OwnerRez vs Hospitable for Smart Lock Automation: What Each Does Natively, and Where GuestsKey Fits

If you're weighing OwnerRez vs Hospitable smart lock automation, this post compares the two on smart-lock automation only, not messaging, channel management, overall pricing, or support. Both ship a native lock feature, both work with GuestsKey, and we are an official partner of both, so the aim is to describe each accurately and say when it's enough.

The two native features at a glance

OwnerRez: what the native feature does

Everything here comes from OwnerRez's own support articles as of August 2026.

OwnerRez's Costs and Fees page prices three OwnerRez-powered integrations at $4 per lock per month: Schlage, igloohome, and Hubitat. Its Door Locks directory lists a dozen more systems, from Brivo and PointCentral to RemoteLock, Jervis Systems, and GuestsKey; only those three are priced by OwnerRez per lock.

The three are not interchangeable:

• Schlage covers the Wi-Fi Encode family (Encode, Encode Deadbolt, Encode Lever, Encode Plus); Arrive, Connect, and Sense are not supported. Per OwnerRez's Schlage article, codes are 4 to 8 digits on current firmware, and every code on the lock must be the same length, set by the first code entered.
• igloohome works offline by default with an algorithmic PIN: 7 to 9 digits, hour-rounded windows, first use within 24 hours of the start, and no choosing the code or deriving it from the guest's phone. With igloohome's Wi-Fi Bridge you get custom, phone-based, or random codes of 4 to 6 digits while the bridge is online and in Bluetooth range.
• Hubitat is not a lock brand but a Zigbee and Z-Wave hub, which OwnerRez says is "only recommended to users who are comfortable with such technology." You need a Hubitat Elevation C-7 or newer, Hubitat's Remote Admin subscription ($3 a month or $30 a year), and OwnerRez's app on the hub, which must be online at check-in time. Supported locks include Yale Assure models, Kwikset 910, 912, and 914 over Z-Wave (and the 916 over Zigbee), August Pro, and a generic Z-Wave option.

How codes work. Where the provider supports setting codes, you choose the last digits of the guest's phone number or a random number, and how many digits. Codes can be generated at booking, a set number of days before arrival, or manually; pending bookings get nothing until confirmed, and no phone number on file means no code. By default a code is limited to the booking's check-in and check-out times with a one-hour grace period, adjustable. One warning from OwnerRez: set check-in and check-out times on each property, or the code works midnight to midnight.

Getting the code to the guest is done with the {BDOORCODE} field code inside your own OwnerRez message templates, sent by a trigger before arrival. When a booking is canceled, the code is canceled on a connected lock; algorithmic offline locks can't delete codes.

Mapping. One property to multiple locks and one lock to multiple properties are both allowed, and OwnerRez documents a Common Doors setup for a shared exterior door. The constraint is one lock system per property. OwnerRez's docs describe codes for bookings and blocks; we'll leave it there.

Hospitable: what the native feature does

Hospitable's smart device feature is gated by plan. Per Hospitable's pricing article, dated July 1, 2026:

• Essentials ($0/mo) and Host ($29/mo): smart devices are not supported; an upgrade is required.
• Professional ($59/mo): 2 devices per active property included, $5 for each additional device.
• Mogul ($99/mo): 4 devices per active property included, $5 for each additional device.
• Legacy: smart locks as a paid add-on with no devices included; Hospitable doesn't publish the per-device fee on either page.

Which locks. Hospitable's own pages list the supported brands, and the two lists differ slightly. The access codes help article names Schlage, Yale, August, SmartThings, Nuki, IglooHome, Kwikset, KeyNest, and RemoteLock (no longer offered for new connections); the partners page names August, Igloohome, Jervis, Nuki, Schlage, SmartThings, TT Locks, and Yale. SmartThings is on both. Confirm your exact model on Hospitable's partner page before buying; the pages don't name the provider behind the integration, and we won't guess.

How codes work. A code is generated when a reservation is accepted, based on the guest's phone number by default; if none is available within five minutes, Hospitable generates a random code. The code is active from check-in to checkout, with optional buffers on either end, and a property with several locks gets the same code on all of them. One exception Hospitable documents itself: on SmartThings the integration "only supports 'always on' codes (no start/end times)."

