Connect to Hostaway Smart Locks

Many of you use smart locks to automate the check-in process, saving significant time for each reservation. Before you would have to rely on other software to integrate and manage your smart locks, you can now do it all within Hostaway. This helps you consolidate your work in one space, have fewer subscriptions to different services, and have a more reliable lock connection.

Connecting to Smart Locks

1. Go to "Smart Locks" in the main menu
   
   
   
   

2. If needed, check if your device is supported by pressing the "Supported devices" button

3. Click on "Connect"
   
   
   
   
4. A popup with the payment conditions appears you should accept to proceed
5. Now the page is redirected to the Connect Webview, where a lock provider needs to be selected
   
   
   
   

6. Enter the lock provider account username and password to authorize the connection

7. The page is redirected to the listing mapping tab, where the devices can be mapped to listings
   
   
   
   

8. To connect to another provider, or another account of the same lock provider, press the "Add device brand" button under the three-dot menu

Nuki requires hosts to pay them a subscription fee for their locks to be connected. Hosts must first set up the subscription in Nuki before being able to connect their devices. It’s important to note that the Nuki subscription is tied to a specific device and not the user’s account.
For the lock codes to be compatible with Nuki, it's necessary to have the keypad accessory linked to the lock, otherwise, the codes will return a compatibility error and will not work.

Mapping listings and devices

1. In the listings mapping tab, there is a list of all the listings in the account, with a multi-select dropdown next to it

2. A listing can have multiple devices mapped to it. In this case, the same code will apply to all mapped devices

3. A device can be mapped to multiple listings. In this case, reservations from each of these listings will create codes on that device

4. For each listing, a code validity can be set. You can decide how long before check-in time and after check-out time the code will be active to allow some flexibility to guests who arrive early or depart late. The validity is set in minutes

   • You can create time-bound offline access codes with validity durations at either the hour or day levels

   • Some device manufacturers enforce a maximum duration for hourly-bound offline access codes. For example, igloohome enforces the following duration rules for hourly- and daily-bound offline access codes:

     	Code Type	Duration Rule
     igloohome	Hourly-bound codes	1 to 672 hours (28 days)
     igloohome	Daily-bound codes	29 to 367 days

      

5. If we detect that your account has a device that supports it, you will see a button to enable the creation of offline codes

6. Please pay attention to the following limitations for offline codes

7. From here you can also enable the use of the guest’s phone number’s last digits as the base of the access code. Regarding this feature:
   • This setting is shared with the same value in the listing settings page
   • If your devices don’t support setting custom code values, the feature will be shown as "Unavailable"
   • Some brands do not support having repeated digits on the code, so if the last 4 digits of the phone number include repeated numbers the sequence will not be valid and a random code will be assigned.
8. For faster setup, you can use the "Bulk edit" functionality:

Code management

1. By pressing the "Save and sync" button codes will be generated for all "new" and "modified" reservations, as well as "owner stays" with check-in date in the future (today + 1 day)

   • If the reservation already has a code, we will keep the same code, and sync it with the lock

   • If the reservation doesn’t have a code, we will create one and sync it with the lock

   • If the reservation had a code and it was deleted, we will not generate a code for it

   • The valid from/to setting changes will be applied to both current & future access codes

   • The phone-based codes will only be created for newly created reservations

   • If your locks work with offline codes, you must enable the functionality from the listing mapping tab

   • You must click on the "Save and sync" button for any changes you made to the following settings to take effect:

     • Mapping a device to a listing

     • Code valid from/to times

     • Phone number-based code generation
       
       

       
       
       

2. Hostaway automatically generates a door code and populates it on the lock whenever a new reservation comes in. The code appears on the reservation page in the "door code" field and can be used in message automation.

   • Some locks do not support setting the code in advance. In this case, we will program the code on the lock at the validity time set by you. You can check the list of supported devices in your Hostaway Dashboard > Smart Locks > Supported devices tab

Highlights

1. The code is valid, which means it can be used to open the lock, between the validity times set in the smart locks page

2. Manually changing the code on the reservation page automatically updates it on the lock

3. Changing the dates/check-in/out times of the reservation automatically updates the validity of the lock

4. Canceling the reservation revokes access to the lock

5. Changing the code in the lock provider account dashboard or on the lock itself (if possible) does NOT update it on Hostaway

6. When it comes to using the last four digits of the guest's phone number:

   • If your devices have limitations on certain digits we will create a random code instead

   • If your devices have limitations on having codes with the same value within a short time, we will create a random code instead

7. If the automatic generation of codes is turned on in the listing settings (listing > additional info) and Smart Locks is connected to the listing, the Smart Locks code will prevail. The default door code that is set on the listing will never update on the lock, and will only be used in message automation when the reservation doesn’t have a door code

8. Permanent (ongoing) codes can be created per device, by going to the "Devices" tab, pressing the device > access codes > pressing the "+" sign Walkthrough video for managing permanent codes

   • Each code can have a name

   • The code can be entered manually or generated automatically

   • The codes can also have limited validity if needed

   • The codes can be edited or removed at any time

   • This allows for creating access codes for staff (like cleaners and maintenance)

   • It can also be used to create backup codes - in case the guest code doesn’t work, provide the backup code to the guest and replace it manually after the reservation

Device management

1. The Devices tab shows all devices that are mapped to at least one listing, their status, battery level, and whether they are locked or unlocked
   
   
   
   

2. Pressing on a device shows more details, such as the number of codes programmed and the required code length

   • The lock can be immediately locked/unlocked from the Hostaway dashboard by pressing the lock/unlock button on this page

   
   
   
   

3. Pressing on the access codes button shows a list of all the access codes programmed on the lock

   • From this page, codes can be deleted or copied
     
     

4. By clicking on an access code, more details are shown - the code ID, start & end times, and creation time.
   • The code can also be deleted from this page
   • The lock can also be locked/unlocked