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

It is recommended to add a buffering device close to your lock for the best performance.

Rental Lock Automater (RLA) - Version 03.02.08

  • Now you can schedule check-in/out actions with up to 24 hours offsets for each property
  • Patch for setting number of unlock notifications for automatic users from the Manage Property page, now you can also manually override the number of unlock notifications for each automatic user
  • Better support for handling server iCalendar redirects

NOTES

  • For safety, if the upcoming renters check-in action is scheduled to run before a current renters check-out action, the app will notify you and skip the check-out action
    • Check in/out actions should be run between the check out and check in times. While the offset allows flexibility for running actions outside these times, please ensure that you take this into consideration while designing your custom actions
  • When the app is opened and saved, the number of notifications for each user is reset

More details about RLA can be found in the first post of this topic and on the RLA FAQ page.

Hello, I currently love your rental lock automation feature. My question is, what if we are using a property management software and channel manager where everything is done under our system and then we tap into all of these channels like HomeAway and etc. Are we able to integrate our software with this instead of just the booking platforms like airbnb and etc?

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Hi there. RLA doesn’t interact with channel managers at this time. It directly connects to the host platforms calendars like AirBnB, HomeAway, Vrbo, TripAdvisor, Booking etc. RLA requires access to your property iCalendar from the host platform to retrieve the reservation information. You can find more details on the RLA FAQ page.

A write up on using keypads outdoors:

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You and me both Matt.

RLA is brilliant but getting integtration outside of iCal is a pain.

My PMS company has zero interest in opening up their calendar to iCal and demand the use of their clunky API.

RIght now, if you’re an AirBNB guest then you’re good with a slick experience. Anything else then I have to intervene

Well, looks like Airbnb is changing what data will be in the iCal reservations. Now it’s just the last 4# of the guest phone number and a link to the reservation.

This means that RLA will no longer be able to send text messages to Airbnb guests!

I’m guessing that this will require an RLA update and this means that RLA won’t be able to show the guest name (or send notifications that /Specific Name/ unlocked the door).

I just got this in as well. This is terrible. I rely on RLA! Maybe there is a way to use the API instead of the iCal feed. I only hope so.

Hey there. Yes we’ve been made aware of the upcoming changes from AirBnB. We are in touch with AirBnB and will update RLA to comply with their changes. RLA will continue to use the last 4 digits of the phone number to generate and program user codes. However without the full number the hosts will need to message the users (like VRBO, HomeAway, TripAdvisor and Booking).

As AirBnB hosts, if you would like to continue using the SMS feature please feel free to contact AirBnB and let them know your thoughts and suggestions.

Last year many of our users contacted TripAdvisor and Booking to share their feedback such as adding the guests names to the iCalendar reservations which was subsequently incorporated by them and RLA was updated to utilize that additional information.

The rest of the features should continue to work without any issues.

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Thanks for his Maddie. Is there any chance you guys can move the using the AirBnB API instead of the iCal URL? Is that even an option.

I have contacted AirBnB about this as you suggests.

The big issue with that is that Airbnb is not issuing new clientId/secrets for oAuth, which means you have to capture airbnb logins & passwords - very insecure, and you have to figure out how to handle 2FA. Lots of third party airbnb tools have reverted to this, but doing it inside a SmartApp is probably not possible. They would probably have to host a web service which would get your access token and paste that into the smartapp. Pretty ugly.

Will the code generator via check-in and checkout dates continue to work?

Please note that SmartThings has made some changes to their SMS service effective 25th Sept 2019. SMS will now only be sent to US numbers and users will need to Opt-In to continue receiving messages from SmartThings. More details on this topic: Changes to SMS Service

Does this change mean that every one of our scheduled guests must opt-in to Smartthings SMS before receiving an SMS from the rental lock automater app?

Theoretically it should, as those dates will still be available via the ical feed.

@RBoy What exactly is going on here with all these events on my locks?

Looks like you have a option enabled in the app (auto relock/door sensor?) which is being triggered to send a lock command to your lock. Check your door sensor if installed (a faulty signal from sensors can trigger the relock action) or from the lock status (if you’re using a timed auto relock) disable the auto relock option in the app under Door Open/Close Actions.

So, my guests suddenly haven’t been getting the automated texts (which was working flawlessly until the past few days). I’m assuming that’s because of the new SmartThings opt-in policy mentioned above?

Are there any work-arounds? Will I need to send a message to every guest asking them to send the opt-in text so they can receive the “automated” message? I guess at this point I might as well just scrap the automated text and send them the info via the Airbnb app and call it good.

yup that was it

@RBoy just saw the new release note:

  • 2019-10-02 - (v03.02.12) Disable SMS due to ST stopping international SMS and AirBnB upcoming calendar changes

Was SMS disabled for Vrbo to US phone numbers too?

I just bought this lock (910) 2 days ago, hooked everything up and bought the rental app today. How often the issue arise ? Should I send it back to Amazon and buy a different lock ? Can I just enter in the code manually and still use the rest of the rental app lock managment