My plan for managing temperature, guest expectations, and energy consumption.

[Gregory639]

Hello community. I am a new shared housing host in Tracy, California. As in many places these days, energy is expensive. We have done many things to reduce our energy consumption; LED lighting, automated lighting controls, shades, etc. We also have solar, but that doesn't make energy free.

Our home has central heating/cooling with two Ecobee thermostats, upstairs and downstairs. The rental space is a two room suite with private bathroom on the lower level of the house. The downstairs thermostat is not inside the rental space.

Anyway, people being people, everyone has a different temperature at which they feel comfortable. Some people's level of comfort is informed by the price or energy. Some by their personal impact on the planet. Some by the vacation memories. Some have never born the burden of paying an energy bill.

When we set up, we provided a smart space heater, which we can monitor. We have had an issue our guest using the space heater to warm the space while leaving the window open for fresh air. The guest was also leaving the heater on "high" (constant heat), as well as leaving it on all night. So we came up with this plan and would very much appreciate your feedback, as we will not be able to implement this for another few months.

First, we will remove the space heater. The Ecobee thermostats can be password protected to prevent the guest from making any adjustments. They can also be adjusted remotely, via phone app. We plan to install a thermometer in the rented space that we will use as a measure of energy consumption. We found one that is battery powered, will sample the temperature every 30 minutes, and will store that data for a year. It is retrievable via phone app. No wires. It also clearly displays the temperature.

We will provide a certain temperature on a certain schedule, winter and summer, as part of the rental. This will be declared in the listing, in the house manual, and clearly stated in the initial contact email with the guest. Any changes to the temperature of the rental space will come at a fee. We will produce a fee schedule, $X per degree of change, per day.

All requests for temperature changes must be communicated via Airbnb messaging before 9am of the day the change is to occur. These extra energy fees will be collected through the Airbnb Resolution Center.

Do you see any potential issues with my plan?

Thank you for your time and attention.

[Brittany752]

I agree 100% Its someone who wants to be cheap and controlling 

[Brittany752]

I would never rent from you! You’re cheap and controlling! The amount of money people (more than likely) pay per day for your AirBnb should cover the electricity cost! Everybody’s body is different. Some people get cold and some people get hot very easily. How dare you control that!? 

[Fiona256]

I sympathise with your concerns.

We live in the north of Scotland, where our two holiday properties also are. We occasionally have someone feeling cold, while they sit around in sleeveless tops and shorts in midwinter, at 57 degrees north. Then, when they have cranked up the heating to maxuimum and feel too hot, they open windows rather than turn it down a bit. These people are usually younger, of the generations that supposedly care about protecting the environment.

When we go on holidays to places with much hotter climates than we are used to, we take with us lightweight clothes and wear the minimum. We rarely use AC, if indeed there is any. When we go to cooler countries than our own, we take warm clothes and wear layers. We don't expect to recreate the temperatures we are used to at home. We go to other countries to experience different customs, cultures and lifestyles.

It's about being responsible and aware of the consequences of our actions.

[Gregory639]

Thanks for all the great feedback. 
It’s been a while now since I wrote this post. Ultimately, I chose to charge a 10% higher rent during the months of extreme weather. We have had near constant occupancy with no complaints.