Hurricane season: what your smart home can do before, during and after

In Saint-Martin, nobody needs to explain what a hurricane can do. We know. We’ve lived it. We’ve rebuilt.

And every year, between June and November, the same question comes back: is my home really ready?

Are the shutters properly closed? The gates locked? The electrical systems protected? Have I thought of everything — from an airport 3,000 kilometres away, with a phone and an unstable connection?

Home automation doesn’t perform miracles. It can’t withstand 300 km/h winds. But it does something just as precious: it gives you control when everything else spirals out of control.

 

Before — Prepare in a few gestures

Hurricane preparation is often a race against the clock. The alerts come in, everyone mobilizes at once, and something always gets forgotten.

With a Nice Yubii home automation system, preparation becomes a single scene. One tap on your phone — from your living room or from the other side of the Atlantic — and your home switches into protection mode:

Shutters closed and locked on every opening simultaneously. No room-by-room walkthrough. Everything closes with a single command.

Gate and access points secured automatically. No more risk of a poorly closed gate flying off in the wind.

Outdoor lighting switched off to avoid overloading a fragile power grid.

Alerts configured so you’re notified in real time of any change in your home’s status — a detected opening, a triggered sensor.

What used to take an hour of manual checks becomes a 30-second action.

 

During — Monitor from anywhere

This is often when the anxiety is at its worst. You’ve evacuated. You’re waiting. And you have no idea what’s happening at home.

The Hikvision cameras connected to your system give you a real-time window onto your property — as long as the connection holds. You see. You know. You don’t endure the wait in total darkness.

And if something unlocks, if an opening is detected, if a sensor triggers — you get an immediate alert on your phone.

Distance doesn’t erase worry. But it’s infinitely more bearable when you have eyes on your home.

 

After — Regain control quickly

The aftermath is often the hardest phase to manage logistically. Roads are cut off. Access is difficult. And sometimes you need to send someone to check on your property before you can get back yourself.

With Tedee, your smart lock lets you open your home remotely — for your property manager, a trusted friend, an emergency repair company — without handing over a physical key. You control who enters, when, and for how long.

Your property stays under your control even when you’re not there to manage it in person.

 

What home automation doesn’t do

Let’s be clear.

No home automation system can withstand Irma. Nice motorized shutters are robust — but against a Category 5 wind, no equipment is invulnerable.

What home automation offers you is something else: the certainty of having done everything possible. The peace of mind of knowing your home was as prepared as it could be. And the ability to monitor, act and regain control faster than anyone else.

On an island that has learned to rise again, that’s already a lot.

Prepare your home before tomorrow

Hurricane season starts June 1. The best time to install an automated protection system is now — not when the first alert drops.

A certified [ART]IST can assess your current setup and recommend the most relevant automations for your type of property.

A fully automated 450m² villa — when Nice transforms an exceptional residence

This project was completed by an internationally certified Nice partner. It illustrates the level of integration that #NiceCarib’s [ART]ISTs can achieve in the Caribbean.

450m², 6 bedrooms, an infinity pool and a breathtaking sea view. Here’s how Nice turned this home into a living organism.

 

Some properties impress with their architecture. And then there are those that impress with what they do — silently, invisibly — the moment you step inside.

This villa is the perfect example.

The project

A contemporary 450m² villa. Six bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a 120m² open-plan living room opening onto a terrace with an infinity pool. Unobstructed sea view. An owner living abroad, present two to three months a year.

The brief was clear: a home that runs without a permanent caretaker. That can be managed from any time zone. That welcomes guests as if the owner were there — even when he might be 8,000 kilometres away.

What was installed

Nice’s Yubii Home Pro system orchestrates it all. Not as an added technology layer, but as the central nervous system of a property designed to run autonomously.

Automated openings

Motorized entrance gate with license plate recognition — authorized vehicles drive straight in without stopping. Garage door integrated into the same system. Eighteen motorized roller shutters, grouped by zone — east facade, west facade, upper floor — with automatic scenarios based on the time of day and the sunlight.

In the morning, the master bedroom shutters open gradually over thirty minutes, letting the light in without ever jarring you awake. Midday, they tilt to block the heat while preserving the view. In the evening, they close automatically at dusk.

Solar protection and thermal management

Eight exterior awnings equip the terraces and the pergola. Connected to the weather sensors installed on the roof, they retract automatically as soon as the wind exceeds 45 km/h. They redeploy on their own once conditions improve.

The air conditioning in every room is tied to occupancy. A room empty for more than twenty minutes sees its temperature gradually rise to an energy-saving level. It returns to the comfort temperature ten minutes before the usual occupancy time — learned by the system over the weeks.

