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Three Easy Ways To Get Keys To Your Vacation Renters
How do you get keys to guests staying in your vacation rental property?
| You have many options when it comes to keys. You can use the old-fashioned method of mailing the keys to your renters. Many owners have been doing this for twenty or thirty-plus years. It's effective, but not necessarily simple. |
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Mail Keys:
Mailing keys leaves a lot of room for error. The problem is you have to make numerous sets of keys followed by sending them out in a timely manner in order for renters to receive the keys before they leave home. Finally, you have to be sure that your renters mail the keys back to you. Forget any one of these steps, and you will have a potentially serious problem on your hands. What if the renters forget to bring the keys with them when they leave their home? What if they don't send them back? What if they lose them while they are there?
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| Lock Boxes:
I think that the best way to alleviate all this trouble is to drop the idea of mailing keys and go with your second option: buy a simple combination key box. A key box attaches to your doorknob or somewhere on your property. The most common ones are made by GE, are very inexpensive ($25-$30), and can be found at most hardware stores, locksmiths or on the Internet . A key box is not a complex piece of equipment. You easily set your own code, hang it on your doorknob, and put the keys into it. You then give the renter the combination when you send them the driving directions (they usually don't forget the directions when they leave home, and even if they do you could always give them the code over the phone). The downside of these types of lock boxes is you cannot change the code after each renter.
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| Keyless Entry:
Your third option is to buy some sort of keyless entry door lock. These are similar to what you see in most banks and offices. The kind that has push buttons right on the locks. These locks are great but they are pretty expensive, $200-$600. They can also be found online or through most locksmiths and hardware stores. You might also want to consider the newest type of keyless lock, the kind that offers remote access. Again, these are pretty pricey but they do offer many conveniences such as the ability to store, change and create combinations right from your home computer or even via cell phone. The downside (besides price) is that they are electronic and most work on batteries. Anything electronic can malfunction and the batteries, although they usually last 3 years, can go dead. These types of locks also have a monthly service fee associated with them. For many owners, this may be the only option (aside from mailing keys), since many condominium complexes prohibit lock boxes.
© Christine Karpinski 2006
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