Getting the code to the guest. Codes appear in the Property Access section of the guest conversation in the Hospitable inbox, and Hospitable sends them through the guest's booking thread. For SmartThings locks, Hospitable says codes are sent about 30 minutes before activation.

Team access. Hospitable has operations codes tied to tasks rather than stays: each Hospitable task or Cleanster booking generates a unique code active for the task window plus a one-hour buffer on each end.

Where GuestsKey fits on each

GuestsKey is a separate layer that reads bookings from the PMS and programs the locks itself.

On OwnerRez. GuestsKey is listed in OwnerRez's Door Locks directory. You connect with OAuth (recommended) or a Personal Access Token, with booking webhooks, guest contact sharing, and API access enabled in OwnerRez; the steps are in our connect OwnerRez guide. GuestsKey writes the guest portal link and door code back into two OwnerRez custom fields, {BXGKPORTAL} and {BXGKCODE}, so your own OwnerRez templates and triggers still do the delivery. What it adds is lock coverage: Z-Wave locks on a SmartThings hub (see our OwnerRez SmartThings guide) and every Seam brand on our list (Yale, Schlage, August, Kwikset, Lockly, and more). On price the two are in the same neighborhood: OwnerRez charges $4 per lock for its three integrations; GuestsKey is $4 (SmartThings) or $5 (Seam) per lock per month for the first ten, dropping as you add locks. The difference is scope, not price.

On Hospitable. GuestsKey works on any Hospitable plan through OAuth, so a host on Essentials or Host can automate codes without moving to Professional; reservations sync by webhook. Airbnb-only hosts with no Hospitable subscription can use Hospitable Connect for free; the three-path breakdown is in our Hospitable smart lock integration post, and setup is in the connect Hospitable guide. On lock coverage, Hospitable already lists SmartThings, so there's no advantage to claim there; what GuestsKey adds are Seam brands missing from Hospitable's lists, such as Lockly, Ultraloq, Wyze, and Tedee.

On both. The rest of the product is the same whichever PMS feeds it:

• A cleaner's PIN is always-on across every lock in the account, fans out when you add a lock or a cleaner, and comes with a phone-friendly cleaner portal link sent by text. Hospitable's task-based operations codes are a different model.
• One-time keys of 4 to 8 digits for vendors, up to five active per property.
• A guest portal with the door code, WiFi, check-in instructions, and house rules. It goes out when the lock confirms the code, withholds the code until it activates, and stops working two hours after checkout.
• Emergency backup codes, opt-in per property and off by default: a lock health check 15 minutes before check-in, a code check 5 minutes before, and a backup code emailed to the guest on failure.
• A default window from 10 minutes before check-in to exactly checkout, both ends configurable from 0 to 180 minutes, in the property's timezone.
• If two bookings would collide on a lock, the guest's code is extended one phone digit at a time within the lengths the lock accepts. A repeat guest with the same phone keeps the same PIN, and GuestsKey handles the duplicate-code rejection that comes back from the lock provider.
• Several properties can share one lock, and the setup follows you if you switch PMS (why GuestsKey over PMS-native lock automation).

Pricing is per connected lock, with no plan tiers and no per-property subscription; the full breakdown is on our pricing page, and the current hardware list is on our supported locks page.

Who should pick what

• OwnerRez host with one Schlage Encode, an igloohome, or a Hubitat you already run, and guest codes are all you need: use OwnerRez native at $4 a lock.
• Hospitable Professional or Mogul, one keypad lock per listing from Hospitable's list, inside the 2 or 4 device allowance, and task-based operations codes cover your cleaners: use Hospitable native. It's already paid for.
• Hospitable Essentials or Host: GuestsKey via OAuth, with no plan upgrade.
• Either PMS with a Z-Wave lock on a SmartThings hub, a Seam brand your PMS doesn't list, a cleaner who needs an always-on code and a portal, one-time vendor keys, a duplex or shared door, or mixed hardware across a portfolio: GuestsKey. Our comparison hub has a card for each.

One last thing: if you're choosing between OwnerRez and Hospitable purely for locks, don't. Both get the same GuestsKey lock layer. Pick the PMS on everything this post left out, and leave the locks to the layer that follows you.