Airbnb & VRBO Thermostat Controls for Mini Splits

Nobody knows how to use a mini split remote.

Your guest arrives in a house they’ve never been in and finds a remote covered in unfamiliar buttons and cryptic symbols. The sun and the snowflake look almost identical at that size, and the last person to touch it may have been the cleaner.

Some guests give up and stay uncomfortable. Others press everything until something works and land on dry, fan only, or a timer nobody asked for. One can hurt the review. The other can leave your mini split running in the wrong mode long after they’ve stopped thinking about it.

Then there is the remote itself: in the couch cushions, in the wrong room, in a guest’s bag on the way home, or simply dead because a button sat pressed for two days. If the property has more than one brand of mini split, there is more than one remote to lose.

And you usually don’t know any of it has happened until the stay is over.

A hand holding a mini split remote covered in buttons, with the mini split unit on the wall behind.

The fix

Give them something familiar.

A hand resting on a Puck 2 on the wall, showing Set to 70 and Current 72 with the room humidity below.

Puck 2 goes on the wall and works like a thermostat: guests can see the temperature and adjust it without learning a new remote or downloading an app.

It works across 200+ mini split brands, so you can manage different systems throughout the property from one place. Check compatibility ›

With the original remotes put away, the Puck becomes the obvious control in the room. No instructions. No app download. Just a thermostat on the wall. On mini splits with a bright indoor display, the Puck can keep that display off, so the light over the bed isn’t one more thing your guest has to solve.

And you can see what’s happening from your phone. If a guest does message you, you don’t have to talk them through button presses you can’t see. Open the app, look at what the Puck is set to, and fix it for them.

Guests can be comfortable. Not in charge.

Choose what guests can control at the Puck on the wall.

Recommended for short-term rentals

Guest

Made for short-term rentals. Guests can change the set point within the range you allow and turn the room on or off. Mode Lock keeps the system in heating or cooling where you set it, and network settings stay locked, so a guest can’t switch modes, disconnect the Puck from Wi-Fi, or change how it’s configured.

Need different rules somewhere else?

Homeowner

Full control of the Puck, including temperature, mode, room status, and network settings.

Tenant

The same on-device limits as Guest, for someone staying months rather than nights. Set point within your range, room on or off, with mode and network settings locked.

Locked

The Puck displays the temperature, but nothing can be changed at the device. Useful for shared spaces or anywhere you don’t want on-site adjustments.

Set the floor and the ceiling. Once.

A phone showing the Flair app Allowable Set Point Range in Heat Mode screen, with sliders for the lower and upper bound.

Choose the coldest and warmest temperatures guests can set at the Puck.

Heating and cooling have separate ranges, so your limits are already in place when the seasons change. Set them once instead of remembering to update them later.

The range also keeps the system out of the extremes that run up the bill and wear on the equipment.

The efficient setting is the one that comes back.

Guests get the temperature they want in the moment. Your baseline returns on its own.

Schedules

Set the temperature by time of day. 72 in the bedroom overnight, 75 or off through the afternoon. It runs without you or your guest doing anything.

Holds that expire

When a guest changes the temperature, the change can hold until the next scheduled event or for a set number of hours, then release back to your baseline. Nobody has to remember to change it back.

Checkout reset

The moment a stay ends, open the app and put every room where you want it. No waiting on the cleaner, no message to the guest, no surprise on the month’s bill.

Ready before check-in

Pre-heat or pre-cool from the app, or run one schedule for vacant and another for occupied, so the first impression isn’t a stuffy room.

Know before the review does.

You can’t be at the property. You can still see what is happening inside it.

Temperature alerts

If a room crosses a limit you set, Flair sends a push notification or an email. A failing mini split, or a window left open when a cold snap or a heat wave arrives, reaches you while you can still act on it.

Emergency Heat and Cool

Even with a room set to off, the Puck works to keep the space out of the range where pipes freeze or where heat and humidity damage the room and what’s in it.

Room history

Home Stats shows current and past temperature and humidity, room by room, so you can confirm a property is fine instead of guessing.

Wired or wireless

Run the Puck on batteries for a clean wall with no visible cord, or plug it in and stop thinking about it. Batteries, USB cable and adapter are all in the box.

Set it up in a few taps.

Put the mini split remote away.

Store the original remote somewhere guests won’t use it, so the Puck becomes the control in the room.

Choose the Guest profile.

In the Flair app:

Flair Devices › Click on Puck › Advanced Features › Puck User Profile

Select the Guest profile.

Set your range.

In the Flair app:

Flair Devices › Click on Puck › Advanced Features › Allowable Set Point Range

Set it for both heat mode and cool mode.

FAQ

Questions hosts ask.

Can guests still change the temperature?

Yes. With the Guest profile, guests can adjust the temperature at the Puck within the limits you set.

Can I stop guests from setting the AC too cold?

Yes. Set a minimum and maximum temperature for cooling, and the Puck won’t accept settings outside that range at the device. You can set a separate range for heating.

Will guests know I’ve limited the thermostat?

Guests see a simple thermostat interface at the Puck. Hospitality settings belong to the account owner, and shared app users don’t see that these controls exist.

Why can’t guests switch between heating and cooling?

On a multi-zone system, every indoor unit has to be in the same mode or the system returns an error code. Nothing is actually wrong with the equipment, but to a guest who has never used a mini split it reads as heating or cooling that doesn’t work, and that ends up in the review. Mode Lock is on by default with the Guest and Tenant profiles, so the situation doesn’t come up.

What if a guest turns the room off and leaves it off?

Emergency Heat and Cool still works to keep the space out of the range where pipes freeze or heat and humidity cause damage, and a temperature alert reaches your phone if a room crosses a limit you set.

Does Puck 2 work with my mini split?

Puck 2 works with 200+ brands of mini splits. Check compatibility ›

Can I set different controls for different rooms?

Yes. Each Puck can have its own user profile, so you can give guests control in one room and lock the Puck in another.

What if a guest finds the original mini split remote?

The original IR remote will still control the mini split, which is why we recommend storing it somewhere guests won’t use it.

Get one

Give guests the thermostat. Keep the control.

Replace the mini split remote with a Puck 2. Give guests simple control, while you stay in charge from anywhere.

Puck 2

$124.00

The wireless thermostat and room sensor for ductless systems and Smart Vent zoning, with hospitality controls built in.

SHOP PUCK 2 →

Flair Puck 2 wireless thermostat, front view.

A thermostat your guests already know how to use.

Nobody knows how to use a mini split remote.

Give them something familiar.