Static Door Codes: The Guest Portal for Properties Without a Smart Lock

Not every door a host manages has a lock that any platform can control. Some have a lockbox. Some are apartments behind a shared street door with a building entry keypad. Some have a keypad brand nobody integrates with. Static door codes are how GuestsKey handles those properties: the guest gets the same guest portal, with the door code, WiFi and check-in instructions in one link, on a property with no connected lock. A guest portal without a smart lock, in other words. This post covers what that does, and spends more time on what it does not do, because the second part is where expectations go wrong.

The doors that will never get a smart lock

The reason GuestsKey exists is code automation. A booking comes in, a code is generated (by default, the last four digits of the guest's phone number), it goes onto the lock ten minutes before check-in and comes off at checkout. That whole pipeline assumes a lock we can program, which means a Wi-Fi lock connected through Seam or a Z-Wave lock behind a SmartThings hub. The list is on our supported locks page.

Some doors are never going to be on that list, and not because the host is behind on hardware. A lockbox is never going to take an API call. A building entry keypad is usually not yours to reprogram. A shared street door in an apartment block is nobody's lock to automate. And some keypads are simply brands no platform talks to.

Those guests still need a door code, the WiFi password, and the check-in instructions. What we kept hearing from hosts with mixed portfolios was that they wanted one system for all of it, not a guest portal for the automated doors and a copy-pasted message for the rest. That was the ask. Static door codes are the answer to that ask, and only that ask.

What a static door code does

A static door code is the code that is already programmed on your physical lock or lockbox, typed into GuestsKey so that GuestsKey can show it to your guests.

With that one field filled in, a property with no connected lock gets the guest portal. It is the same portal our automated properties use, described in full in the guest portal help article. The guest opens a link in their browser, no app and no login, and sees:

• the door code
• the WiFi name and password
• check-in instructions
• house rules
• directions
• an emergency contact

The link stops working two hours after checkout. If the booking is cancelled, the link shows a short cancelled notice with no code, WiFi, or address.

One difference from an automated property is worth knowing. On a property with a connected lock, the portal withholds the code until it actually activates on the lock. A static code has no such gate. It is already live on the lock, so it is visible the moment the guest opens the link.

That is the whole feature. The portal, on a door we cannot control.

What it does not do

This is the section to read twice.

Nothing about a static code is automated. Specifically:

• It does not rotate between guests. Every booking sees the same code until you change it.
• It does not activate at check-in. There is no ten-minutes-before window. The code works whenever the lock says it works.
• It does not expire at checkout. Last week's guest still knows this week's code unless you changed it.
• It is not validated on the lock. GuestsKey displays what you typed. It cannot check that this matches what is on the door.
• If you change the code on the lock, you must change it in GuestsKey too. Nothing carries the change across for you. Skip this step and the next guest gets a dead code with a tidy portal wrapped around it.

We are being blunt on purpose. Automated guest codes are the reason to use GuestsKey. A static code is a display field for the doors where automation is not possible. If you were hoping a static code would turn a lockbox into a smart lock, it will not, and the rest of this post only matters if a portal on a manual door is genuinely useful to you.

Setting one up

Setup is one field.

1. Open the property.
2. Go to the Automation tab.
3. Find the Guest Portal card.
4. Enter the code that is already programmed on the lock.

The format is 4 to 16 characters — digits, spaces, and the *, #, and ✓ keys, with at least one digit. That is deliberate. Building keypads and lockboxes often want a sequence like 12*3456789, Yale keypads often want the checkmark key pressed at the end (37634 ✓), and spacing a code as 87 * 915002 keeps the symbols readable. You enter the code exactly as the guest will type it rather than translating it into something the field will accept.

Preview Portal shows you exactly what a guest will see. Previewing sends nothing to anyone, so use it freely. The static door code help article walks the same steps.

Getting the link to guests

This is the second place expectations go wrong, so it gets its own heading.

On an automated property, the portal link goes out automatically, and the trigger is the guest's code being confirmed on the lock. On a static-code property there is no lock and no code activation, so that trigger never fires. GuestsKey does not send the portal link automatically for a property with no connected lock. You have two ways to get it out.

Manually, per booking. Open the booking and use Resend Portal Link. You can send it by text, email, or both. Text messages are billed at $0.05 per message.

Through your own OwnerRez templates. If you use OwnerRez, GuestsKey writes the portal link and the code into OwnerRez custom fields. You can use them in your own OwnerRez message templates as {BXGKPORTAL} and {BXGKCODE}, so the link and the code go out with the pre-arrival messages you already send. Set it up once and every future booking on that property is covered.

Our advice, and the help article says the same thing: if you rely on a static code, set up the OwnerRez templates once. The manual route works, but it means every booking depends on you remembering. Nobody remembers every booking.

The merge fields are OwnerRez only. If your bookings come from Hospitable, Lodgify, or Hospitable Connect, the link goes out when you send it.

What it costs

A property with a static door code and no connected lock bills a flat $0.99 per property per month instead of a per-device rate. A property with no lock and no static code costs nothing. The full breakdown is in how pricing works and on the pricing page.

Connect a lock to that property later and the $0.99 fee stops on its own. The property bills under normal device pricing instead, from $4 (SmartThings) or $5 (Seam) per lock per month, dropping as you add locks. A property is never charged both ways, and there is nothing to switch over: connect the lock, and billing follows.

Why 99 cents? Serving a portal page costs us nearly nothing, so we priced it to be a non-decision rather than a margin line.

Who this is for, and who should skip it

We would rather you skip this than be surprised by it. A static door code is a small, honest feature: it makes a manual door look like the rest of your portfolio to the guest, and it changes nothing about how that door actually works.