  We have the peace of mind that we can control if/when someone enters a property and avoid unwelcome squatters.  The additional service of the Roomonitor team physically checking on the properties just reinforces that feeling of control.  Moving forward to when we have guests again, the Roomonitor devices will continue to give us the control that we need to ensure that our clients are behaving in a respectful way towards other clients in the same building and their neighbours.  Being able to contact clients by telephone or whatsapp within minutes of an alarm being raised means that there is no need for any unwanted disturbances and ensures that the neighbours are respected and have more respect for STR properties and guests.  This improves relationships and reassures neighbours that we are acting in a responsible, serious, and respectful manner.  Communicating with clients in this way, also removes the need to physically visit a property, again avoiding unnecessary physical contact during the post-covid period.

Recommendations that you can give us regarding technology:
PMS, Channel Manager, Smart locks, check ins online, house keeping, online reputation?

Technology is key in this day and age.  We need to ensure that we can make contact with as many people in as short a period of time as possible and know that the information being provided is accurate and informative in real time.  There are many good PMS and Channel Managers on the market right now and depending on the size and requirements of each individual agency, you can find one that fits almost all of your needs.  No-one is perfect but the STR industry is not really a one-size-fits-all kind of thing.  We have had to adapt to what were basically tools for hotels in the past.  Nowadays, though, the companies offering this type of service are keen to learn from us and develop their systems to meet the demands of our growing industry and have made life a lot easier for us.  We have relied on our own constantly developing PMS for over15 years, but have seen such an improvement in the technology being offered by 3^rd party providers these days that we are gradually reducing the dependency on our own internal system and taking advantage of the new wave of technological tools on the market

Any other suggestions?

We have to adapt to survive and if nothing else, covid19 has given us some time to reflect on how we can improve the services that we offer to our clients and property owners and continue to provide the best and most professional standards possible.

Christmas and New Year are just around the corner and therefore a time to enjoy with family and friends gets closer.

Many people decide to spend the holidays in a new place, renting an apartment and wait for the new year to arrive to receive it with positive and new energies.

Did you know that your guests can enjoy your property responsibly without disturbing neighbours or other tenants?

It is very important for your guest to know the area where they are going to stay previously, like what they can do in the neighbourhood, the places where they can go out to party and the general rules of the city to respect the night hours schedule.

As a security measure within the house, we recommend having a device that control the noise level to avoid inconvenience with other neighbours and alert you before something unwanted happens on the property and/or to your guests.

Benefits of having Roomonitor Noise Alarm:

1. Privacy. The device does not listen or record any sound or conversations. It only works with noise pressure so you can be assured that your guest privacy is 100% safe. 
2. Alarm effectiveness. When working with noise levels patterns, the system measures the sound pressure. For example, if you allow dogs in your property and they bark once or if a glass of wine shatters, the system is not going to send you an alert.
   
3. Real-time monitoring. Roomonitor is the only multi-screen platform that allows you to see in real-time the noise level in your property without having to download any app.
4. Phone call and SMS. You get a call or SMS when an alert triggers so you can take action on what’s happening in the property. Also, you can configure it to send the notifications to the guest.

If you do not have your Noise Alarm device yet, you can send us an email to [email protected] and get your quote.

If your property is located in the residential area, most probably one of our struggles might be ensuring the health and vibrant relationship between tourists and residents.

Although it might seem like an obstacle we believe that it is possible to create a positive coexistence, where your guests can become a part of the local community based on mutual respect and responsible hosting.

To provide this kind of relationship, you – as a host, are responsible for how your business will affect the life of the neighbourhood, where it is located.

With that said, in this article, we have created a guideline for a good neighbour coexistence.

1- Make sure that the vacation rental is legal and licensed to prevent any misunderstanding and unwanted problems

Every city has its regulations regarding short term rentals. You must make your business legal, according to the laws of your location. Making sure that the regulations are being met, will allow your guests to feel welcomed and your neighbours to be tolerant toward your business.

2- Make guest aware that your property is in the residential area

As we have mentioned before, it is your responsibility, as an owner, to make the travellers aware of the space they will be staying. Even before the check-in, when you send a welcome or information email, you can use this chance to introduce your guests to the are where they will be located.

Let them know that they share a unique space with the local community, and for that reason, it is important to respect each other and the location that they live in during the holidays.

