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 - activity is detected the first time after stay start, indicating a guest has checked in
No motion since stay start - no activity is detected for several hours after stay start, indicating there might be a delayed check-in or no-show
Motion during vacancy - activity is detected during evening or nighttime when no stay is currently ongoing
Arrival
Minut will automatically notify you when motion is detected for the first time after a new stay has started, indicating that a guest has checked in.
Each notification will:
Appear in the Log
Send a push notification
Email the organization owner
Note: These notifications can take up to an hour to appear.
This feature is always enabled in the log for all properties, but if you wish to receive push and email notifications, you need to enable them in your notification settings.
No motion since stay start
Minut will automatically notify you when no motion is detected for 5 hours since a new stay has started, indicating that the guest may be delayed or not showing up.
Each notification will:
Appear in the Log
Send a push notification
Email the organization owner
Note: These notifications can take up to an hour to appear.
This feature is always enabled in the log for all properties, but if you wish to receive push and email notifications, you need to enable them in your notification settings.
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.
Turning off Presence & Crowd Detect disables related features too.
When you turn off Presence & Crowd Detect, both Crowd Detect and Presence Detection will automatically be switched off as well.
Please note: their previous on/off settings won’t be saved, so if you turn the feature back on later, you’ll need to manually re-enable them if needed.
Web app Instructions:
How to activate Presence detection - motion during vacancy
Web app
To turn Presence detection on or off:
Go to the Properties tab in the Minut Web app.
Select the property where you’d like to enable Presence detection.
Scroll to Presence & Crowd detect from the feature card list.
Select Manage, then toggle Presence detection.
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 name in the top left in the Minut Web app.
Go to Account, then Tap Notifications.
Adjust your preferences under the Notifications section (push, email, etc.).
These settings let you control how you get notified, without needing to disable the Presence detection entirely.
Mobile App Instructions:
How to activate Presence detection - motion during vacancy
Mobile app
To turn Motion Presence detection on or off:
Go to the Units tab in the Minut app.
Select the property where you’d like to enable Presence detection.
Click on Presence & Crowd detect from the feature card list.
Toggle the switch to enable or disable.
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 profile icon and then your name in the left right in the Minut mobile app.
Go to Event Notifications
Adjust your preferences under the Motion automation section (push, email, etc.).
These settings let you control who gets notified and how, without needing to disable Presence detection entirely.