Summary

• Use new technology to manage and monitor your properties.
• We recommend specific hardware that we use ourselves.

For your vacation rental property it may be that you live far away from where your guest properties are. Even if you live close by or in the same town, it is inevitable that you will find yourself away from your properties at some point. There are some great technologies available that enable you to manage aspects of your properties remotely using a smartphone app, website or other technology. After using these new tools, you may wonder how you got along without them.

Automated Door Locks

The first technology that has saved a lot of grief and added simplicity and convenience to our guest experience is automated key locks. If you want to be a successful Airbnb host, we highly recommend you have some kind of keyless entry system for the entry door points for your guests. The reason is that guests expect it, particularly Millennials who want convenience and simplicity. Most of our Airbnb guests are new-to-the-area guests who arrive expecting the comfort and familiarity that hotels provide, including automated entry.

There are many choices from low tech to high tech. Here’s some guidelines on what you need to consider for a few different situations. The hardware we will talk about here isn’t smartphone app enabled, it still requires you to setup and manage the access on the hardware itself. At least in the Schlage hardware case, they make additional versions of keylocks that are smartphone app aware.

Fancy Door

If you have a fancy door for your space, you may not want to clutter it up or ruin its look with a keypad or smartphone enabled lock. For some hardware it might not even be possible as this example shows below. In these situations, an external key box can fit the bill. For example, the below Baldwin door hardware has an integrated dead bolt lock and door handle. In this situation a keybox makes a lot of sense.

This Masterlock Keybox is very simple, requires no power and can be hidden away from your door easily. We have used these successfully and have found them to be easy to use and reliable.

For the smartphone enabled version of this keybox, check out Master Lock Lock Box, Bluetooth Wall Mount Key Safe.

Standard Door Hardware

A more typical situation, the dead bolt and door handle are separate, only the dead bolt is lockable. In this situation a keypad deadbolt can fit the bill. A keypad deadbolt lock replacement can be installed in minutes and provide instant keyed access to the door. The keypad products that we recommend and have used frequently are from the Schlage Lock Company. These were highly recommended by a local locksmith who has good customer experiences with them. We have found them to be easy to setup and are also reasonably priced.

If you want an smartphone app enabled version of this deadbolt, select Schlage Sense Smart Deadbolt instead.

Locking Door Handle and Locking Deadbolt

The entry door may have a lockable door handle and lockable deadbolt. In this situation, if you replaced just the deadbolt with a keypad system, your guests can lock themselves out by inadvertently locking the door handle from the inside.

The simple way to prevent this is to install a keypad system for the door handle, and never give out the deadbolt lock key. The deadbolt can then only be locked from the inside only, which will prevent the possibility a lockout. Going back to Schlage, this keypad system below we have used a lot and have found it to be easy to use and reliable.

This particular keypad system is also ideal for doors that are not deadbolt-ed, such as a utility closet or garage.  If you need to provide access to a contractor or other service people, it is as simple as handing out the code. Easy.

Camera System

A surveillance system can provide you some piece of mind about the status of your property, such as weather conditions, condition of the external features of the home as well as an investigative tool for any damage that may have occurred. From our own experience of many years of renting properties, you get a pretty good cross section of issues to deal with. We have had a few damage situations that could have been more easily investigated if cameras were available. Fortunately, these systems are easy to setup, have very good image quality and don’t cost a  lot of money.

Here is a (4) camera Wisenet Camera System that we use:

There are many camera systems out there to buy. The one above has a few important features that made it easy to use and setup:

1. It includes a 1TB hard drive to store your media.
2. The cameras wireless-ly connect to the box (but will likely require an extension power cord for each camera).
3. Very easy setup, just wire the box to your router and the cameras auto-connect. (Emphasize that the box does not connect to WIFI itself, needs to be wired to router).
4. Online access to the cameras using a smartphone app or website.

Smart Thermostat

The Nest Thermostat above is primarily designed for homeowners. However, it has a few features that are very useful for landlords:

1. Remote monitoring capability to track HVAC operation using a smartphone app.
2. Vacation mode that can set minimum temperatures to keep home heated while away.
3. A lockable configuration that prevents guests from going outside set temperature boundaries.