A Guide to Short-Term Rental Noise Monitors: The 3 Best Solutions

Discover the top 3 short-term rental noise monitors, plus learn about essential features and how these devices can benefit your business.

Waking up in the middle of the night to a text or missed call from an angry neighbor is a worst-case scenario—unruly guests or unauthorized parties can cause damage to not only your properties but also your relationships and reputation. And, unfortunately, the more properties you manage, the more likely this becomes.

If you don’t want to have to constantly be checking in on your properties and worrying about guests getting out of hand, have a short-term noise monitor do the work for you. These sensors keep you in the know about what’s happening at each and every one of your properties, no matter how many you manage.

In this article, we cover:

• How a noise monitor can transform your vacation rental business
• The features you should look for in a noise monitoring solution
• The top three noise monitors for vacation rentals

How a noise monitor can transform your vacation rental business

Using noise monitors in your properties doesn’t just bring you peace of mind—it can positively impact your business. Here’s how:

Preventing property damage

Often high noise levels indicate potential unauthorized parties or disruptive behavior. A noise monitor allows you to intervene before the situation escalates and leads to costly property damage.

Avoiding neighbor complaints

By proactively managing noise, you can prevent disturbances that result in neighbor complaints, maintaining good neighbor relations and solidifying a positive reputation for your business.

Fostering relationships in the community

By monitoring and controlling noise levels, you show a commitment to being a responsible neighbor. This fosters good relationships and demonstrates proactivity and accountability.

Complying with local ordinances

Noise monitors help ensure your rental adheres to short-term rental regulations and occupancy rules, safeguarding your business from potential legal troubles and fines.

Countering false noise claims

In instances where neighbors might erroneously claim your guests are being noisy, having concrete noise-level data can help you counter false accusations, protecting your reputation and business.

Instilling confidence in owners

Installing designated devices to monitor noise at your properties shows owners that you actively manage and care for the property, building confidence and fostering stronger partnerships.

Serving as a selling point for potential clients

The fact that you use noise monitoring devices at your properties is a selling point when trying to win over new owners, as they’ll feel assured their property will be safe in your hands.

 

Features your noise monitor should include

The most important noise monitoring features your device should come with are logically tied to the sensor’s ability to detect and manage noise levels. These include:

• Real-time noise level monitoring: You should be able to set customized thresholds for quiet hours and get instant alerts and notifications.
• Privacy protection: Ensure that the noise monitor you choose doesn’t record guest conversations, only detecting decibel levels.
• Automated messages to guests: Make sure your solution reaches out to guests for you when things get out of hand so you don’t have to constantly be monitoring noise levels.
• Historical log of noise events: Having access to data in the case a guest denies being loud or a neighbor falsely claims guests were causing disturbances protects you in a dispute.

However, you shouldn’t limit yourself to noise monitoring features when selecting a solution. The best devices on the market come with a variety of other property protection and automation capabilities, including:

• Tamper detection
• Occupancy monitoring
• Motion detection
• Cigarette smoke detection
• Temperature and humidity monitoring
• Mold risk detection
• Integrations (for example, with your PMS and smart home technology)
• Advanced security features

The 3 best noise monitors for vacation rentals

Our list is concise, but that’s because we’ve picked out the very best noise monitoring solutions on the market for short-term rental property managers.

1. Minut

The Minut device monitors noise levels both inside and outdoors, notifying you if guests get too unruly. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Minut’s features. 

The solution also monitors occupancy to alert you if a party is forming, and it’s capable of detecting cigarette smoke, helping you prevent costly smoke damage and the expensive cleans that go along with it. In addition, Minut monitors temperature and humidity inside your units, even alerting you if there’s a mold risk. But back to the noise monitoring capabilities.

Minut’s privacy-safe monitor never records guest conversations—it measures decibel levels, alerting you when they exceed your customizable thresholds, which you can adjust depending on time of day and predetermined quiet hours.

If guests get too loud, you get a notification, plus guests automatically receive a message asking them to keep it down. If you don’t want to have to deal with the issue, you can sign up for our Call Assist or Guard Assist solutions, where trained professionals reach out to your guests for you to handle the situation.

