:
US: ShortTermRentalz speaks to Sean Miller, president of property automation solution PointCentral, to discuss how the company is set up to provide guest amenity, operational efficiency and asset protection, as well as to analyse how software professionalisation in the short-term rental space will accelerate convergence between asset classes.
- Please introduce yourself, your company and the services you provide in the short-term rental industry.
“My name is Sean Miller and I am the president of PointCentral, a subsidiary of Alarm.com. PointCentral provides short- and long-term property managers with an enterprise-class property automation solution that monitors and controls smart property technology to reduce hassle and improve operating income.”
- How is PointCentral set up to create efficiencies and reduce costs for property managers?
“Since PointCentral was founded ten years ago, our focus has been on how we make home automation technology create value for property managers in three distinct ‘buckets’.
“Firstly through ‘guest amenity’. PhocusWright research from 2019 showed that 40 per cent of 18- to 34-year-old travellers said smart property benefits such as direct to home check-in and pre-cooling / heating the home prior to arrival were important to very important in their decision making. Guests like technology that allows them to get the most out of their vacation.
“Secondly, we focused on ‘operational efficiency’. We do this by removing the time / cost element of managing keys and replacing lost ones. We also automate setting thermostat temp based on occupancy, with HVAC analytics that let the PMs know ahead of time when a problem is brewing so they proactively take care of it and don’t have an unhappy guest.
“Finally, PointCentral provides ‘asset protection’. Smart digital keys greatly reduce the risk of someone showing up when they shouldn’t be there and lets a property manager know who was where and when. Monitoring can also check water leaks that help prevent vacation rentals from turning into indoor swimming pools.
“As PointCentral is part of a large public company [Alarm.com], we are able to create these efficiencies by having different parts of our team focus on general needs of a property manager [such as our cellular network that provides a reliable and secure connection without any maintenance from the property manager], as well as the unique needs of each vertical we serve [different integrations, different rules and workflows etc]. This ensures that our software is delivering on the three value drivers mentioned above.
“When a property manager has a question on how to better use one of our tools, we have an account management team that is constantly building short training courses and hosting webinars, plus a support team with 100+ people in Minnesota that are there to help with any specific questions.”
- What are some of the major challenges and / or opportunities you have faced during the pandemic in terms of enhancing your product and growing out your customer base?
“The greatest challenge for many vacation and short-term rental property managers has been speculation around how stable the economy and demand for travel will be. Many put a pause on investing in tools and systems that can help them be more efficient (particularly more efficient if we did see another headwind from COVID). However as the global pandemic is easing, we are seeing this trend reverse.
“The greatest opportunity has been supporting socially-distanced stays, with data on how well a home is cleaned taking on a whole new level of importance. We’ve had increased inquiries about features like direct to home check-in and use of special codes that support guest check-out and which allow a cleaner/inspector to date and time stamp a cleaning job.
“In vacation rentals that sit in multi-family buildings or within gated communities, we’ve also seen increased interest in our connected intercom product. This has been ‘game changing’ and allows a guest’s smart digital key code to get them from the intercom to their housing unit without having to check-out a key fob or interact with onsite staff.”
- Why are seamless keyless access systems becoming such an integral component of the overall guest experience?
“As more people use private accommodations, there are certain expectations they bring over from the hotel experience. One of these expectations is good wifi, but another is seamless access – a single key card in a hotel gets you through the front door after hours, into common areas and into a guest room. Guests expect this same access experience whether staying in a single vacation rental at the beach, a gated community of homes near a theme park, or in a condo in a mountain lodge. PointCentral has invested significant resources into making ‘curb to couch access’ throughout a property seamless, safe and reliable.”
- How do you envisage software in the short-term rental space professionalising in the future to replicate hotel-like standards? And will this lead to greater convergence between the hospitality asset classes?
“Without a doubt, short-term rental software will have an impact across the customer journey for guests. Good wifi, seamless access, cleaning standards, bedding and cutlery etc – all benefit from technology to make it easier for a guest to refine some options early in their journey.
“3D / virtual tours will also make it easier for property managers to show guests the features of a home that are valuable and different. This could be size, proximity to an attraction, knowledge of staff, ability to host private events, historical relevance / charm. These are all aspects that ultimately drive guests to choose a vacation rental over a hotel.”
- What tech trends do you expect to be prevalent in the short-term rental industry in 2021, particularly with the rise of “optech”?
“The increasing flood of VC money into the space will drive the emergence of many new tools, some in existing categories and some in totally new ones. Some of these options will drive change for good, but many can simply be a distraction to a property manager’s valuable time.
“To separate the wheat from the chaff, I think one of the overarching trends of 2021 will be that property managers become better at defining what job they are hiring each product to do, and will sift through the distraction to find tools that can clearly show how they provide value, integrate with their existing processes and other pieces of software, work reliably, and respect growing awareness of data privacy [GDPR, CCPA] for property management staff and guests.”
- What can you tell us about PointCentral’s plans for growth and expansion over the coming year and beyond?
“We are focused on continuing to help property managers drive value by enhancing our existing features, building new features [such as our introduction of monitored life safety services that can monitor for burglary or smoke / CO alarms], integrating with other pieces of software and expanding our geographic footprint [we have two pilots going on in Australia and Western Europe right now].”
Sean Miller is president of PointCentral, a subsidiary of Alarm.com. PointCentral provides short and long-term property managers with an enterprise-class solution that monitors and controls Smart Home technology across all properties in their inventory over a best-in-class secure and reliable network – increasing property awareness, reducing operational costs and improving guest and resident satisfaction.
