[RELEASE] Rental Lock Automater - Airbnb, VRBO, HomeAway, TripAdvisor, Booking, Expedia

Rental Lock Automater - Version 01.01.00

  • Optional update related to VRBO/Homewaway website security changes, fixes ST issues with downloading schedule updates for VRBO/Homeaway

EDIT: This update is now optional, ST has patched the issue internally so existing versions of the app should continue to work.

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Works great! Thanks!

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Thank you all for your feedback and requests, we pleased to finally release our enhanced RLA:

Rental Lock Automater (RLA) - Version 02.00.06

  • Introducing Multi Rental Units, now you can configure up to 8 properties per installation
  • Share common locks between properties (e.g. building entrance), select the locks for each property
  • Customize the check in and out dates/times for individual users
  • Automatically detect reservation/booking changes and notify you
  • Use colored icons to show user programming state (grey -> inactive, blue -> active, yellow -> pending, red -> error)
  • Include the property name in your custom SMS message using the tag <property>
  • Download updates from AirBnB/VRBO/HomeAway every 30 minutes using https (secure)
  • Improved performance and notifications

@rherman @Matthew_Green @Robert_Allen1

Will this allow me to set my door lock with the airbnb guests last 4 digits of their number based on the reservation?

Yes, you can set the number of digits to use for the codes (4 to 8) and it will use that many digits from the guests reservation phone number as their code. See the FAQ’s page for more details.

Furthermore, if you’re using the Universal Enhanced Z-Wave Lock device handler for your locks, it’s intelligent enough to even check your current lock settings and prompt you to select the code length based on what your lock is configured to use.
e.g.

  • If your lock reports 4, it’ll use 4 (e.g. Schlage FE599)
  • If your lock allows 4 to 8 digits (e.g. Yale), then you can set it to any number between 4 to 8

If you’re using multiple locks of different brands/models, it’ll choose/prompt for a code length that’s common to all the locks (in the above example it’ll allow you to pick only 4). If it finds that your locks don’t have a common code length (e.g. one is set to 4 and other to 6) it’ll prompt you to ensure that your locks are configured to use same code length.

First, I want to offer a big THANK YOU for this amazing product. It has made my life as an AirBnB host so much easier. I honestly think this has been the biggest improvement to my workflow ever.

Second, I would like to offer a potential enhancement for consideration in an upcoming release. It would be great to be able to take actions when a lock code becomes active and another when a lock code becomes inactive.

Use Case. I have a “routine” called Guests that sets a series of lights to come on when we have AirBnB guests staying with us. I have another “routine” called No Guests that activates a different lights routine when no AirBnB guests are present. Today I have to run the routine manually when guests are scheduled to arrive and leave. I would like to have the Guests routine activate when guests are scheduled to arrive and the No Guests activate when a guest’s reservation is over. Today the Rental Lock Automator will run a routine when someone opens a lock but it does not differentiate between the people who live in the house and AirBnB guests.

Desired Change. In the Rental Lock Automater app, in the Manage Property area, in the Option and Notifications section add the ability to take an action (i.e. run a Smarthings Routine) when an automatically programmed code becomes active and becomes unactive.

What do you think?

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Well that idea got no traction.

Is there any chance Booking.com and TripAdvisor calendars could be added in?

Thank you all for your suggestions. @11seashell11 we do have internal support for booking.com however the reservation calendar from booking.com is missing the name of the renter, so while it can automatically schedule the renter, instead of a name you end up with a booking id in the app.
You can send in a request to booking.com to add the name of the renter to the reservations calendars and once it’s implemented we can enable this feature officially.

Would you be able to integrate it with any other PMS systems if they provide iCal information, call back URL, or API?

It can work with systems that provide iCal links. If the iCalendars are in AirBnB, VRBO or HomeAway formats it’ll work out of the box. If there are custom formats feel free to send us an eMail and we can look at adding support for them.

We have another product coming out soon which will allow for custom integrations using standard REST API’s.

Excellent, and thank you. When do you expect the other application to come up? I bought the $30 app and not sure if it is the right app or is the commercial app the correct one?

Im using the feature “Notify if door has been left open”. Via your SmartApp, is it possible to make the lock’s alarm sound/trigger/activate, as well as send me a push message? If I cant make the lock’s Alarm sound, is it possible to have any other audible sound?

@Jotham the app that allows for custom REST API integration is now available. See this topic for details
[RELEASE] Lock Manager API - Control your locks and manage users remotely

@bonaventurepm I’m assuming you’re using the Schlage BE469 lock with the built in alarm. If so this lock doesn’t allow external triggering of the alarm. If you have a “chime” device you can configure the app to ring the chime every time the door is opened and it’ll send you a push notification if the door is left open for a certain period of time.

Thank you. Yes, I have Schlage BE469 lock with the built in alarm. Just to confirm, the only notification one can get if the door is open for a certain period of time is the push notification? Am seeking option or idea to also alert tenant, to have them close the door.

Couple of options that come to mind are:

  1. Alarm - this would be very loud and it may not be appropriate
  2. Chime - these device are hard to find, but if you do find one it should be easy to setup it up to chime when the door has been left open. However a couple of things you may want to think about, does it chime once or keeps chiming? If it keeps chiming the renters would likely contact you to find out why it’s chiming and to consider the experience.
  3. You can invest in a Sonos ($1K+?) which has audio notifications that can be integrated with ST and it can say out loud over the speakers that the door X has been left open

Where can you see the log of what is happening? Since the simulator is not working. I just changed the phone number of a guest to my number but I never received the text message.

Also, seems like the dstart and dtend messages to me are opposite of what is registered for the user. The app sends me a message saying start is 9/21 and end date is 9/25 but registers the guest with a start date of 9/25 and end date of 9/21.

Can I get any help on these issues please.

Jotham, @maddie has responded to your email.

Please note that the app currently only works directly with AirBnB, VRBO and HomeAway calendars. It does not support custom calendars and any reverse engineering is not supported. Once the custom calendar integration feature is ready we will release it along with the documentation on how to create custom calendars.

If you have any questions regarding your AirBnB integration please feel free to email our support desk.

Hi, I am located in Europe and currently manage 45 airbnb properties. In order streamline the check-in/out process and further improve my customer service, I am thinking of installing smart locks to all of our properties. My question is twofold:

  1. My model of choice is Yale ENTR. Is this compatible with your software platform?
  2. I read that you currently support up to 8 properties but will increase the number in future software iterations. Do you have an estimate on that?

The app works with any lock with a full keypad (0-9) and a z-wave/ZigBee module so it can connect to SmartThings.

To answer your questions:

  1. The Yale ENTR Lock doesn’t have a full keypad. It only has numbers 1-5 so it may not accept codes generated by the app which are based on the renters phone numbers/dates. A more suitable choice would be the Yale Doorman Lock with the Z-Wave module.
  2. Each installed instance of the app can manage 8 unit calendars (each unit has its own AirBnB, VRBO/HomeAway and soon Booking.com calendars). While it can support more units (we have tested up to 20), we have have not come across any setup with more than 8 units connected to a single hub given the range of a single hub. I’m assuming the 45 properties aren’t all connected to a single hub. If so, then each hub would require a separate installation/license and each installation can support 8 unit calendars (no limits on the number of locks per unit). Feel free to email us if you have more than 8 units on a single hub or if you need more details about the setup.