VR Startup Follow Along - Automation & Notifications

[Peter R.]

Hi BP!

This is part of a series where I detail the conversion of four units from long-term rentals to short-term Vacation Rentals (VR.)

Synopsis of this part: Setting up wifi for your guests and for smart devices in your VR and getting notifications when necessary (smoke detected, leak detected, etc.) Also, how to remotely manage locks and access codes for your guests. No more keys!

If you see something I missed please let me know, or if you’d like me to expand or clarify anything.

How to Automate Guest Access and Get Notifications About Property Status

Step 1 – Get a Google Voice number

To avoid exposing your personal cell number to guests and any services you set up I highly recommend getting a Google Voice number that you can use to forward any VR related notifications to any number you like. Most often you’ll just point this at your own cell number but you can also use Google Voice to redirect your entire notification stack to another number if necessary. A good example of this is if you decide to take a vacation yourself, you can log into Google Voice and redirect everything in once step to anyone you like.

You can also separate SMS, Voice and Voicemail routing at this point if you’d like, this could be useful later as I get into multi-party notifications.

Note: Don’t mix and match notification numbers. This process begins to break down if you mix and match your own cell number with your google voice number as you establish accounts and online services.

Step 2 – Decide how much you want to automate

For this VR, I’m going to automate the front door lock, a smoke/CO alarm, a water leak sensor, an in-wall outlet, and the thermostat.

With this setup, I can reasonably know what’s going on in the VR at any given time and set codes remotely to provide guest access and then delete those codes remotely after a guest stay.

Step 3 – Get your VR Internet Access Established

You’ll need an underlying internet provider. Cable, DSL, Fiber, whatever’s in your area and provides the best speed for the price. Don’t focus on any added services like WiFi, you’re going to be adding your own anyway, I wouldn’t pay for the extras from your internet provider.

Although, it may be a good idea to bundle the internet with a basic TV package without DVR or Pay Per View to provide guests at least a limited TV experience.

Unrelated Note: If you’re going to replace the TV, I tend to recommend Samsung TVs as they are the only major brand to have all four big internet TV services. Netflix, Hulu, HBO and Amazon as a part of the Samsung TV interface. Your guests can choose to log into their own accounts on any or all those four, it’s been a popular addition in our VRs.

Step 4 – Choose your WiFi Overlay

What I’m calling a WiFi Overlay is a series of devices you place throughout the VR to establish strong, fast WiFi throughout the property. Nothing worse than a VR with bad WiFi, particularly when your guests are stuck inside due to weather.

I’m using Google Wifi. It’s expandable and no matter how many you have or where you put the Google Wifi devices, it all looks and feels like one WiFi network to your guests. You can pick the network name (ex. YOURPROPERTY) and password and change it whenever you like.

They are little pucks you place around the VR, they look like this:

Once you set this up you’ll probably never worry about it again but you need it set up to provide your automation hub wifi access.

Step 5 – Pick an Automation Hub

There are various smart hubs out there that support different technologies in devices.Samsung Smart Things, Wink, Vera, etc. I settled on Smart Things (ST) for now but most of the devices you purchase for ST can be used with other automation services if you decide to switch automation hubs later.

Note: Apple Homekit is the outlier here. Things that are compatible with Homekit are usually NOT compatible with most other automation hubs. Schlage locks are a good example, they have two versions of identical looking locks, be careful when ordering!

Why did I pick ST? It has an internal battery backup. Combine that with a battery backup on your internet access and your automation hub and ability to see that status of your VR continues even in a power outage. Plus, I like the interface way better than most others.

SmartThings Hub looks like this:

Note: SmartThings has a web interface but it’s not really intended for use on a browser. You’ll need an iOS or Android smartphone app to add and manage ST and the ST devices. You can add other people to your ST account and they can use their own ST App on their phone to manage ST as well, if you want to have more than just yourself managing this.

