If you’ve been searching for an RBoy Apps replacement the past couple of years, you’re not alone. Many property managers have found themselves in need of a reliable solution after SmartThings discontinued Groovy Apps and transitioned to Edge Drivers. Many of us, after waiting for months with no answers or direction from RBoy, needed to find alternative solutions for automating their rental properties.
After searching around and trying out several potential solutions, we weren’t able to find a good, affordable replacement. We needed a solution for our own properties, so we developed one for internal use. After getting it going on our own properties, we decided to launch it publicly so others could enjoy the same benefits we do.
Why Hosts Are Seeking an RBoy Apps Replacement
RBoy’s Rental Lock Automator (RLA) was a popular choice for Airbnb hosts aiming to simplify their workflows. However, when Samsung decided to change from Groovy Apps to Edge Drivers, the functionality that RLA provided disappeared overnight. We relied on RLA’s solution to help us automate some key functions at our short-term rental properties. These automations made sure our properties were ready before guests arrived and shut down again after guests left. The Edge Drivers that are available now only allow actions upon unlocking the door. This means properties are cold/hot when guests arrive and they don’t shut themselves down when guests leave. The loss of the integration with the rental calendar left us struggling to keep our properties ready for guests automatically.
Expensive Alternatives
We searched around and tested alternatives, and what we found was that the solutions on the market were expensive. Most of them lacked at least one critical piece of functionality. The biggest drawbacks to any of the alternatives we tested were:
- Individual device charges: The companies we have found providing solutions in this space do not have a low-cost pricing model. If you only want to automate one door lock they may be okay. However, as soon as you add a couple of door locks and a thermostat (or 10 at some of our properties), they become far too expensive.
- Integrations through Seam.co: Most companies have switched to use Seam.co as their API integration to all the smart devices. This is easy and effective, but it means they are subject to the pricing model of Seam. Seam charges per device and even charges a monthly fee per lock code you have managed on the device! It’s too many incremental costs.
- Too many features: Other short-term rental automation companies lacked critical features but have too many others. It means you end up paying for features that most of us don’t want to use. We didn’t want a guest portal to try and upcharge our guests (especially with Airbnb working hard to prevent this from happening), and guest communications don’t need to be part of the automation tool.
Can’t we just have a simple, affordable solution that connects a short-term rental property or Airbnb to a rental calendar?
Rental Home Automator: The Perfect RLA Replacement
Our platform was designed and built to fill the gap left when RLA quit working, offering a simple, powerful and user-friendly solution. Here’s how we stand out as the ideal replacement:
Seamless Rental Calendar Integration
Rental Home Automator allows you to integrate with any iCal, and can process any of the information provided in the iCal link. This means you can hook up your rental calendar along with any cleaning and maintenance calendars you want to use, all in one place. (We’re also working on deeper integrations with other platforms, more to come)
User-Friendly Design
We’ve created a simple interface that gives you the ability to quickly create and manage your automations. Instead of having to create your automations from scratch, we made it easy to add your location & devices, then quickly enable the automations you want to run on the calendar schedule.
Device Support
Since we use SmartThings as the primary automation platform, it means we support any device that integrates with SmartThings. That gives our users a huge amount of flexibility and choice when it comes to what devices to use at their properties. We also support all the different types of devices in our automations – from water valves to switches and door locks!
One Low Monthly Cost
The most important thing: our pricing is simple and affordable. With one low monthly fee per location, you don’t have to worry about how many locks, valves, switches or thermostats you have at your property. Just add them to your location, select them in your calendar settings and you’re set! Pair unlimited devices with unlimited locations!
If you’re looking for the best RBoy apps RLA replacement on the market, look no further than Rental Home Automator. Our features are tailored to short-term rental and Airbnb hosts and property managers. The software will allow you to automate all the safety and convenience features of your smart rental property.
Get started today with a free 14-day trial to experience worry-free vacation rental management automation.
Keywords: RBoy Apps replacement, RBoy RLA replacement, short-term rental management, rental calendar integration, Rental Home Automator, Airbnb smart device automation.
