Only available on the Pro Plan and Pro + Plan
Presence detection can help you stay informed about what's happening at your property by using motion detection to trigger automatic notifications.
For Presence detection to work correctly, your sensor needs to be placed indoors in an area where it can reliably detect motion, like a hallway, living room, or entryway.
Motion detection does not work if the sensor is set to outdoor mode or if it’s placed in low-traffic areas like a basement, where movement may not be picked up.
What is Presence detection?
Presence detection uses the Minut sensor’s motion data to detect activity in your rental unit. It covers a few different scenarios so that you can take action:
Arrival - motion is detected the first time after stay start, indicating a guest has checked in
No motion since stay start - no motion is detected for several hours after stay start, indicating there might be a delayed check-in or no-show
Early departure - no motion is detected between evening and late morning during a stay, indicating an early departure
Early check-out - no further motion is detected after initial movement on check-out day, indicating an early checkout
Motion during vacancy - activity is detected during evening or nighttime when no stay is currently ongoing
Arrival and departure alerts
These alerts give you insights about check-ins and check-outs. The arrival and no motion since stay start alerts are enabled by default for your organization, while early departure and early check-out need to be turned on.
Arrival - motion is detected the first time after a new stay has started
No motion since stay start - no motion is detected for 5 hours after a new stay has started
Early departure - no motion is detected for a whole night and morning (9 pm to 11 am) on a day that’s not arrival or departure day
Early check-out - no motion is detected for 2 hours on departure day, after initial motion is detected in the morning after 6 am
You can toggle all these alerts on and off for your whole portfolio in Settings.
When enabled, each alert will:
Appear in the Log
Send a push notification
Email the organization owner
Each team member can configure separately in their account notification settings which email and push notifications they wish to receive.
Motion during vacancy
When enabled, Minut can automatically notify you when motion is detected during nighttime in a unit where no stay is scheduled.
Each notification will:
Appear in the Log
Send a push notification
Email the organization owner and admins
Note: These notifications can take up to an hour to appear.
Motion alerts only trigger once every 10 hours.
If motion has already been detected recently, we won’t trigger another alert right away. This helps avoid duplicate notifications.
Alerts only trigger at night.
Motion events only activate alerts between 18:00 and 06:00 (your property’s local time). That way, cleaning crews or maintenance visits during the day don’t set off unnecessary notifications.
Motion during Wi-Fi loss is still tracked.
Even if your sensor temporarily loses Wi-Fi, it still keeps track of motion. Once the connection is restored, any missed motion events will appear in the event log, with a timestamp showing exactly when it happened.
If the motion was recent (within the last 10 hours), you’ll also get a push notification and an email. If it happened more than 10 hours ago, you’ll still receive an email, but no push notification, to avoid confusion from old alerts.
Web app Instructions:
How to activate Presence detection
Web app
To turn Presence detection on or off:
Go to the Settings tab in the Minut Web app.
Select Presence detection.
Toggle the Presence detection use cases that you wish to be enabled or disabled for your portfolio.
That’s it! Presence detection will now start running for that property based on motion detection and your booking schedule.
Managing Notification Settings
To customize how you receive notifications for Presence detection:
Click your organization name in the top left in the Minut Web app.
Click on Notifications.
Adjust your preferences for the Presence Detection section (push, email, etc.).
These settings let you control how you get notified, without needing to disable Presence detection entirely.
Mobile App Instructions:
How to activate Presence detection - motion during vacancy
Mobile app
To turn Presence detection on or off:
Go to the More (...) tab in the Minut app.
Select Monitoring in the Settings section.
Click on Presence detection.
Toggle the Presence detection use cases that you wish to be enabled or disabled for your portfolio.
That’s it! Presence detection will now start running for all your properties based on motion detection and your booking schedule..
Managing Notification Settings
To customize how you receive notifications for Presence detection:
Click your profile icon and then your name in the top left, in the Minut mobile app.
Go to Notifications.
Adjust your preferences under the Presence detection section (push, email, etc.).
These settings let you control who gets notified and how, without needing to disable Presence detection entirely.