A holiday house has the opposite problem to a home. You are not there when things go wrong, and the things that go wrong are expensive precisely because nobody notices for a fortnight.
That changes what is worth buying. The devices that matter are not the ones that impress guests. They are the ones that tell you something has gone wrong in a building nobody is standing in.
Buy for the empty weeks
Water leak sensors are the highest-return purchase in this entire category. A slow leak in an occupied house is a nuisance discovered in minutes. The same leak in a property empty for three weeks is a floor replacement. Put sensors under every sink, behind the washing machine, near the hot water system and under the dishwasher.
A temperature sensor tells you the things a leak sensor cannot. Heating that failed in a cold snap, a fridge that stopped, a room that has been sitting at 40 degrees since the aircon tripped. All of these are cheap to know about and expensive to discover on arrival.
A smart plug on anything that should not be running — the hot water system, a heater, a pool pump — gives you a switch you can reach from anywhere. In an unoccupied property, being able to turn something off remotely is worth more than any automation.
A reliable internet connection, because every device above is useless without it. This is the genuine constraint on holiday-house automation. If the property has marginal connectivity, buy fewer cloud devices and more that work locally, and accept that remote monitoring may be intermittent.
Check-in, without the key handover
A smart lock solves the problem every short-stay host has: getting a key to someone arriving at 11pm. Codes that work only for the dates of a booking remove the handover entirely, and remove the lockbox that advertises to the street that nobody is home.
Two things to insist on:
- A physical key override. Batteries fail. Networks fail. A guest standing outside at midnight is the scenario the lock exists to prevent, and it is the scenario a flat battery creates.
- A battery check between stays. Add it to the changeover checklist and it never becomes a problem.
Note that fitting some locks involves altering the door hardware, and anything involving fixed wiring is generally a job for a licensed electrician. Rules are set by each state and territory, so check with your state's electrical safety regulator before anything is wired in. In Victoria, for example, Energy Safe Victoria says doing your own electrical work is illegal.
The line not to cross
Indoor cameras in guest areas are out. Treat them as off limits.
Airbnb, for example, prohibits security cameras that monitor any part of a home's interior, and other booking platforms set their own rules — check yours. Surveillance and listening device laws are set by each state and territory. The OAIC notes that the federal Privacy Act generally does not cover a camera run by an individual in a private capacity, while state or territory laws may apply. Check your state's rules before installing any camera in a property you let. A camera pointed at a living area of a property you are letting is both a platform violation and potentially a legal one.
Outdoor cameras covering an entrance or driveway are generally more defensible, but platforms such as Airbnb require them to be disclosed to guests before they book. They should also not cover areas where a guest would reasonably expect privacy.
Noise monitors occupy a middle ground when they measure sound level only. Airbnb's rules, for example, allow noise decibel monitors that assess sound levels without recording audio, but not in bedrooms, bathrooms or sleeping areas. That distinction is what platform rules turn on, and it may matter under your state's listening device laws too, so confirm what a specific device actually does rather than assuming. Disclose it regardless — the point is deterrence, and a monitor nobody knows about deters nothing.
If you want more depth on the surveillance side, our guide to smart home cameras and Australian privacy law covers the underlying rules.
What guests actually notice
Very little of this, which is the point. Guests notice the check-in being easy and the house being comfortable. They do not notice the leak sensor.
The two exceptions worth spending on:
- Simple, obvious controls. A guest should be able to work the lights and the heating without an app, an account or instructions. Automations that only make sense to you will generate messages at 10pm. Leave physical switches working.
- Reliable wi-fi. More valued than any smart device you could install with the same money.
Resist the temptation to automate atmosphere. Scenes, sequences and motion-triggered lighting that delight you at home read as confusing in a house someone is sleeping in for the first time.
Australian specifics
Short-stay rental rules vary by state and council, and some jurisdictions have registration requirements, night caps, levies or planning conditions. In NSW, for example, short-term rental properties must be on the STRA Register and non-hosted stays in Greater Sydney are capped at 180 days a year. Victoria applies a 7.5% short stay levy to stays of under 28 days from 1 January 2025. Rules change, so check the current position with your state and council. These affect whether you can let the property at all, which is a larger question than what to install in it — check the position for your council before investing in a fit-out.
Power and fittings. Australia runs 230 V nominal with AS/NZS 3112 plugs, and homes use both B22 bayonet and E27 screw fittings. In a property you visit rarely, matching the standard matters more than usual, because a replacement needs to drop in on a changeover day rather than wait for an order.
Coastal properties are hard on hardware. Salt air shortens the life of outdoor electronics considerably. Weather ratings that are adequate inland are not always adequate at the beach.
A sensible fit-out
In order of value for a property you are not living in:
- Leak sensors in the wet areas
- A temperature sensor
- A smart lock with physical key override
- Smart plugs on the heater, hot water and pool pump
- Reliable internet, then an outdoor camera at the entrance if wanted
- A sound-level noise monitor, disclosed, if the property has had problems
That order is deliberate. The first two prevent the losses that dwarf everything else, and neither is visible to a guest.
Before you buy
- Will it still work if the internet drops while you are 400 km away?
- Does it need a subscription, and what stops working without one?
- Is there a manual override a guest can use?
- Can a cleaner or property manager operate it without your account?
- Does it record anything in a guest space? If so, do not install it
- Is it disclosed in the listing, if it needs to be?
- Is the hardware rated for the climate the property sits in?
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