Our partner Minut is working on expanding their integrations, and they’d love to hear how you’re using video doorbells and exterior cameras in your hosting setup.
They’re especially curious what Hospitable Hosts think, so share in the comments:
Minut is listening, and
Thank you so much Petra, and hello everyone 👋 Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts and answer any questions!
We use ring cameras and would never not have one. It's saved us from unauthorized guests and items being brought into the home.
I would also gladly share the feed with customers just like we do for the lock. I think I gives some guests a reality check that they are actually being supervised and can be held accountable.
To not be creepy we have the chime off for the doorbell camera but we have another camera further up the driveway so we know when people come and go on the property (15 acres). We review the camera feed after the guests have arrived, usually a few hours later. Other than that we typically let them enjoy their stay peacefully unless we see something on arrival that's causes concern.
We recently had a guest arrive to check in and brought a huge live Christmas tree with her and without asking. We weren't really happy about it but decided it wasn't worth saying something. But when she left she did nothing to cleanup up the needles and our cleaner had to have pick needles off the couch and area rug. The video came in handy when we needed Airbnb to get involved for excessive cleaning.
Up until this point I have not had cameras installed, as an old school host, I like for guests have privacy, though I am now considering installing. Looking forward to hear what other have to say about using cameras or not.
Absolutely we do! We use doorbell cams AND garage door video keypads in any property that has an accessible garage. Historically we’ve used Wyze cams and Ring, but recently we’ve moved to MyQ for Garage Doors and would be open to moving to MyQ doorbell cams if an integration happened there.
Yes, suspicious activity and in the area other STR have been burglarized.
We only use our Ring cameras to check if our snow removal came, otherwise we don’t really pay much attention to them.
Yes, we use a Ring Doorbell. It serves multiple purposes, but mainly to let us know when guests or team members arrive, and for security purposes. Plus it lets me keep an eye on the driveway to see if we need to have the snow plow team out. I usually turn off notifications once guests are in residence.
As far as sharing the feed with guests, if there was a true “guest mode” that I could share, I think that would be ok, it would give them a little extra security and peace of mind. I dont think we have that with Ring at the moment. Right now, my team has access only since it is full control
We use a Ring peephole camera at the entrance of the unit. It’s used solely to confirm that the number of guests checking in matches the reservation.
We fully respect our guests’ privacy and do allow guests to have visitors. Any additional guidelines we ask guests to follow are outlined in the listing and house rules.
All major booking platforms also provide guest insurance coverage, which has successfully covered any claims we’ve needed to submit.
At the end of the day, this is a hospitality business — things are going to happen from time to time. In our experience, getting overly strict with cameras or excessive rules tends to drive guests away. Just our two cents.
We use Ring Doorbell and 3 others scattered around the property to ensure all exterior doors and the hot tub is covered. We have them all specified in the listings and haven’t had any concerns yet. The property is primarily STR and we don’t live nearby so it’s essential to us for safety as well as weather management.
+1We use doorbell cameras at the entry door as well as floodlight cameras at the garage. We use these to confirm the number of guests, if they have a pet, and to detect potential unauthorized activity like a party. We also use Minut in each property we manage. We don’t use Alexa or similar devices, so I’m not sure how we would give guests access to the camera views.
have wired door bell cams and spot light cams near front and back doors. Perfect for monitoring groups, cleaners and maintenance people when needed. Don’t always use them, but a must have in the long run.
We implement cameras AUSO; however, we are still looking for software that can tell when more than 1 person is coming into the house. Usually we rent to 1 person in shared spaces. So when someone invites more people, they violate the house rules. That is when we would like to be notified rather than having to go through countless hours of footage.
Wired Ring doorbell camera to monitor front door activity + floodlight camera to monitor garage, always. Since we use wired, we typically hardware to the old doorbell or install a ring chime. Pressing the doorbell manually pushes to me but normal motion notifications are looked at on a case by case basis only. Which is rare.
I specialize in midterm reservations and over 1 month offer guests access via Ring. Which is clunky to set up.
They always appreciate the ability to monitor “their” doorway/driveway activity, especially for packages. For shorter term guests, I typically don’t offer and they typically don’t ask (for shared Ring access)
I use a Ring doorbell to check the number of guests matches the booking. I am interested in MINUT though, after some noisy guests recently (the neighbours were annoyed). Can you tell me more about it
Let me know if you have any questions!
Absolutely we do! We use doorbell cams AND garage door video keypads in any property that has an accessible garage. Historically we’ve used Wyze cams and Ring, but recently we’ve moved to MyQ for Garage Doors and would be open to moving to MyQ doorbell cams if an integration happened there.
Yes, suspicious activity and in the area other STR have been burglarized.
Got it! Sorry to hear that
Absolutely we do! We use doorbell cams AND garage door video keypads in any property that has an accessible garage. Historically we’ve used Wyze cams and Ring, but recently we’ve moved to MyQ for Garage Doors and would be open to moving to MyQ doorbell cams if an integration happened there.
For sure! MyQ is the single best interface I’ve found for generating unique PIN codes to operate the garage door (and match them to the front door codes) and bringing all of our tech under fewer roofs (or apps) lightens our load substantially, which is why MyQ is what we’re anchored to for now and they are mroe than adequate so far in the camera department IMO
I use a Ring doorbell to check the number of guests matches the booking. I am interested in MINUT though, after some noisy guests recently (the neighbours were annoyed). Can you tell me more about it
Absolutely we do! We use doorbell cams AND garage door video keypads in any property that has an accessible garage. Historically we’ve used Wyze cams and Ring, but recently we’ve moved to MyQ for Garage Doors and would be open to moving to MyQ doorbell cams if an integration happened there.
For sure! MyQ is the single best interface I’ve found for generating unique PIN codes to operate the garage door (and match them to the front door codes) and bringing all of our tech under fewer roofs (or apps) lightens our load substantially, which is why MyQ is what we’re anchored to for now and they are mroe than adequate so far in the camera department IMO
Is the MyQ controller wired or battery operated? How long does the battery last? Why do you like having a camera on the garage controller? ( maybe a dumb q : )
We have a rental in the DR so we use google for our cameras and doorbell but a tt lock was given to us we dont like it but its what they have widely available.
+1
We find cameras to be critical to the overall remote management part of our business.
We haven’t come upon a standard for cameras, but find it can be helpful to have REDUDANT systems in place should one go down.
In place: Arlo, Ring, Blink, ReoLink (removed most Nest cameras as Google stopped playing nicely with other IoT).
Cameras work well for:
Cameras could be improved by:
We do NOT give guests camera access, but have had requests to share footage from bear encounters.
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