Smart Lock Guest Instructions

You watched it on your doorbell camera last weekend: the guest pulls up, walks to the front door, stares at the keypad for forty seconds, walks back to the car, picks up the phone, walks back to the keypad, types something, the lock beeps red, types again, beeps red, then finally turns and texts you. The code worked fine. They were pressing the lock symbol before the digits, not after. That is what bad smart lock guest instructions look like in real life — not a software failure, just a missing sentence.

Good guest instructions tell people what to type, where to type it, what light to look for, and what to do when the keypad lies. They take fifteen minutes to write and they save you hours of late-night texting. Here is how to write the version your guests actually use.

Who needs this

If your property has any keypad-style smart lock — Schlage Encode, Yale Assure 2, Lockly Vision, August Wi-Fi, Eufy Smart Lock Touch — and you do self check-in, you need real instructions. The model on the box and the model your guest is staring at can behave differently in cold weather, in direct sun, or after a battery dip. A first-time renter has never seen your specific keypad before. Assume zero familiarity and you will not have to explain anything twice. The full keyless check-in playbook for Airbnb is the parent guide if you want the broader strategy first.

What good smart lock guest instructions actually contain

Five elements, in this order, every time:

Which door — named, with a visual cue (“the dark blue front door, mailbox to the right”).
How to wake the keypad — tap the screen or touch the Schlage logo.
The code itself, in a code-style block so guests do not misread the digits.
The confirmation step — press the lock symbol or check mark to submit.
What success looks like — “green light and a click, then push” or “thumb-turn lever rotates and the door pops open.”

Most hosts include the first three. The keypad confirmation step and the success cue are the ones that get skipped. Add them and your text volume drops noticeably. The longer-form examples in our Airbnb check-in instructions for smart locks guide cover keypad-by-keypad button order for the most popular models.

A drop-in template

Use this as your default check-in block. Send via the platform’s pre-arrival message and pin it inside your house manual. If you want a longer welcome wrapper around the entry section, our smart lock welcome message templates have a copy-paste version you can adapt in five minutes.

Getting in:

Walk up to the front porch (dark blue door, mailbox on the right).
Tap the keypad once to wake it — numbers will light up.
Type your code: 4 7 2 9
Press the lock symbol at the bottom right to submit.
You will hear a small motor whir and see a green light. Push the door open within five seconds — it relocks if you wait too long.

If anything goes wrong:

Red light? Wait five seconds and re-enter the code — the keypad sometimes wants a beat.
Still red after two tries? Text me at [your number] and I will get you in.

That is it. Eight short bullets, no marketing language, no jargon. A guest with a suitcase in one hand and a phone in the other can read it once and get inside.

Where to put the instructions so guests actually see them

Three places, in priority order:

The day-of message sent three hours before check-in. This is the one that wins. It is the most recent message in the thread when the guest pulls up, and they can pin it on their phone.
Your house manual or digital guidebook. Hospitable, Touch Stay, and similar tools give you a stable URL the guest can revisit even if they buried the original message.
Your Airbnb listing’s check-in section. Use a redacted version (no live code) so the language is consistent.

What does not work: a printed sheet inside the unit. They cannot read it until they are already inside, which defeats the purpose. Save the printed version for thermostat and TV instructions.

Test the instructions like a stranger would

Hand your phone to a friend who has never been to the property. Show them only the message. Drive to the house, walk up to the door, and watch them try to get in. Do not coach. The first time you do this, you will spot two or three small failures — an ambiguous landmark, a missing word, an assumed step. Fix them and run it again with someone else. After two rounds, your contactless check-in automation message is in good shape and ready to wire into the rest of your booking flow.

Privacy and the camera question

Two things to disclose in the guest message: any exterior camera that captures the entryway (typically a Ring Video Doorbell or Eufy Doorbell Dual) and the fact that the keypad logs entries with timestamps. Both are normal — both should be visible in your Airbnb listing’s smart device disclosure section. Keeping doorbell cameras outdoor-only and clearly disclosed is the editorial line we recommend; we do not advocate cameras inside the home, ever. Our wider guide to privacy-safe monitoring for short-term rentals walks through what is allowed and how to disclose it without scaring guests off. The smart lock log is useful for resolving “the code did not work” disputes, but make clear it exists.

Common mistakes hosts make

Saying “enter the code” without saying “then press lock.” The single biggest source of “the code does not work” texts.
Calling out brand names guests do not know. “Use the Schlage Encode keypad” means nothing. “Use the silver keypad on the front door” means everything.
Mixing the door code with the building code. Label them separately and put them in order of use.
Skipping the success cue. Guests who do not know what success looks like will keep typing the code.
Not having a fallback ready. When the keypad really fails — battery, frozen latch, Wi-Fi outage — you need our backup key plan for Airbnb running before the booking, not after.

Optional AI prompt for property-specific instructions

Paste the template above into ChatGPT or Claude and add: “Rewrite these smart lock guest instructions for [your property type] in [city]. The lock model is [Schlage Encode / Yale Assure 2 / etc]. Note that the door [sticks in winter / has a screen door / etc]. Keep it under 80 words.” The output will be a tighter, property-specific version you can drop into your messaging tool. For after-hours arrivals, pair the result with our late-night check-in playbook so the message you send at 11 PM is different from the one you send at 3 PM.

FAQ

How long should smart lock guest instructions be?

Under 100 words for the entry portion. Anything longer and guests stop reading. Save the rest of the house information — trash day, TV remote, parking pass — for a separate house manual link below the entry instructions. The entry block is its own document.

Should I include a video?

A 20-second silent video of someone walking up to the door, typing a code, and pushing the door open is gold for properties where the entry is unusual. Loom or a phone clip uploaded to YouTube as unlisted both work. Drop the link below the text instructions, not above — readers should not have to load a video to learn the code.

What if the guest is non-English speaking?

Keep the text plain and short, and lean on the visual. The video clip helps a lot here. Airbnb’s translate function works on simple language; if you write “the silver keypad on the blue door” it translates cleanly. If you write “the Encode keypad with the backlit segmented display” it does not.

How does this fit into a broader Airbnb remote check-in setup?

The guest instructions are one piece. Our full Airbnb remote check-in setup walkthrough covers automatic code generation tied to the booking, a pre-arrival reminder message, an arrival check-in two hours after the booking, and a backup access plan. Together they let you run the property without ever picking up a key.

Should the guest get a different code each stay?

Yes — rotating per-booking codes are the whole point of using a smart lock. Most modern keypad locks support automatic code generation tied to the booking dates, and the full guest access workflow for Airbnb covers how to wire that up cleanly. Set the code to expire at the listed checkout time. If your lock does not auto-generate codes, set a manual code per booking using the last four digits of the guest’s phone number, which they will remember.

Next steps

Drop the template into your messaging tool today, then have a friend test-drive it on your property. Once it is dialed in, you have a reusable block that runs every booking. For the wider workflow, see our keyless check-in for Airbnb pillar, and the broader smart locks pillar if you are still picking hardware.