smart locks and the auto lock feature

[Keleigh3]

hello,

we are starting our first Short term rental with airbnb. We want to use a keyless smartlock for many reasons. One thought we have is with the auto lock feature. We are in an area where it is always a good idea to lock the doors, all times of the day. Our first thought was to get a lock with the auto lock feature where after the door is opened, it will automatically lock after a set amount of time regardless of someone being in the house or not. This seems like a great idea, but we thought about possible bad scenarios, such as: a guest being outside on the patio (while their phone is inside) and the door locking and they forget the passcode and cannot get back in/ or even worse if they had a child inside and were locked out. I know I could use the digits of their phone number and such for the code, but crazy things happen , people are forgetful , and I'm concerned about the liability of accidental lock outs. Does anyone have thoughts on this? Thank you for any insight.

Keleigh & John 

[Elizabeth2643]

I had the same concern, ours auto locks and we aren’t able to disable this feature. my property manager told us it does happen (guests getting locked out), so we are replacing it. For now we put very clear instructions in our check in email notifying them it will lock automatically. We don’t change the code each time but I was also told, as you mentioned, guests are forgetful and this doesn’t always work!  

[Michael6833]

I use a Lockly digital lock.  I change the code for each guest with validity periods.  I set the code to the guest phone number.    Most guests only use the lock to gain initial angry as it’s a rural setting and leaving doors unlocked is the standard.   What I like about the lockly set up is a I can control everything remotely with the lockly app