NoiseAware vs. Minut: Which Noise Monitor Actually Protects Your Airbnb

There are two noise monitoring devices available for your vacation rental. One is the minute device, the other is the noiseware device. Today we're covering which one is a better option for you, how to actually install them, what noise decibel to actually use, and which one of these options is covering smoke. If you've had problems with guests and noise in the past, well, this could be your fix. Stay tuned. Welcome back to the Shortmal Riches podcast. I'm happy you're here. Again, if you've had any sort of

trouble with noise, maybe you've got a large backyard and your neighbor has complained once or twice, rightly so. Well, two brands dominate the short terminal industry today when it comes to noise monitoring and actually smoke. We'll get to that in just a second. One is called minute, m i nut t. The other one is called noiseware. And most of the PMS programs out there, your property management software like Hostaway or Guesty or Hospitable are going to be able to integrate with these tools as well. What

does integration actually mean? Means that if the noise level in your property goes above a certain limit that you set, it can notify your guests automatically. You don't need cameras. There's no recording or anything like that going on. Basically looks like a little smoke detector you put in your property and it actually picks up noise. These can be a great option if you've had some challenges in the past, but of course, you do want to outline it in your house rules and make it clear that

your property is outfitted with some noise monitoring devices. Guests might ask from time to time, think that they're being recorded. You can reassure them that nothing is being recorded. It's simply monitoring the level of volume. If you haven't revamped your house rolls in a while, we'll grab a copy of ours down in the show notes. We've managed a lot of guests, over a 100,000 at this point throughout our properties around the nation, and we've definitely dialed in our house rules. You can simply copy ours and

edit to fit your property. Okay. When it comes to actually setting up your device, there's a couple things you need to know. The first is the decibel limit. So, this is what level of noise it's monitoring for. Depending on your property, you may or may not need this during the day, right? Maybe this is just a night thing that happens after 1000 p.m., for example. But if you are in an area or you have a really nice setup with a big backyard, but you've had some

troubles with neighbors in the past, even during the day, well, then you can set different decibel levels. Maybe you want to set one during the day around 55. But when night comes and things need to be a little bit more quieter, you need to be a little bit more careful not to be disturbing people. Well, you might consider dropping it down to 45. If you set the threshold too high, well, then you might not actually be picking up any alerts. Most of the time, we're going

to set these thresholds. What our team does for most of our properties is between 1000 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. And if you've just installed one recently, but you're getting lots of triggers, well, maybe you've got it set too low, or maybe you have it installed in the wrong place. So, where should we actually be installing the device? Well, if we're talking about the interior of the home, the best place to put it is generally between your kitchen and the living room or the living area. Because

if people are getting a little more rowdy, rambunctious, usually they're going to the kitchen to get drinks and so on. and they usually tend to congregate around this area. That's going to be the best place to put it. If you have an outdoor setup and you've got a spa out there, for example, well, you might want to consider putting one of these near your spa if you've had trouble with the neighbors in the past. Again, this isn't recording anything, it looks like a smoke alarm, but

you would want to put it under a covered area. And also keep in mind if you're installing it outdoors, you probably need to set the threshold a little bit lower because the sound won't be echoing off the walls. Both these devices are easy to charge. You just use a USBC cable. But remember, you want to make sure to install the device away from things like AC vents. And also, if you're installing it higher, you got to remember that someone's going to need to charge it. So,

the battery typically lasts several months. You can monitor the battery levels online, and it charges really easily with just a USB C cable. So, my recommendation if you have a good relationship with your housekeeper, which I hope that you do, this can be one other task that from time to time they're charging, but they will need a way to access it. A lot of time, your housekeepers might travel with a small step ladder as well. Basically, just want to make sure that this is out of

reach of a normal guest, so they can't tamper with it and take it off if they wanted to. So, we'll get to the device that my team and I use in just a second. But before we do, what do you do when the device actually goes off? Right? We need to have some sort of standard operating procedure to handle these situations. My recommendation, our team's recommendation is that if it's past your threshold, hopefully you have it integrated with your property management software. You can have a

message automatically sent out to your guest, something friendly just to remind them to to try to keep things down. If you get a second alert, well, it's time for you or your reception team to pick up the phone. Again, it's a friendly call. You want to remind them that you have a noise monitoring device there. You've put it in there for a reason. Maybe because you've had noise complaints and you just want to make sure that they're aware and ask them to politely keep it down.

You also want to make sure that you log these alerts, which usually there's going to be some sort of message communication cuz this can become helpful if you did need to file some sort of claim or something in the future. You can use this as supporting evidence for your or Airbnb or Booking.com if you did ultimately run into an issue. Hopefully, you don't. Hopefully everything is just fine. As it normally is when we hear about these horse stories in the short-term rental industry, it's it's really

few and far between, right? Reach out to the guest. Hopefully that nips it in the bud and there's nothing else to do. But if there is another message, this is when your ground team becomes really important. It might mean having someone stop by the property to check on things. Okay, so you've got your device installed. It's set up correctly. You've tested it. Preferably, you test it before you test it with guests, right? How much do these things actually cost? Well, the devices themselves are around $1,

$150. That's what they cost at the time of this recording. And there's different subscription models generally, too. Our team currently pays about $15 a month for an integrated device, but it saves you a lot of time and it automates things. And so, that is the device that we are using currently. It's the minute device. We don't use it in all of our properties, but there's some that are a little more susceptible to parties or maybe we have neighborhood requirements or something that a little more strict.

And so we just want to take that that extra precaution. But that's the one we're using because it also monitors smoke. There is a warming up period where you have to install the device and it takes a couple weeks to adapt to the environment. But after that you're up and running. One other thing to protect you and again you can use this as evidence if you did find someone or if your housekeeper did find someone smoking in your property. Hopefully you have some sort of charge

outlined on your house rules so you can go back and present that to the travel agency. So that's pretty much a wrap. I know noiseware is coming out with the smoke monitoring side of it yet, but again, at the at the time of this recording, not currently available. So, if you've been having some challenges, check out one of these devices. It'll help you with your short-term rental setup. Well, that's a wrap. Two options available in the industry, the one that we use, which is minute. Make

sure you install the right spot. Make sure you set it up right. Make sure you or your team knows how to respond appropriately to guests. If this gave you any insight, really appreciate a review. Until next time, I hope you have a fabulous week.