Self Check-In for Vacation Rentals: How Smart Locks Can Help

Type “most searched amenities by Airbnb guests” into Google. Here is what you will find:

Unsurprisingly, self check-in and therefore self check-out are in the TOP 10 most searched amenities by travelers, after Wi-Fi, free parking, pool/hot tub, air conditioning, and washer. Some travelers are even willing to pay more per night or an extra fee to have access to this very useful service.

The Benefits of Self Check-In

• Reduced effort to manage your property: with autonomous arrivals and departures, you no longer need to worry about guest arrival times to hand over keys or open the door. This saves you time and allows you to focus on other aspects of your business or personal life.
• Enhanced guest experience: travelers appreciate the flexibility, smoothness, and simplicity of automated entry and exit management. They can arrive and leave at their convenience without having to schedule an appointment or call the owner for a key exchange. Guests often request late arrival because their arrival time may depend on train or flight schedules or traffic encountered on their journey.
• Flexibility for guests who want to arrive at different times: with automated arrival and departure management, guests can arrive at times that suit them, even if these do not correspond to the property owner’s or concierge service’s regular working hours.

3 Solutions for Autonomous Arrival and Departure

If you are launching a vacation rental today without an automated entry and exit system, you are shooting yourself in the foot! For example, in my host reviews, the 100% autonomous check-in is always in the TOP 3 of the most appreciated features of the property!

But how do you add a self check-in service to your Airbnb? Here are 3 solutions:

• Concierge service: this solution involves paying someone to handle guest reception and key handover. However, this can be costly and impractical, especially for small properties or owners who do not have much time.
• Key lockbox: these boxes allow you to store keys securely and hand them to guests automatically. However, they can be less secure and not very attractive-looking, which can be an issue for owners who want to offer a high-quality experience to their guests. Another risk: the traveler (or cleaning staff) must remember to put the keys back in the lockbox at the end of their stay and close it properly. Which is not always straightforward!

Hardware stores like Leroy Merlin have a dedicated section for secure coded key lockboxes. They can be wall-mounted or attached to a post, stair railing, gate, or door handle.

• Smart locks: for me, this is a MUST HAVE. These connected locks allow you to manage arrivals and departures automatically using a mobile app or keypad. They are particularly popular among Airbnb owners because they offer great flexibility and enhanced security.

Smart Locks for Your Airbnb Rental

There is a huge selection of smart locks available today. Personally, I chose the Nuki brand smart lock.

The big advantage of this lock is that it is installed inside the property and therefore not visible from the outside. But then how do you open the door? There are several solutions: via a mobile app, a small keypad that you can install outside, a badge, or even a fingerprint scanner. All these systems allow you to activate the smart lock.

Another important thing to know: since these locks are connected to the internet, you can also activate them yourself remotely via the mobile app.

Good to know: smart locks can be installed on most existing door locks, meaning you do not need to replace your current lock.

Personally, I chose the keypad option installed outside my Airbnb. This way, I send the autonomous check-in instructions to my guests 24 hours before their expected arrival time and share the smart lock code (which I change remotely after each guest, of course!).

Interested in this topic of autonomous Airbnb check-in using smart locks? Want even more details on the technical connections needed for automated entry and exit? I invite you to watch my dedicated video:

What to do when the smart lock fails and the guest is locked out

Even a reliable lock can fail: flat batteries, a keypad that lost its connection, a code that never reached the lock. When a guest is stuck outside at 4 am, speed matters more than the cause.

1. Answer at once, by phone if you can. Ask what the keypad shows (no light, an error, a refused code) and check that the guest is at the right door with the code for this stay.
2. Try to open remotely from the lock’s app, if the lock is still online.
3. Switch to your backup: a key box with its own code, which does not depend on the smart lock, or someone nearby with a spare key.
4. If nothing works quickly, find them a bed for the night, a nearby hotel at your expense rather than a long wait on the doorstep, and fix the lock in daylight.

The backup to set up before it happens

• A physical key in a key box with its own code, installed on private property and checked after each cleaning, plus a contact nearby (cleaner, neighbor) who can bring a spare key.
• Batteries: check the level in the lock’s app before each arrival, replace them at the first warning rather than when they die, and keep spares on site.
• Offline behavior: find out what your lock does without Wi-Fi or when its bridge is down (which codes still work, whether a mechanical key can override it), and make sure each guest’s code reaches the lock well before arrival.
• Night-time instructions in your check-in message and guide: who to call and where the backup is. Our guide to night-time guest emergencies covers the rest of the plan.

How much to compensate, and what Airbnb’s policy says

There is no standard amount: offer a gesture proportionate to the disruption, from an apology with a small extra to a refund of the night affected, and put any refund through the booking platform so it is on record. Under Airbnb’s Rebooking and Refund Policy, a host who fails to provide the guest access to the accommodations is a Reservation Issue: the guest must first contact you and try to resolve it with you, must report it within 72 hours of discovering it, and Airbnb can then give a full or partial refund or help the guest find a similar place. Your payout is reduced by the amount refunded. Getting the guest in quickly, and making your own offer, keeps the decision in your hands. For the wording and the amount, see how to handle refund requests without losing your margin.

Two doors, an opening link and arrival detection

Many rentals have two doors: the building entrance and the apartment. In Nowistay, a property can have up to two doors, even from different brands, each with its own name (for example “Building entrance”). For each door, you choose a keypad code, an opening link, or both:

• Keypad codes are generated for each booking 1 to 14 days before arrival (5 by default), valid from the arrival time to the departure time with the margin you set, and sent through your automatic messages.
• The opening link gives each booking one personal page with a button per door: the guest confirms and the door opens, only during their stay. It suits a building door without a keypad.
• Arrival detection: the first time the guest opens a door with the booking’s own code or link, Nowistay records the arrival time, which your automatic messages can also use as a condition. An opening with your own code, a cleaner’s code or a key never counts as the guest’s arrival. The Guest checked in notification, off by default, alerts you.
• If a code keeps failing, Nowistay retries and emails you after 18:00 the day before arrival, so you can fix it before the guest is at the door. From your property list, Open property lets you open a compatible door remotely at any time.

Nuki, igloohome, TTLock, Tedee and Homeit are included in the subscription. Yale, Schlage, August and KeyNest (a key locker: the guest collects a physical key with a code) are a paid option at EUR 5 (USD 6) per lock per month. Remote opening and arrival detection depend on the device: TTLock needs a gateway, igloohome a Bridge, and KeyNest provides collection codes only. For the code workflow itself, see how to auto-generate, deliver and expire smart lock codes.

Using a Nuki lock? Follow these instructions to connect it to Nowistay and configure guest access: How to Connect a Nuki Smart Lock.

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