Step 6 – Pick Automation Devices

Here’s the list I’m using and some notes on why I’ve picked them:

Front Door: Schlage BE469 Keypad Deadbolt. Comes in a few colors and trims, but this battery-operated lock controls the DEADBOLT not the lever. For simplicity and to avoid accidental lockout, I paired this with a decorative matching handle that has no lock, so only the deadbolt can lock/unlock the door.

You could also go with something like the Schlage FE599. This has two key differences in that the handle is controlled, not the deadbolt and the lock auto-locks after 5 seconds, the guest must enter the code every time. In the deadbolt setup, the lock remains open until the guest manually chooses to lock it. If you go with this you’ll need a matching trim deadbolt but I’d keep the key offsite somewhere.

Note: By default, you cannot add or remove codes remotely with ST unless you add a custom ST app called Door Manager. It’s a bit of a setup to get running but once you do, it works smoothly. If you don’t want to do this, you can still use these locks but just program 10-15 codes at once when you’re at your VR and cycle through them.Then delete the set once you’ve used them up and program another set.

Smoke/CO Alarm – First Alert ZCOMBO. Standard looking smoke/co alarm. Battery only, so if you have hardwired detectors in the unit like I do, you keep those and mount one of these somewhere as an alerting device just to know if something is going on. If you have all battery powered detectors, you can replace all of them with this unit or just replace one.

Water Leak Sensor – Samsung Smart Things Leak Sensor. Tiny battery powered device, I put it next to the water heater. Only has two states, dry and wet and all it does is alert you when that state changes.

In Wall Outlet – GE Z Wave Duplex Outlet. Using this mostly as a signal extender because all Z Wave devices relay signal to other devices. But you can plug in a lamp or whatever you like and control it from ST.

Thermostat – Ecobee3.Good looking thermostat, comes with a wireless second temperature/occupancy sensor you can place in another room. I liked the control and the features better than Nest but either should work just fine. Setup is easier than Nest in my opinion. Check your system compatibility before you order.

Step 7 – Managing Automation

Once you’ve got everything paired up with ST, your ST dashboard looks like this:

And you can see at-a-glance info:

At this point you can decide how and when ST should notify you of changes in status.You can have it only do push notifications on your phone, or have it alert by SMS. If you enter the Google Voice number from Step 1 you can then transfer the notifications to anyone you like via Google forwarding at any time.

And that’s it! 

At this point you should be able to see the status of your VR, modify the temperature, lock and unlock the door and set codes for guests. Your guests also have fast, worry free WiFi and you can be notified of any serious problems in real-time. You can also use your Google Voice account to transfer notifications to anyone you like if you’re going to be away for a period of time.

[Peter R.]

@Account Closed  I'd say total cost for everything above, including Google WiFi, was about $800, give or take sales on any given day.  

Google WiFi is for the set, however, not per individual WiFi puck.  So a set will cover most large homes or a medium sized multi-family in this case, depending on layout. 

On the repeaters, it really came down to guest convenience and trying to minimize hassle for me.  It's admittedly been a few years since I've tried the repeaters but in the past, they usually had their own network SSID requiring the guest to hop between them as they move around the property.  With these mesh networks like the Google one, it hands them off automatically and looks like one huge wifi network to the guest. 

Plus, although I didn't write it up, I like to segment networks so that guests are one one and stuff I use are on another. More of an advanced setup but it's possible.  I also rotate the guest network password occasionally from afar without being on site. 

However, I am paying for all that convenience, I realize. :D

So far we've not had to visit the property to correct any of this setup in quite some time, battery changes are the most common item but are usually handled by the handyman on a routine visit for something else. 

As for cameras, I confess I'm at a loss, I've not yet found a cost effective and easy to install/maintain off-site backup solution yet.  I hesitate to recommend anything that uses an on-site DVR as essentially that's a huge single point of failure if it gets stolen/destroyed and live backup cameras usually cost some $XX.00 per month PER camera and are suspect in reliability. 

Have you run across anything good in this area?