1Recording
1.1The preview test
Film the home like you are showing it to the owner on a video call: walk every room, hold the phone up, pause on what matters, open things so they can see inside. To know whether a video is good enough, look at your screen. What you see in your preview is what RapidEye sees. If a view looks blurry or dark to you, it looks that way to RapidEye too. Step back and show it again.
Two habits fix most bad videos. Keep the phone pointed at the room, not the floor, at chest height and level, even while walking between rooms; it is easy to let your arm drop in hallways, so the video shows the floor. And turn slowly: walking in a straight line does not blur, spinning the phone does. Slow down for the turn, then walk normally.
1.2Before you press record
Wipe the camera lens on your shirt. Turn on every light in every room, so every corner is clear in the video. Then start.
1.3What to show
If a guest could see it, touch it, or open it, show it. Every room, including hallways, laundry, garage, patios, and pool or hot tub areas. Each wall and the floor: stand in the doorway for the wide view, then walk the room so every wall gets a clear look. Pause about a second on each view so RapidEye gets a clear look at it.
Open everything. Kitchen cabinets and drawers, fridge and freezer, oven, dishwasher, bathroom vanities, closets, shower and tub, washer. You do not need to get close; RapidEye can catch a hair on a pillow from across the room. But nothing inside a closed cabinet can be seen, so open it.
Give a little extra attention to what guests break, move, or take: remotes, lamps, art, rugs, cushions, coffee makers, cutting boards and knife sets, hot tub covers and latches, safety equipment. Beds and linens close enough that a stain is visible in your preview. Under beds and behind doors where it matters. The more of the home each video shows, the more RapidEye has to compare against next time.
1.4A recommended route
Any route works; RapidEye does not need rooms in a particular order. A consistent route just makes videos faster to record, easier to review, and harder to leave a room out of. This is a suggestion, not a requirement.
Start at the front door facing in. Pick clockwise or counterclockwise and keep it for the whole home. In each room, doorway view first, then walk the walls, opening things as you pass. Finish one floor before changing floors. Outdoor spaces last, then end back at the front door. If your checklist lists rooms in a different order, reorder it to match the walk (see 3.2).
1.5How long a video takes
We recommend about a minute for every 300 square feet. A typical home lands around five minutes, small units at two or three, and large luxury homes at 20 to 40 minutes, which is fine. A recording can run up to 60 minutes, not counting pauses; the recorder warns five minutes before it stops. The upload runs in the background while you record, so even a long video finishes uploading quickly. Most teams find video takes less time than the old photo routine, because you stop cleaning once instead of once per photo.
Too short is the problem to watch for. A three bedroom home in ninety seconds means rooms were skipped or nothing was opened, and RapidEye will report checklist items as not shown.
1.6Interruptions and uploads
A phone call, a locked screen, or a pause is fine: pause, handle it, resume. Record the whole home as one continuous video rather than several short ones; if something goes badly wrong partway, start over rather than submitting pieces. Upload happens while you record. On a normal connection you press Done and it is already up; on a weak signal it may take a minute or two. Do not close the browser until the upload confirms, or the recording in progress is lost.
1.7Phones and lighting
Any phone from the last several years is fine, and there is no app to install; the link opens in the browser. Hold it upright, the way you normally would. The one real problem we see is a cracked or dirty lens, which is why the lens wipe is step one. For lighting, daylight versus lamps does not matter; pitch dark does. Turn the lights on.
2Baselines
2.1What a baseline is
A baseline shows the home in its ideal, ready state: fully cleaned, set up the way guests should find it, everything where it belongs. Not dressed for a photo shoot: see guest-ready, not photo-ready. It can hold a baseline video, photos and a 3D scan. Later videos are compared against it, so anything not shown in the baseline is harder to flag later. Baselines are optional. Without one, RapidEye compares each video with the home's recent inspections, and improves with every recording.
A home can have up to four baselines, for example one for how guests find it and one for how its owner keeps it. Each is recorded with the home in its own setup, and every walkthrough is compared with one of them: see several baselines for one home.
Record a baseline slower and more completely than a normal video: every wall, every corner, every inside, with about two seconds per view instead of one. Show anything you want RapidEye to keep track of for that property, like how pillows are arranged or where the rug edge lines up.
2.2When to record one
When a property is onboarded, right after setup is finished. After a renovation, refurnishing, or restaging. Any time you want to reset what "correct" looks like, for example after an owner stay that changes the home for good. If the home switches back and forth between an owner setup and a guest setup, give it a baseline for each instead (see owner stays and guest stays).
2.3Replacing a baseline
If you are not happy with a baseline, open Video on the property's Baseline card and press Record new baseline. RapidEye uses your newest finished baseline recording. On a home with several baselines, each one uses its own newest, so switch the card to the right baseline before recording. A baseline can also hold photos and a 3D scan, all shown room by room: see setting up a home's baseline.
3Checklists
3.1Show it, then tap it
If your task has a checklist, it appears over the camera while you record, and each item is something to show. Point the camera at the item, give it a second, then tap it done. Do not tap items ahead of time and go find them afterward. An item tapped before it was shown may come back as not verified.
3.2Ordering the checklist
Order the checklist to match your walk: entry, living, kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, out. Teams that do this stop crossing the home two or three times per video. Your manager can reorder it in RapidEye: see editing the checklist.
3.3Re-record prompts and notes
After you press Done, RapidEye may list items under Needs another look: they were not clearly shown. Press Re-record (for example Re-record 2 missed items) and show each one again on the spot, before you leave; the camera reads Show us again. If you genuinely cannot film an item, tap Can't film this on the camera, or Already done? Tell us why on the list, and pick a reason; if none fits, choose Other and type a short note. If something is missing or broken, use Mark Damage to note it rather than tapping the item done. Finish anyway exists for rare cases.
3.4Steps still to record
If you tap Done while some checklist steps have not been recorded, RapidEye lists them under a heading such as 2 steps still to record. Keep recording takes you back to the camera. Finish without these steps is for a step you genuinely cannot record, such as a locked room; the report marks those steps as not recorded, so your manager sees them.
4Talking
4.1Talking while you record
You can talk during the video. Anything you say is transcribed and attached to the report with a timestamp, so a reviewer can jump to that moment. Talking is optional; a routine cleaning video needs no narration. It is most useful for inspectors and property managers noting things the camera cannot show on its own: bulbs that should be a different color, a room the wifi does not reach, a loose cabinet door that needs a vendor. Speak normally, facing the thing you are describing. Background conversation and phone calls are transcribed too, so keep it to notes.
5Training
5.1The three things to drill
Turn slowly and keep the phone up (fixes blur and floor footage). Open everything (the most common reason a checklist item comes back as not shown). Show it, then tap it (the checklist only works in that order). New team member? Have them watch one good video from a teammate, record their first on a property you know well, and review it together in RapidEye. One round is usually enough.
5.2Mistakes we see most
In order: videos under three minutes for a full home, spinning the phone in doorways, tapping checklist items in a batch at the end, and closing the browser mid-upload. Each one is visible in the video itself, so a reviewer can point to the exact moment and coach from it.