3- Create Vacation Rental rules

Every tourist accommodation should have some rules. Making them written and printed out and signed by the guest on the check-in is a standard process.

In such rules, you can include:

• parties prohibition
• no smoking in the building
• where to throw away the trash from the apartment
• no loud noise allowed

Depending on the building and your neighbour community needs you can add more rules, which you need to make sure are being known and respected by the guests.

If your property is certified by WeRespect, this point will be completed by placing on it the environmental and neighbour’ coexistance commitment labels.

4- Respecting the neighbour’s rest

Usually, the time where it is well seen to not make lots of noise is between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. It is the time when most of the people take a rest and sleep. If you want to protect your property from any noise misunderstandings, you can opt for installing the Noise Alarm.

This device will give you notifications in case the level of noise in your short term rental is over the accepted level and permit to react before the problem will develop.

If you desire, you may also have a night staff who can go to the apartment to resolve the issue in case of repeated alerts that guest do not respond, this additional service is known as Alarm Assistant.

5- If you allow pets in your short term rental

Allowing your guests to share their holidays with their animal friends can give you positive feedback and attract more potential guests interested in such accommodations. However, as a host, you need to let your guests know that their pets can’t disturb others and they need to prevent them from dirtying communal parts of the building.

6- Participate in your local neighbourhood associations

As a holiday rental owner, you can move a step forward and become a part of the local neighbourhood associations where you will be able to have direct contact with the residents. There you can find out about the activities organised in your property area, which you will be able to recommend for your guests. Providing like that a unique experience where travellers can get to know from the inside the local life.

Giving your guests a unique experience is not the only requirement of the successful holiday rental. It is about being a responsible host that includes the expectations of both tourists and neighbours. Nurturing the local community with the presence of responsible travellers can bring positive feedback to the tourist destinations.

Over the years Barcelona has become the capital of tourism. Every year it attracts millions of tourists, thirsty to experience its historical and cultural richness. This, without a doubt, converted Barcelona into the multicultural city.

However, the rising number of travellers visiting the city changed also the landscape of Barcelona and many other tourists destinations. Because of that, as owners of tourist properties, we need to make sure that the coexistence of tourists and local people is based on mutual respect.

For that reason being a short-term rental owner has become a challenge, where promoting a responsible hosting is the key to success.

Being responsible as a host means no only guaranteeing your guests an excellent stay but also keeping a positive and beneficial relationship with the neighbours.

In this article, we will share how you can make your short term rental a better place for both your guests and neighbours through responsible hosting.

1. Knowing and understanding the local rules and regulations

To make the growth of tourism more sustainable many cities in Europe, including Barcelona, restricted the areas where it is possible to rent an apartment for tourists.

Making sure that it is possible in your building and obtaining the proper license is the first step for building a proper relationship with neighbours of the short term rental.

Making your property a legal short term rental is also a guarantee for your guest to have an amazing experience during their trip.

2. Creating rules for your guests

A vital point of each short term rental is creating rules to which your guests must stick to. Make clear to your guests that they will be staying in the residential area where they share the space with local people. And that means that parties, loud noises and smoking in the building are strictly prohibited.

A good practice is to send the house rules to your future guests, once they have made a reservation. In case they do not agree with your regulations, offer them a free cancellation, so they can have time to find another place, more suitable for their plans.

Another option to prevent from coming unwanted type of guests is setting age limits and not accepting stag or bachelorette parties.

3. Monitoring your properties

Having control over what is happening in your short term rental is beneficial for both you and your neighbours. As a result of having the Roomonitor Noise Alarm installed you can prevent possible misunderstandings between your guests and residents and economic sanctions caused by the noise conflicts.

4. Being part of the community

Preventing the problems and making sure that all the regulations are being met are not the only aspects of creating a peaceful and positive coexistence. Being part of the local life community and active commitment to the development of the area can positively influence your business.

Familiarize yourself with the community, be attentive to any complaints or requests from the neighbours shows that you want to provide a healthy coexistence of tourists and residents.

Make sure that neighbours have and access to the phone number which is available 24/7 which they contact in case they detect something unusual originating from your tourist rental.

You can also encourage your guests to visit attractions less popular between tourists, that are located near the city. This can help to decrease the number of people visiting the city center and will distinguish your offer from the competition.

