Smart solutions for your Airbnb properties
In our recent blog post, we let you know that we would be bringing you great examples of how iLOQ is taking center stage in today’s smart cities. Every day, our portfolio of digital services and software solutions are benefitting our homes and businesses. Here’s a great example of how we can make properties owned by Airbnb hosts more secure, and the day-to-day business of giving their guests access smarter and easier.
Airbnb is an online marketplace that connects people who want to rent out their homes with people looking for a more local and cheaper alternative to hotel accommodation. The company has come a long way since 2007, when its co-founders first came up with the idea to invite paying guests to sleep on an air mattress in their living room. According to data from the end of 2023, it now has more than 7 million listings, in around 100,000 cities and towns in 220-plus countries and regions worldwide.
It’s a convenient solution for the guests. But, for the hosts renting out their properties, finding a quick and easy way to get keys to guests and, more importantly, getting them back at the end of the rental period, can be problematic.
What happens if you are not available to hand over the key in person? How annoying is it to get out of bed to go and deliver the key if your guests arrive in the middle of the night? And what about security risks? How can you make sure your guests don’t make a copy of the key and pass it on to someone else? What happens if they lose your key? And, when they are leaving, can you really rely on them to leave the key in an agreed place if you are not available to pick it up in person?
Sleep tight with iLOQ!
If you’re lucky enough to be living in a property that is secured by iLOQ’s smart locks, all those issues are irrelevant, and you can continue to enjoy a good night’s sleep!
People all over the world, from Australia to the USA, are quickly realizing the benefits of iLOQ’s solutions. The locking cylinders themselves can be quickly retrofitted into any property with no changes to the door or the infrastructure needed. All iLOQ’s solutions are battery-free meaning that you have all the intelligent benefits of having an electromechanical lock on your door, but there is no need to pay for batteries or the maintenance to change them. And you never need to worry about not being able to get access if the battery runs out.
When it comes to the keys, iLOQ has two smart solutions: digital-key-based and smartphone-key-based. And, once again, both are battery-free. The power needed to open a lock with the digital solution comes from the kinetic energy of pushing the key into the lock. With the smartphone solution, the power comes from the smartphone itself.
Smart and secure access
iLOQ’s digital keys are all identical and cannot be copied. Access rights for your property can be programmed to the key in advance for a specific time, for example, the rental period during which the guest will be living in your property. You can hand over the key yourself, give it to someone else if you are not going to be available (for example, a friend, neighbor or cleaner), or agree a safe place to leave it, (for example, a lockbox). If that key is lost, stolen or simply unreturned at the end of the rental period, it can be quickly blocked remotely and in real time rendering it useless if someone tries to use it.
Audit trails are an additional feature that allow you to keep track of when your key has been used preventing or helping to solve instances of misuse. For even more convenience, and to completely eliminate any risks associated with physical keys, iLOQ also has a smartphone solution. Hosts send guests a ‘phone key’ remotely and in real time to iLOQ’s app which can be easily downloaded to a guest’s smartphone. To get access, the guest opens the app, holds their phone against the lock and presses ‘Open’. At the end of the rental period, the mobile key is simply ‘deactivated’. No worries about key handovers, and no concerns about unauthorized access. Just a smooth, smart, secure and sustainable transaction.