Scene-based lighting

Forty-two lighting circuits. Six pre-programmed scenes accessible from the wall panels or the app: Morning, Relax, Dinner, Cinema, Night, Away. Each scene simultaneously adjusts the intensity, the light color and the shutter position to create a consistent ambiance throughout the property.

The outdoor lights switch on automatically at sunset — calculated to the minute based on the villa’s geolocation. In Away mode, they simulate presence, varying the lighting room by room using a random algorithm.

Access control and security

Four Nice outdoor cameras provide complete perimeter coverage — in color, at night, with no visible infrared light. A video intercom at the entrance lets the owner see and talk to anyone who shows up, from his phone, wherever he is in the world.

Tedee smart locks equip the main entrance and the service access points. Every contractor — gardener, housekeeper, pool technician — has a temporary code valid only during their working hours. The complete access history can be viewed at any time.

The app

Everything — the 42 circuits, the 18 shutters, the 8 awnings, the 4 cameras, the locks, the air conditioning, the outdoor lighting — is accessible from a single interface. A personalized home page displays the property’s status in real time: open or closed, occupied or empty, indoor and outdoor temperature, today’s electricity consumption.

The owner checks his app from Geneva. He sees the pool is at 28 degrees. He confirms the shutters are closed. He activates the Arrival scene — which starts the air conditioning, opens the master bedroom shutters, and turns on the entry lights. In two hours, his guests will arrive at a home that is waiting for them.

What this project proves

A villa this size is no more complex to automate than an 80m² apartment — it’s just more rewarding. The Yubii Home Pro architecture has no ceiling: it adapts to the size of the property, the number of rooms, and the complexity of the use cases.

What changes is the experience. The larger the property, the more automation frees you up. The more rooms there are, the more valuable the consistency between them becomes. The longer the absences, the more essential remote management becomes.

This project was completed by a certified Nice partner. It illustrates what #NiceCarib’s [ART]ISTs are trained to design and install — in the villas of Saint-Martin, Saint-Barth, Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Inspired by this project?

Your villa deserves the same attention. A certified #NiceCarib [ART]IST can design a custom installation — tailored to your space, your habits, your lifestyle.

How to Control Your Entire Home with the Yubii Home App?

Controlling your home has never been as simple and intuitive as with the Yubii Home app. This smart home solution, developed by Nice, centralises control of all your connected equipment: lighting, roller shutters, gates, heating, alarms, household appliances and much more. Discover how the Yubii Home app transforms your daily life and gives you a truly smart home, wherever you are in the Caribbean.

 

Centralised, intuitive control

The Yubii Home Center app lets you manage all your devices from a single dashboard, on your smartphone, tablet or connected watch. As soon as you open the app, a clear summary of your home’s status appears: alarms, temperature, lights, doors, windows, shutters, gates… Everything is under control at a glance. You can also manage the home room by room to adjust each space to your needs.

 

Lifestyle modes and automated scenes

Yubii Home goes far beyond simple remote control. Thanks to its lifestyle modes (home, away, night, holiday), you can automate the entire home with a single gesture. For example, in “away” mode, the app can turn off all the lights, cut power to unnecessary appliances, close the shutters and arm the alarm. In “home” mode, it reactivates essential equipment and opens the shutters if the sun is up. These modes can be personalised to suit your habits.

You can also create your own scenes: automatic shutter opening at sunrise, heating managed according to the weather, lights turning on at nightfall, garden watering at a set time… The interface offers intuitive block-based creation or, for advanced users, LUA code.

 

Intelligent energy management

Yubii Home includes an energy panel that lets you track the real-time consumption of each device and of the whole home. You can then optimise your usage, reduce your bills and monitor your household’s environmental footprint. If you have solar panels or other renewable energy sources, the app can also track production.

 

Security and remote control

The app sends you instant notifications in the event of an alert: intrusion detection, water leak, smoke, door opening… You can view the cameras, arm or disarm the alarm, and even grant temporary access to other users (family, service providers, guests). Each user has their own rights and access codes.

 

Compatibility and scalability

Yubii Home is compatible with Nice, Fibaro and Elero devices and many third-party products thanks to the Z-Wave protocol and Wi-Fi. It supports voice control (Google Assistant, Alexa, Siri) and integrates with broader smart home platforms. The app also learns from your habits using artificial intelligence, to suggest relevant actions.

 

Fast, customisable installation

The Yubii Home gateway is easy to install via the app, by scanning the hub’s QR code or connecting to its Wi-Fi network. The setup wizard guides you step by step: network connection, location selection, account creation, adding devices… In just a few minutes, your home is connected and ready to be controlled.