5. Offering an unforgettable stay

If you establish the high standards of your property, that includes perfects facilities, safety and friendly environment, you will attract the guests that you want to have. Carefully crafted rules, hospitality and personal touches have a positive influence on the residential environment. Don’t hesitate to stay in touch with your guests, making sure you exceed their expectations.

Above points are only a few ideas for the responsible hosting. Having them in mind while managing the short term rental is the base for creating a synchronized coexistence of tourists and neighbours. And do not forget that by providing a unique experience, your guests will recommend your rental to their friends and families, which can result in more respectful tourists in your properties.

Hospitality is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. And short term rentals became an increasingly important part of it. With changing travel patterns appeared platforms that not only popularized the sharing economy but also changed the way people look at travels. Nowadays people search for experiences, they want to be closer to the locals and live like them.

Renting an apartment became an alternative for tourists, as they see this as a way to be closer to the local experience, without loosing on their freedom and privacy.

If you want your short term rental to success, as a host, you need to always stay on top of the things that are happening in your property. Several challenges come with the short term rental management, but they can be all overcome with the right care and preparation.

With our tips, you can make the short term rental management less stressful and more rewarding.

1. Invest in digital marketing

Be sure your property can be found and be bookable. Nowadays being on online travel platforms like Booking.com or Airbnb is inevitable. Travelers are looking forward to booking and have reply instantly.

This kind of marketing includes also promoting your property on social media, like Facebook and Instagram. For modern-day travelers, these platforms are the starting point for planning a new adventure.

Another great idea is having a property’s blog with travel tips, that can direct potential guests to your property.

Luck of time is usually the biggest excuse for not carrying on the marketing. Fortunately, there are many online solutions available on the market, that can help you plan the marketing strategy and managing social media in advance.

As nowadays digital marketing plays a vital role in the hospitality, missing out on it or simply ignoring it might be a big mistake if you want your short-term rental to succeed and stand out from the crowd.

2. Property Management System

If you want to manage your property painlessly, the Property Management System is a must. Having an all in one system, from which you can manage all the reservations, availability and prices (and so much more) will gain you an extra time which you can devote to the development of your short term rental.

What is more, most of the property management systems are currently cloud-based, which means that you can have control over your property anytime and anywhere, as long as you have the proper device, such as, your mobile phone.

3. Data intelligence

There is another important aspect of having a Property Management System. It collects and analyzes valuable data, which can help you to develop your property. Knowing the past patterns is a powerful tool, based on which you can build your revenue strategy and help you overcome the low season.

Being in contact with your guests before and after arrival through emails, allows you to collect another valuable information that can help you improve the experience of future guests. Surveys, tracking and replying to the reviews is an essential part of every tourist accommodation.

4. Accommodation monitoring

As it was mentioned in the beginning, managing the short term rental comes with many obstacles. And the one that can bring you a lot of headaches is entrusting your property into the hands of unknown people. Noice, parties, loud music become problematic, especially, if your short term rental coexists with the apartments of the local people.

Fortunately, solutions like noise alarm device, help you avoiding above problems and gain you 24/7 control over what is happening in your property. Together with an alarm assistant who will contact the guests in case of the high level of noise, you can forget about sleepless nights.

With the above tips, you will not only manage your short term rental like a pro but also will have more time to focus on making the stay of your guests unforgettable.

According to official figures (data from 2017), it is estimated that in Spain there are around 90,000 illegally occupied dwellings; 23% of them are located in Barcelona.

One of the biggest fears when talking about squatters are so-called organized mafias, which are dedicated exclusively to finding and occupying homes to make a resale of the property or to demand that the owners leave them.

The law states that if the owner gives notice to the police and the police act within 48 hours, the eviction can be immediately. Although if this does not work, a civil complaint must be made.

How can the Noise Alarm sonometer help you to protect your property?

We’re no longer just talking about noisy guests, but it can help you with other types of noise violations.

A great control tool, it is our panel where you can see the sound pressure graph of the apartment.

In Roomonitor you can see in real time the sound pressure of your apartment and detect if there were suspicious movements in days and hours where you do not have check-in operations.

This is the case of our client Classbedroom, who were alerted by a neighbor about suspicious movements inside their apartment.

Marcos Bosch, of Classbedroom tells us “The on-call staff moved to the apartment with a patrol and thanks to the way we were able to prove that they had entered at 2am with the Noise Data Chart, they kicked them out. If we hadn’t had a sonometer, we’d still have the squatters, they had been only two hours in the apartment.”

