Dive Brief:

• Online rental company Airbnb and Google-owned smart home company Nest have inked an agreement to provide free thermostats to certain hosts on the hospitality-sharing website.
• The partnership gives Airbnb a more eco-friendly image and a value-add to provide to customers. 
• For Nest, GTM's Stephen Lacey suggests, "it's also a way to build its reach and sell more services to the roughly half-million people that list their properties on Airbnb."

Dive Insight:

Utilities are not the only companies looking to install smarter home efficiency technology. Google's Nest has inked an agreement to provide free thermostats to some hosts using Airbnb's hospitality-sharing platform. The thermostats sense when someone is home and set the temperature accordingly. 

Despite initial excitement, the thermostats have some raising concerns about privacy. Earlier this summer hackers reportedly showed how the device could be compromised. 

Airbnb said that earlier this year it hired Cleantech Group to conduct an environmental impact analysis of Airbnb stays. The firm found nearly 83% of Airbnb hosts in North America report owning at least one energy efficient appliance at their property and that Airbnb guests use 63% less energy than hotel guests.