A couple of weeks ago we turned every guest's phone into a remote for the TV. Scan the QR code, and the d-pad, volume, Netflix, Live TV and a keyboard are right there in the browser, talking to the TV over the property Wi-Fi. No app, no pairing, nothing routed through anyone's servers.
It turned out the TV was in a good spot to do more than change channels. It's on all the time, it's on the property network, and it already knows when guests arrive and leave. So we've built on it. The TV and the phone remote can now control the smart devices in the house: lights, switches, fans, blinds and air conditioning, and show your cameras.
A Smart Home button on the TV
Once you've chosen some devices, a Smart Home button appears on the TV home screen next to Guidebook. Guests open it and get one card per device. Press OK to switch a light or a switch on or off. The card lights up in its own colour when the device is on, and every card shows the live state, so if someone flicks the switch on the wall, the TV knows.
Air conditioning, in the guest's units
Heat pumps and air conditioners get their own panel. Guests see the room temperature, nudge the target up or down, and pick a mode: Cool, Heat, Fan, Dry or Auto. Off sits on its own so nobody mistakes it for a mode. Temperatures show in Celsius or Fahrenheit to match the TV's settings, whatever your Home Assistant uses behind the scenes.
Cameras, on the big screen
Add a Home Assistant camera and it gets its own card with a picture of what it sees, refreshed every few seconds while the screen is open. Press OK and it fills the TV, so guests can check who's at the door or whether the delivery has arrived without getting off the couch. Press Back and they're back on the cards. The screensaver stays out of the way while someone is watching.
You choose which cameras appear, the same way you choose the lights. A camera covering the front door or the driveway is helpful. One pointing into the living room is something your guests should know about before they arrive, so check your listing's rules on cameras before you add one.
And on the guest's phone
The phone remote gets a Smart Home tile too. Tap it and the same devices open full screen on the phone, with the same air conditioning controls. Camera cards show their picture too, and a tap opens the camera full screen. It's handy from bed, or from the deck when someone wants the lounge warm before they come inside.
Like the rest of the remote, it only works on the property Wi-Fi. The phone talks straight to the TV, and the TV talks straight to your devices. Nothing goes out to the internet, so there's no lag, and a guest who has gone home can't turn your heat pump on from the airport.
Two ways to connect your devices
Home Assistant
If you already run Home Assistant, the TV shows up in it as a new device, the same way an ESPHome gadget does. Switch on Home Assistant for the TV, add it in Home Assistant with the encryption key from your dashboard, and list the entities guests are allowed to use: light.lounge, climate.lounge, camera.front_door and so on. Only the ones you list ever appear on the TV.
It works the other way too. In Home Assistant the TV appears with its own controls: power, volume, Home and Guidebook buttons, and which app is open. On paid plans it also shows the current guest's name, which makes for some nice welcome automations of your own.
Shelly, no hub needed
Not running Home Assistant? Plenty of hosts have a few Shelly relays behind the light switches and nothing else. The TV can talk to those directly. Press Scan for Shelly devices, the TV finds them on its network and lists their outputs, and you tick the ones guests can use, give them a friendly name and say whether each is a light, a switch, a fan or a blind.
This works with the current Shelly range: Plus, Pro, Gen3, Gen4 and the Wall Display. If you've put a password on your Shellys, enter it once and the TV uses it. The older Gen1 devices show up in the scan, but they aren't supported yet.
Switch things on at check-in, off at checkout
This is the part we're most pleased with. For each device you can choose what happens when a guest checks in and when they check out. Porch light on at check-in. Heat pump to 21° in heat mode before they arrive. Everything off at checkout, so the place isn't heating an empty house for two days until the cleaners turn up.
It runs off the bookings the TV already knows about, the same way auto power turns the TV on for arrivals. It happens even if the TV is in standby, and it doesn't need the TV itself to switch on. If the Wi-Fi or Home Assistant happens to be down at that moment, the TV holds onto the job and sends it as soon as they're back, so a router reboot doesn't leave the lights on all week.
Put it in your guidebook
Two new shortcodes in the guidebook editor, under TV & Smart Home: {{tv_remote_button}} for the phone remote and {{smart_home_button}} to open it straight on the Smart Home controls. There are plain link versions too, if you'd rather make your own button. Guests tap it in the guide and they're in, as long as they're on the property Wi-Fi. If a property doesn't have a TV set up for it, the shortcode simply shows nothing.
Getting set up
- Make sure the TV is on BetterSTR TV 1.0.204 or newer and on Premium (Smart Home is a Premium feature, and free during your trial), and that Phone remote is on if you want the phone and guidebook controls. Cameras need 1.0.205 or newer.
- Edit the TV in your dashboard and open Home Automation.
- Connect Home Assistant, or scan for Shelly devices, and choose what guests can use.
- Optionally set what happens at check-in and checkout, and save.
The full walkthrough, including the one Home Assistant setting people miss, is in the Smart Home help article.