This proves that our panel is a very valuable tool because it allows you a quick reaction to protect the property in the moment.

If you act immediately, the police can remove the occupants without a judicial process because it is a flagrant crime, i.e. the occupation is occurring or just occurring and there are witnesses.

So, our measurement charts, they serve to demonstrate when there were unexpected movements and to prove that it was a private property violation.

If you would like to receive a quote of our Noise Alarm sonometer, and start monitoring the noise of your rental apartment, leave us your details. Click here.

This year Roomonitor had its two editions of #RoomEvents in May, with more than 300 attendees. The main topic was how to professionalize the short-term rental industry with new technologies.
We’ve had the best partners and collaborators, you can see more at www.roomonitorevents.com

While we are working on our next event in Lisbon, we want to share with you the upcoming events of 2019 in and around Europe:

September:
10-11 -> Click by Booking in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
16-18 -> Guestyval in Tel Aviv, Israel – Roomonitor will attend this event.
16 -> Serviced Apartment Summit MEA in Dubai, UAE.
17 -> Short Stay Meet Up in Manchester, UK.

October:
05-06 -> Vacation Rental World Summit in Como, Italy – Roomonitor will attend this event.
17-18 -> VITUR Summit in Málaga, Spain – Roomonitor will attend this event.
31 -> HOST in London, UK.

November:
07 -> WeRespect Seal of Approval Ceremony in Barcelona, Spain – Roomonitor will attend this event.
08 -> Short Stay Summit in Barcelona, Spain – Roomonitor will attend this event.
20-22 -> HOST Basic to Business in Rome, Italy. – Roomonitor will attend this event.

December:
10-11 -> ASAP Convention in London, UK.

You can arrange a meeting with us in one of the events we will attend, please write to [email protected] or send us a message here.

All industries, from mass-consumer brands to short-term apartment rental management companies, have on their agenda initiatives that promote social actions in pursuit of improve the environment and cohabitation relationships.

Also, new tourists are more aware of the damage they can cause to the nature of the place, as well as to the sound pollution of the environment that causes ecological and social disturbances.

Here are some short-term rental industry initiatives that can help improve the day-by-day lives of residentials and tourists:

1. Have waste division in your tourist apartment to facilitate recycling, as well as the indication of the collecting points where you can throw the waste.
2. Point out common areas shared with your neighbors so everyone respects the coexistence rules.
3. Promote the proper use of elevators and mark a time range for moving suitcases to avoid inconvenience with neighbors.
4. Monitor the apartment with a noise alert system that is 100% privacy safe for your guests.

Since June of the current year, in Barcelona, a new initiative has born called WeRespect, a label that gives visibility to those owners and managers of tourist apartments that work tirelessly to make the sector more sustainable and environmentally friendly as to coexistence with neighbors. If you want to know more, go to www.werespect.net

Since its inception, Roomonitor has been working to create smart solutions for the holiday rental industry and, together with the Asociación de Apartamentos Turísticos de Barcelona (APARTUR), have led this initiative that propose a solution to the problems between companies Involved in the tourism sector and neighbors to promote respect and coexistence.

This is only the beginning, since more cities like London and Lisbon are expected to join the initiative WeRespect.

Since how long are you involved in the Vacation Rental Industry ? Which is your career path?

We been working with City Stay Aparts for 4 years now and my self with more than 8 years experience in the Rental Industry. My main background is Architecture & Design and have some studies in Business Management & Hospitality.

How did you know about Roomonitor Noise Alarm?

I came across Roomonitor in a Shortstay exhibition “Can’t remember exactly where and when it was” I decided to give it a go.  It happen that by that time we were looking for a company that could provide this services “Mainly the room monitoring” as some Hotels provide it but the market had big lack of this sort of services for the private industry and as well as prices were incredibly high.

Tell us about the advantages and benefits that Noise Alarm provides to improve your daily management

At the moment we are only using the Room Monitoring services and managing the Alarm calls and communication with our guest directly. But is helping us a lot, preventing issues with other guests, neighbours & other residents; being in the Vacation Rental and working along living residents/neighbours is very important that we respect the tranquility of the places.
The monitors has help us to prevent issues with guests that sometimes forget there are rules in the apartments and that these places should be respected the same way as their own home: Extremely loud talking, Loud Music, etc…

As a Roomonitor user, can you tell us how the Noise Alarm device helped you?

