Protecting and securing your vacation home

Home safe home. The safety and security of your vacation rental means everything—to us, to you, and to your guests. The first rule to keeping your vacation home secure (and giving you peace of mind)? Doing what you can to prevent incidents in the first place.

Taking precautions and having the right security essentials in place will go a long way in warding off potential risks. Plus, this will help ensure a smooth and safe stay for your guests.

Here are vacation home security tips to safeguard your home, while also helping to keep your guests feeling secure and protected.

Safety equipment

First things first: Certain items are necessary for safe stays. These include smoke detectors, a first aid kit, flashlights, a fire extinguisher, and carbon monoxide detectors. In fact, we require all homeowners to provide these items in their vacation rentals. Don’t forget to periodically check the batteries of your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors throughout the year.

Smart locks

Take back the keys, then throw them away. Keyless vacation rental locks are not only more appealing to travelers (goodbye in-person check-ins), they’re also one of the smartest ways to secure access to your home. There are several smart locks on the market. Some require guests to download an app to unlock them. Others allow homeowners to assign unique codes to guests during their stay and revoke them after check-out.

Vacasa offers a smart lock program to our vacation homeowners. We’ll find the best smart lock for your vacation rental and climate, install it, program it, and take care of any maintenance. Homeowners just handle the cost of the smart lock itself.

Security cameras

Installing security cameras may seem like the de facto security measure to deter crime. However, recording in and around your property can violate your guests’ right to privacy. In general, the law doesn’t allow video surveillance in places or at times where guests have a reasonable expectation of privacy. This could also include outdoor areas where guests would congregate, such as backyard patios or outdoor pools.

Video doorbells

Even though video doorbells typically face non-private areas of your property, such as the front sidewalk, a doorbell’s audio recording feature could raise red flags. That’s because eavesdropping on guests and their conversations—similar to the issue with security cameras—can infringe on guests’ rights. We recommend disabling the doorbell’s audio transmission first. Then, in most cases, you can continue to use the doorbell under the same guidelines as security cameras.

To maintain trusted relationships with our guests, Vacasa discloses any on-property cameras and any audio transmission in your vacation home listing. For certain booking channels, including Airbnb, this is a requirement to market your property on their platforms.

Noise detection

It’s true you want your guests to feel at home while staying in your vacation rental. It’s also true that guests need to respect your neighbors by not causing any noise disturbances. However, think twice before trying to catch them in the act. Placing sound recording devices and microphones with the intention of monitoring guests is unlawful. In general, it’s illegal to listen in on or record a conversation without the consent of at least one participant in the conversation. Some states require the consent of all parties.

One possible solution: noise monitoring devices that are non-invasive, such as NoiseAware, are allowed. These types of services only measure the overall noise levels at your location, instead of recording any conversations.

Want to safeguard your vacation home and investment? Let’s discuss all the ways Vacasa protects your home.