You can monitor noise levels (and everything else Minut tracks) on a centralized dashboard, where you can also access a log of historical noise events in the case of a guest dispute or false neighbor claim. 

Minut also comes with features that help you protect your property when it’s vacant, including motion and window break detection, as well as alarm recognition.

Features that set Minut apart

• Privacy-safe noise and occupancy monitoring
• Cigarette smoke detection
• Temperature and humidity monitoring
• Mold risk analysis
• Weatherproof noise monitoring for outdoor spaces
• Window break detection
• Motion detection alarm
• Alarm detection
• Device tamper detection
• Automated notifications and guest messaging
• Call Assist and Guard Assist services
• Web and mobile app
• Historical logs of noise and smoking events
• Airbnb and PMS integrations
• API for custom integrations
• Scheduled guest messaging
• Long-lasting battery charges (up to a year)

 

2. NoiseAware

Track noise levels across the entirety of a guest’s stay with NoiseAware.

NoiseAware offers 24/7 indoor and outdoor monitoring for vacation rental properties. The solution’s privacy-safe devices never records guest conversations, only measuring decibel levels, and you can set customizable quiet hours. 

The solution provides a dashboard for monitoring noise levels across your properties so you can be in the know about noise events and other disturbances. Additionally, for accounts with 10 or more properties, you can opt into NoiseAware’s AutoResolve feature, which will automatically send a message to noisy guests asking them to quiet down.

In addition to its noise monitoring features, NoiseAware also comes with CrowdControl, its occupancy detection feature.

Noiseaware’s top features

• Privacy-safe noise monitoring
• Monitoring dashboard with guest messaging and automated notifications
• Access to historical data about noise events
• AutoResolve automated guest messaging
• CrowdControl occupancy detection
• Indoor and outdoor sensors (though outdoor sensors can only work if you also have an indoor one).

 

3. Roomonitor

With the Roomonitor dashboard, you can see real-time noise levels across your whole portfolio.

With Roomonitor, you can track noise levels in real time on the platform’s dashboard, as well as receive automated notifications when a noise event occurs. Like the other two solutions on this list, you can customize noise thresholds and set quiet hours. 

The solution avoids the chance of false alarms, like receiving an alert because of a barking dog, with its intelligent sound pattern system. In the case of a real noise event, you can receive alerts via SMS, phone call, app notifications, or email.

Roomonitor also comes with occupancy detection and air quality monitoring. Plus, with the solution’s Alarm Assistant feature, Roomonitor’s mediation experts will reach out to guests for you in the case of a noise event.

Roomonitor’s top features

• Indoor and outdoor privacy-safe noise monitoring with customizable thresholds
• Centralized dashboard and automated alerts via SMS, phone call, notifications, or email
• Occupancy detection and air quality monitoring with cigarette smoke detection
• Alarm Assistant to address noise issues for you
• Easy installation and maintenance-free device
• PMS integrations available

 

Monitor noise, keep tabs on your units, and protect your business

Selecting the right noise monitoring device won’t just mean less work and fewer worries for you—it’s a solution that can help you protect and scale your business. Noise monitors let you keep tabs on a growing number of units while marketing your proactivity and accountability to property owners.

What’s more, these devices don’t just monitor noise—you can consolidate your noise monitoring solution with occupancy monitoring, cigarette smoke detection, and other home protection and hazard detection features that keep your units safe and your guests comfortable.

For example we offer a comprehensive STR noise monitoring solution, which doesn’t only include all the features and benefits described above, but also automated messaging, multiple platform integrations, and additional services like Call and Guard Assist.

 

Frequently asked questions about short-term rental noise monitors

What is a noise monitoring device?

A noise monitoring device is a specialized tool used in short-term rental properties to detect and measure noise levels. It helps ensure guests adhere to noise rules, maintaining a peaceful environment without intruding on privacy.

Are Airbnbs allowed to have noise monitors?

According to Airbnb, noise monitors are allowed “as long as they are clearly disclosed in the listing description and don’t infringe on another person’s privacy.” That means they can’t record conversations, and you must be transparent with guests before they book about the presence of a noise monitor in your unit.