Let August's Smart Lock secure your vacation rental
August and vacation rental site HomeAway partner to protect your property.
Smart lock maker August today partnered with vacation rental site HomeAway to make it easier for owners to monitor their property -- and for renters to access it. With an August Smart Lock and an August Smart Keypad installed at a HomeAway location, guests should now automatically receive a PIN code via the HomeAway app.
The PIN code is supposed to work for the duration of a HomeAway stay and is designed to offer an additional point of access. This would prove particularly useful if someone doesn't have a smartphone handy, but still wants easy key-free entry.
August's Smart Lock is a Bluetooth-enabled battery-powered lock that retrofits to many standard deadbolt designs. It's an easy, DIY solution that requires less installation know-how than replacement deadbolts. It's also the first smart lock to work with all three major voice control platforms -- Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit and Google Home.
According to August, the auto-PIN process starts with the host creating an August account and pairing it to their HomeAway account. From there, August should auto-generate a unique, temporary code for every guest reservation. Guests should then receive an alert with the PIN details so they can use the August keypad to open the front door. The August Connect Wi-Fi Bridge is a required accessory for hosts generating PIN codes remotely.
August isn't the only company to partner with a vacation rental site. Professional home security company Vivint announced a similar collaboration with Airbnb back in January. As the popularity of vacation rentals grows, it's likely that we'll continue to see more integrations between them and smart home manufacturers.
