Hello,
This is my first attempt at building a Smart App. I personally use it and like the way it works but I still hope to improve it in the future. Let me know what you think, all advises and opinions are welcome 
AirAccessManager.com is a website combined with a Smartthings smart app that reads your Airbnb calendar and allows you to completely automate the rotation of codes on your smart locks. Guests get unique codes that they can remember effortlessly because they are based on their phone number. It takes 3 minutes to setup and should work with any Smartthings compatible smart lock.
How does it work?
The whole application needs both the Website as well as the Smart App. The website allows you to create Calendars and link them to the locks of your choice. Locks can have multiple calendars in case you own a house where rooms are rented individually. Each calendar can have some custom settings such as check in and check out times.
The Smart App is a service that the website talks to to check the status of the locks and update the codes when needed. See some screenshots of the UI using the Getting started guide on the website.
So, why did I decide to build this? Here is why:
As a guest:
- I have to find the key box, possibly in the dark
- I have to figure out how it works, they are all different and some of them are not smooth to operate
- I have to remember the code and hope that there is actually a key in the box
- I usually have to remember to put the key back when I check out
As a host:
- I have to assist my guests when they struggle with the key box
- I have to make sure that the key has been placed back inside (some people leave with the key)
- I have to worry about people making copies of the key
To provide a better experience to my guests, a year ago, I decided to equip both of my listings with Smart locks. I used Samsung Smartthings with Schlage Connect locks. With that setup, I was able to add and remove codes for my guests from my phone.
Smartlocks are great because they can provide this experience:
- The lock is on the door where you would expect it
- The keypad is backlit and is easy to operate in the dark
- There is no key that the guest can leave with
- Every guest gets its personal easy to remember code
- The guest feels secure knowing that their code is unique to them
To achieve this, I would create a code unique to each guest using their phone number (using the last 4 digits). This became a tedious task that I had to do twice a day; once in the morning to add the code for the checking-in guest and once in the evening to remove the code for the checking out guest. Of course, this was prone to errors with possible typos in the added codes and days where I would forget to add the code…
Since I couldn’t find a good solution to solve that problem, I decided to build one. I made a website, it’s called AirAccessManager.com and it does all that code management for me.
I’ve been using it for a little while now and I’ve spent the last few weekends making it good enough to be shown to the world It’s not very mobile friendly but I’ll work more on this if there is some interest.
You can see a demo video on youtube here - that has some really poor post production to hide sensitive information or checkout the Getting started guide on the website with screenshots.
I would love to find some people who would like to test this out. If you want to try it, PM me or send a message through the feedback form on the website and I’ll add your email so that you can register!
Let me know what you think!
