How to Automate Airbnb Door Codes: With a PMS, Without One, and What Happens After You Connect

There are two ways most Airbnb hosts handle door codes, and both are work. One is texting a code to each guest by hand, programming it into the lock, and remembering to remove it afterward. The other is one static code every guest gets, which means every ex-guest still has it. To automate Airbnb door codes properly, the code should come from the booking, land on the lock on a schedule, and leave at checkout without you touching anything. This post covers what Airbnb offers natively, the two ways to do it with GuestsKey (with a PMS or without one), and what happens after you connect. We host too, so the "when you don't need us" section is not a formality.

What Airbnb's own feature covers

Airbnb has a built-in connected smart lock feature, and for one kind of host it is a real answer. Describing it only from Airbnb's own help pages:

• The compatible locks are the Schlage Encode Plus Smart WiFi Deadbolt, Schlage Encode Smart WiFi Lever, and Schlage Encode Smart WiFi Deadbolt; August Wi-Fi models with a keypad accessory; and Yale Assure Lock and Yale Approach models with Wi-Fi.
• "The smart lock feature is only available for listings located in the US and Canada," unless you connect through a property management system.
• "Eligible hosts can connect one compatible smart lock per listing to Airbnb."
• The code is shared with the guest as soon as the booking is confirmed, "activates at the check-in time," and by default stays live for 30 minutes after checkout, adjustable from 15 minutes to 2 hours. Changing the reservation's check-in or checkout times updates the code automatically.
• For a listing that runs through a property management system, Airbnb's help page says that if your PMS already provides a smart lock integration, you may be able to opt in to send those codes to Airbnb. On that path the automation comes from the PMS side, not from Airbnb.

The rest of this post is for everyone that profile leaves out: hosts outside the US and Canada, a lock that isn't on Airbnb's list, a Z-Wave lock on a SmartThings hub, two listings that share one front door, a cleaner who needs an always-on PIN, or bookings that live in OwnerRez, Hospitable, or Lodgify.

Path A: Airbnb only, no PMS

If you manage listings straight from the Airbnb app and don't pay for a property management system, GuestsKey connects to Airbnb through Hospitable Connect, which is free and doesn't require a paid Hospitable subscription. It's Airbnb-only by design: every listing and reservation that comes through Connect is an Airbnb one.

Setup is a one-time step: in GuestsKey onboarding choose Connect Airbnb, authorize on Hospitable's own page, sign in to Airbnb there and approve, and you're returned to GuestsKey. Listings and reservations are pushed over shortly after, including reservations from roughly the last month, so GuestsKey knows about your current guests.

The click-by-click, including how to map each property to its lock, is in how to connect an Airbnb property to GuestsKey and the connect Airbnb for free help article. If you already pay for Hospitable, don't use Connect; connect your Hospitable account instead, because it syncs more.

Path B: Airbnb through a PMS

If your Airbnb bookings live in OwnerRez, Hospitable, or Lodgify, you connect the PMS, not Airbnb. An Airbnb booking inside a PMS is just a booking to us: OwnerRez, for instance, sends the booking channel (Airbnb, Vrbo, direct) along with the reservation, and the code is derived the same way whichever channel it came from.

• OwnerRez. GuestsKey is an official OwnerRez partner, listed in OwnerRez's Door Locks integrations directory. You need webhooks enabled for booking events, guest contact sharing, and API access (OAuth, which we recommend, or a Personal Access Token). Details in connecting OwnerRez.
• Hospitable. A Hospitable account on any plan, connected via OAuth. Reservations sync automatically via webhooks. Details in connecting Hospitable.
• Lodgify. A Lodgify account with API access, an API key from Lodgify settings, and your properties published in Lodgify. Bookings from all channels connected to Lodgify sync automatically, and webhooks keep codes in step with changes and cancellations. Details in connecting Lodgify.

If you're choosing between the first two, OwnerRez vs Hospitable for lock automation is the sibling post.

What happens after you connect

On either path, once a property is mapped to its lock and guest automation is on, each booking goes through the same sequence:

1. The booking arrives. New reservation, date change, or cancellation, it comes in automatically.
2. The code is derived. By default it's the last 4 digits of the phone number on the booking; you can switch a property to random codes instead. If two bookings would collide on a lock, the code is extended one phone digit at a time (up to 7), within the lengths the lock accepts; if nothing unique is possible, GuestsKey falls back to the original code and alerts you. One PIN per booking, on every automated lock of the property. The full rules are in how guest codes work.
3. It's scheduled in the property's local timezone. Check-in and checkout are computed where the property is, not where you happen to be.
4. It activates 10 minutes before check-in. That's the default lead time, configurable from 0 to 180 minutes per property. See code timing.
5. The guest portal link goes out when the lock confirms the code. Not when the booking is created, and only if the portal is enabled for that property and your notification settings allow guest messages. The link carries the door code, WiFi, check-in instructions, house rules, directions and an emergency contact; no app, no login. It withholds the code until it activates and shows the guest when that will be. It's configured per property under the Automation tab in the Guest Portal card; see guest portal.
6. It stops at checkout. Zero minutes of grace by default, also configurable from 0 to 180 minutes per property. The portal link stops working two hours after checkout.
7. Changes follow. A date or property change cancels the old scheduled code, re-checks eligibility, and schedules a new one (or revokes it if the booking is no longer eligible). A cancellation cancels the code with it. No manual step.

A few things sit on top of the guest code on either path. Cleaner access is one PIN per cleaner, always on across every lock in the account; add a lock or a cleaner and it fans out, and each cleaner gets a phone-friendly portal link by text, managed under Cleaners in the sidebar. One-time keys cover vendor or delivery access for a single window and expire on their own. Emergency backup codes are opt-in per property and off by default; when on, a lock health check runs 15 minutes before check-in and a code check 5 minutes before, and on failure the guest is emailed a backup code and you're notified.

One more, on what Airbnb's own pages phrase as "one compatible smart lock per listing": GuestsKey can map more than one property to the same lock, and if the same guest (same phone) books both units for the same stay, the code is generated once and lives on the shared door for the combined stay.

The Airbnb-specific gotchas

The lock side

Whichever path you use, the lock connection is the same. Wi-Fi locks connect through Seam using the manufacturer's own account and a 2.4 GHz network, no hub. Z-Wave locks connect through a SmartThings hub (v2, v3, or Aeotec). The model decides the path, not the brand: Schlage, Yale, Kwikset and August all make both kinds. The current list is on the supported locks page. Before your first real guest, generate a code for a test booking and try it on the door.

Pricing is per connected lock, from $4 (SmartThings) or $5 (Seam) per lock per month for the first 10, dropping as you add locks; every account gets every feature. The breakdown is on the pricing page. Hospitable Connect itself costs nothing.

What isn't covered, and who should skip us

• Vrbo or Booking.com direct bookings don't flow through Hospitable Connect. To automate those, sync them through OwnerRez, Hospitable, or Lodgify.
• Other property management systems aren't supported booking sources. If your bookings live somewhere other than OwnerRez, Hospitable, Lodgify, or Airbnb itself, we're not the right tool.
• The simple US/Canada profile described at the top: one listing, one Wi-Fi lock from Airbnb's list, no PMS, no cleaner code. Airbnb's own feature is enough.

For everyone else, the code comes from the booking, goes live on the lock 10 minutes before check-in, reaches the guest when the lock confirms it, and leaves at checkout.