As mentioned before the alarms has help us to prevent mayor issues with guests: In couple of occasions some guests forgot they were on a residential building and after a night of some beers they arrived to the apartment being a bit loud, once we received the alarm notification, we proceeded to contact the guest and immediately they responded and realised about the inconvenience and immediately responded to the call.

Tell us about some experiences in which Roomonitor helped you

Fortunately we only had 2 occasions that we had to call the guest after couple of messages and it didn’t go nothing mayor as it was just some loud TV & music on their phone.
Only in one occasion that the Alarm went off a bit late, “The notification report was only on Medium so it wasn’t too loud”, and we had to charge the guest with penalty/compensation for a next door resident complain. By providing the Report to the Booking Site they agreed on the charges and also the guest agreed that it was an isolated inconvenience and pay the penalty.

Barcelona is the third most visited city in Europe, behind London and Paris: more than 30 million tourists came to Barcelona in 2016. The fact that for some, these are moments of leisure while for others they are times of responsibility, can lead to tensions that make coexistence difficult.

“One of the most common conflicts regarding accommodation generated by tourism is noise; it is not surprising that this is the issue in second place of importance for neighbours, so finding a solution is not easy.

Since December 2014, the City Council’s call centre has handled over 3,000 complaints by citizens regarding noise and disturbances in tourist accommodations, most of them between June and August, affecting about 2,400 accommodations.

We are all aware of the relevance of the ratings in the tourism business and the objective is to minimize the problem and maximize satisfaction. A pleasant local environment makes the experience much more interesting because it brings us a sensation of discovery and cultural contact similar to when we go to a restaurant where there are no tourists.

“Roomonitor’s extensive experience as property managers in the tourism industry led us to develop tools that will facilitate the continuity of our business.

We knew that being able to predict noise conflicts would avoid unnecessary complaints, as well as economic sanctions ranging from € 750 to € 3,000, allowing us to maintain cordial relations with the community of residents, which is essential if the guests are not to turn their leisure experience in a great nightmare for everyone else.

Installation is easy, as we use a plug & play device that does not attract attention and is controlled by programmed software to set a sound threshold that, if exceeded, automatically sends a message to the designated person so that he or she can prevent the noise from increasing and causing and a conflict with the other residents.

Usually, when we are on holidays, we forget that the rest of the world isn’t, and we do not realize that we might be making more noise than usual. A phone call can be enough warning to make people think and return to normal.

Sound Alarm is a tool that provides only advantages for those property managers who want to manage their accommodation efficiently and sustainably, with respect for their surroundings and their neighbours who are, after all, the people that will make the job easy or complicated.

The data are overwhelming. In the last 20 years, tourist occupation has increased sustainably way in terms of the number of tourists; however, the time has come for growth to be based not on volume but on sustainable profitability, and this means increasing the value of our offer.

Modernizing the sector means using technology to customize the offer, improve the value proposition and obtain the economic benefits provided by digitization the installations. To be more competitive, we need to be more efficient and invest in sustainability and energy efficiency. Not only will it help us achieve our business objectives, but it will attract investment, generate employment and position our tourism industry among the most innovative in the world, revalorising the Spain brand.

“Technological innovation and digitization offer the possibility of adapting the experience of each user to their liking

And how can we do so, technologically speaking? It is not a matter of transforming our tourist accommodations into digital experimentation centres or virtual reality theme parks; technology should help us improve our customers’ experience, and therefore the much-feared (and valued) user experience ratings. Good ratings increase demand and add value to our offer. Technology to increase comfort.

Did you know that with the new climate control systems such as AC Controller, you can save up to 75% of your energy consumption? Or that you can improve the accessibility and security of your accommodations by using our Digital Locks? And if you’ve had problems with neighbours because of the noise that your guests make, nothing better than being able to monitor the noise level with Sound Alarm technology to prevent any problems before they get out of control.

You can even use Night Concierge services to make sure that any problems are detected and resolved immediately.

“To be more competitive we have to be more efficient and invest in sustainability and energy efficiency

This is just the beginning. Improving profitability with the current services is not sustainable in the medium term, and technological innovation and digitization offer the possibility of adapting the experience of each user to his liking, making them feel even better than at home.